 |
 |
Write On! |
|
 |
In a Nutshell:
Students will write a letter to an editor of a newspaper or
to a politician that will reflect their learning and articulate
their views and concerns about climate change. This activity
will help empower students and give them a voice on climate change
and particularly how it impacts their northern community. Letters
will be posted on the student exchange. |
 |
Goal:
To empower students to speak up and express their views on a
critical issue impacting their future. |
 |
Background Learning:
Teachers and high school students should be familiar with the
basic science of climate change, potential impacts and solutions
as reviewed in (you may want to use #1 and a selection of the
others):
Intermediate students should be familiar with the basics and
potential impacts as reviewed in:
|
| |
Learning Outcomes:
Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson:
 |
 |
Introduction to Lesson Plan:
Students often feel overwhelmed and powerless in the face of
environmental problems. This activity uses an awareness of climate
change and its impacts to encourage students to take positive
action to overcome that sense of helplessness. It is based on
the premise that the first step towards creating a new world
is to envision a preferable future.
In the course of the lesson, students will
- create a vision of a future with clean energy sources,
low greenhouse gases and no climate change
- discuss ways to take action, including writing letters
to decision makers
- write and send letters to politicians or media
- post their finished letters on a climate change
website along with those of other students from across the
north
|
 |
Activity:
- Ask students to brainstorm their concerns about climate
change and record these concerns on the board.
 Ask students,
either working in groups, or as an entire class, to express
their vision of a future where climate
change is no longer an issue. This vision should include
the types of energy we would use, how we would care for the
environment, how we would conserve and so on. They may suggest
some of the following: a world where we are using cleaner
renewable sources of energy, driving less polluting electric
vehicles, idling is no longer practiced, everyone buys fewer
items and everything comes in less packaging etc. The students’ ideas
can be recorded on the board as a brainstorming activity
or visually as an art or mixed media exercise (combining
words and pictures).- In order to bridge the gap between
the students’ visualization
of an ideal future and what needs to be done to create this
vision, it is necessary to take action. Students need to
know that being passive will not bring about the future that
that they desire. Northern students especially need to take
action as they stand to be most affected by climate change.
- At this point, it would be useful to ask
students what actions they think they might take to bring about
positive
change in the north. (Possible answers could include: walking
to school, letter writing to local politicians and to those
in Ottawa, letter writing to the newspaper editors in the
south and in the north, educating the community about climate
change issues by holding a community meeting, school presentation
or event, starting a newsletter, starting a poster campaign,
inviting the local MP to the school or classroom, conserving
energy, joining a national or local youth group that is
doing something about climate change, starting a recycling
program
etc.)
- Ask students to take a first step by writing letters
to encourage action on climate change. Explain to students
that letter writing is a powerful tool for making change
and that politicians feel that one letter represents
the opinions of many more than just the one person that is
writing. Many politicians are very interested in what students
from
the North have to say. Passionate and well-written letters
from students are also published in newspapers across
the country. Explain that they can also post their letters
on the web.
- Ask students to draft the outline of a letter
to a local or national newspaper, to their MP or the Minister
of
the Environment, or even to the Prime Minister outlining
their
concerns. Student
Handout #2: Politician and Media Addresses can
be downloaded through the handouts section of this
lesson.
 Provide students with key points on writing effective
and powerful letters. Student
Handout #1: Key Points for Writing Powerful Letters can
be downloaded through the Handouts
section of this lesson plan.
The return address for
any letters sent should identify the student as sender, in
care of the teacher, and
the school’s
postal address. Letters going MPs at the House of Commons
do not require stamps. Those addressed to their constituencies
do.- Optional: Put students in groups of three and ask
students to read their letters one at a time. Other
students should
provide the “reader” with one positive
comment about what they liked about their letter, and
one suggestion
to make the letter more powerful. Students make changes
to letter based on the feedback they received.
- Post
student letters to the Student Web-Exchange. On the
website, these letters will be available to
students,
the general public, politicians, and decision makers
around the world. See student web-exchange below.
|
 |
Handouts:
Click on the icon for the complete set of handouts that support
this lesson:
Student Handout #1: Key Points for Writing Powerful
Letters
Student Handout #2: Politician and Media Addresses
|
 |
Student Web-Exchange:
Students can post their letters to the student
web exchange with corresponding visual such as:
- a picture of the student or their community or favourite
northern landscape photograph (please note that parental permission
is
required before posting student pictures)
- an illustration that compliments the letter
- a painting or drawing of the community
Click on the icon
for information on how to post material. |
 |
Evaluation:
- Letters can be evaluated for correct use of grammar
and content.
- Evaluate students on their ability to learn from constructive
criticism and implement changes suggested.
|
|
 |
Enrichment Ideas:
English, Social Studies, Northern Studies
Letter Follow-up: Share responses to any of the students’ letters.
Elicit the students’ responses to the letter received.
Ask questions such as: Was the letter a form letter? Did
the MP take the letter seriously? Did he or she address the student’s
concerns? Is there follow-up required? Did the student feel heard?
Visit the student exchange website: Ask students to read letters
posted to the website from other territories in the North. Compare
and contrast the concerns of other students with their own. Select
letters that were particularly well written and persuasive. Discuss
why certain letters were better than others.
School Newsletter: Students could produce their own newsletter
on climate change to be distributed to the rest of the school
and to families in the school and community. The newsletter could
include letters written by students for this lesson, pictures
of posters and students, and various articles clipped from the
newspaper on climate change.
|
 |
About the Author:
Yukon Conservation Society Curriculum Team – The team
consists of teachers, writers, environmental educators and curriculum
specialists. We worked with teachers across the north, helping
them to create lesson plans for the website, and gathering input
about website features, backgrounders and lesson plans that would
be useful in northern classrooms. |
|
