Environmental Superheroes of the ELA Classroom
Stories of Environmental Literacy from the English-Language Arts Classroom
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Purpose and Overview
This podcast collection highlights stories of California TK-12 educators who teach reading, writing, listening, and speaking through the lens of environmental literacy and justice, giving a glimpse into what this type of work might look like in TK-12 classrooms.
As the state of California deepens efforts to include environmental literacy in all content areas, the California Environmental Literacy Initiative Professional Learning Hub’s English-Language Arts Working Group captured stories from the field to show examples of the benefits and power of this integrated model of instruction, which improves overall literacy skills in a number of important ways. It engages students with real-life issues of local and global significance about which young people genuinely care. It invites students to interact with the natural environment, not only through science content, but through multiple genres of literature and diverse writing tasks. Students are then empowered to think critically and creatively about solutionary action and effective forms of advocacy about environmental issues by providing an authentic audience to which students can speak and write.
In the elementary classroom in particular, integrating environmental literacy and English-Language Arts provides both efficiency and significant time-saving potential. Teaching English-Language Arts standards through the lens of environmental literacy and justice provides an important opportunity for all students to gain access to environmental learning, regardless of their school’s location.
For each superhero podcast, you will find:
- a short podcast teaser
- a full podcast
- a Snapshot of the episode
Based on the format of Snapshots in California’s ELA/ELD Framework, each one paints a picture of classroom practice, then explicitly lists the California Common Core State Standards for English, NGSS for California Public Schools (science standards), and Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, as well as the unit’s connection to California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts.
Credits: these podcasts and snapshots were created by CAELI members, Tara Kajtaniak, Cheney Munson, and Peggy Harte. Thank you for all of your work and support on this project!
Check out our recorded podcast launch party featuring our ELA Superheroes.
Watch here
Podcast Episodes
Grade Band: K-2
Saving Monarch Butterflies and Building Empathy Through Early Literacy
“If you give a problem to Kindergartners, they want to take it to the world, and they need everyone to come help them.” – Taf Wilson
At Golden Charter Academy, a public TK-5 school in Southwest Fresno, California, Kindergartners advocate for and participate in milkweed restoration in critical monarch habitat, thanks to their teachers Taf Wilson and Melanie Smith. In this interview, you will hear Taf and Melanie talk about their monarch butterfly unit and the ways they engage their students with reading, writing, listening, and speaking while saving butterflies in a project that began with a published curriculum unit and is evolving into a city-wide movement.
Featured ELA Superheroes:
- Taf Wilson (she/her)
- Melanie Smith (she/her)
Grade Band: 3-5
Place-Based Research, Grant-Writing, and Restoration: 4th Graders Design and Restore Critical Riparian Habitat
“It’s a powerful way to tie kids to the land…We are part of this land, and we are expected to care for it.” – Greg Gaeira
Greg teaches reading, writing, listening, and speaking to his 4th graders at Union Street Charter School, a public rural elementary school in Humboldt County, California. He simultaneously gets students outside and lets them get their hands dirty. His ongoing local land restoration unit, in partnership with a land trust and a native plant nursery, asks students to research native flora, use database evidence and expert advice to justify and present their choices for the most beneficial and appropriate native plants for the project, write a grant, and then complete the restoration project.
Featured ELA Superheroes:
- Greg Gaeira (he/him)
Grade Band: 6-8
Building Effective Expression Skills Through Middle School Dialogue About Fast Fashion
“Wherever I’m at, I want to contribute. I want to participate in this conversation.” – Marivell Arayasirikul
This podcast showcases an interdisciplinary argumentative reading, writing, listening, and speaking unit that asks students to grapple with who should take responsibility for corporate environmental degradation, specifically in the “fast fashion” shoes and jeans industries. Students engage with various texts and use those texts to formulate verbal and written arguments about a high-interest topic. At the end of the unit, students create a social media reel ecological call-to-action using Canva.
Featured ELA Superheroes:
- Marivell Caba Arayasirikul (she/her)
Grade Band: 9-12
Empowering Student Action with Speculative Environmental Fiction
“How can I contribute to an overall environmentally just world?” – August Freas
This place-based, interdisciplinary high school climate justice speculative fiction writing unit asks students to bring in an imaginative lens to address environmental racism and the climate crisis. For this unit, August collaborates with a World History teacher to integrate various writing genres to help students civically and creatively engage with climate solutions.
Featured ELA Superheroes:
- August Freas (they/them)
