Multimodal Text Set to Encourage Environmental Justice (and a Book Talk!)- Blog Post 6

 Book Talk on the Text Set


    For more on my mention of how texts like these and community organizing can build resilience in young people, click here!

Incorporating Environmental Justice into Teaching

    The topic of environmental justice is a high interest topic that many young people are very engaged in, and, luckily, it can be connected to many texts that are taught in the ELA classroom. Any story, fiction or nonfiction, where the setting is or has been at risk or is now different or affected by climate change is able to connect to the topic of environmental justice. In my teaching, I see connections for this topic in our unit about survival. Specifically, there is a text in this unit where we read an excerpt of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, which focuses on the story of Salva Dut. After reading this excerpt, we explore Salva Dut's later life, including the nonprofit he eventually founded titled Water for South Sudan. All of the texts I read and watched for this text set on environmental justice discussed the topic of environmental racism. The short documentary "Another World is Possible" spoke specifically on the impact environmental injustice has on the global south. Connecting these topics of environmental justice into conversations surrounding Salva Dut's experience as a young boy during the Sudan civil war and afterwards founding his nonprofit could effectively incorporate these ideas of environmental justice into my teaching.

Stay Tuned for...

    As I continue engaging with this topic and text set, I'm currently leaning towards a text animation of We Don't Have Time for This by Brianna Craft. This was definitely my favorite text of the three I engaged with on this topic and as I read I found myself captivated by the various images and characters described. I still don't know if I want to do a book trailer style animation, where I leave out the spoilers of the whole novel, or if I want to summarize the entire book with animations. I think I'm leaning towards summarizing the book, though, because there are too many scenes from the end of the book that I want to include.

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