Lesson Plan: Fighting for Their Future

Essential Questions

• How do the actions of humans affect nature? 
• Who is responsible for protecting the environment?

Literature Connection

• Novel: The First Rule of Climate Club by Carrie Firestone
• Novel: Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet by Barbara Dee

Build Background Knowledge (10 minutes)

Before reading the article, watch our engaging video “Let’s Talk About Climate Change.” The video provides information that will help students understand the issues presented in the article. After viewing, briefly discuss the causes and effects of climate change mentioned in the video, as well as any other causes and effects that students volunteer.

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in their magazines or at Action Online. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). In what way do you think the young people in the article are fighting for their future? Answers may vary. Students will likely say that climate change harms our planet, and that the young people are fighting by going to court to force the government to take action against climate change. By demanding better protection for the place where they live, the young people are working to protect their future.
• Find the image of the young woman in a circle near the start of the story. Who is she? How do you know? The young woman is Rikki Held, who grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana. You can tell because the image is located at the start of the article, and the article starts with a passage about Held. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (lawsuit, fossil fuels, atmosphere, plaintiff, testimony) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading 

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading by explaining to students that the article will tell them how governments have the power to harm or protect the environment and how individuals can influence their leaders’ choices.  
• Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
• Point out the activity at the end of the article and tell students they will complete it after reading. Encourage them to briefly scan the questions and to keep them in mind as they read.

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Online. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• Based on the article, what are some human actions that lead to climate change? (cause and effect) When people burn fossil fuels to heat our homes, power our cars, or make electricity, those actions cause the release of gases that contribute to climate change. 
• What do Rikki Held and the other plaintiffs want Montana officials to do? (inference) The plaintiffs want state leaders to take actions that will make the environment healthier. That might mean cutting back on the burning of fossil fuels by making it easier for people to heat homes and power cars in other ways. 
• The article says that the state filed an appeal. What does that mean? (vocabulary) By filing an appeal, the state asked for the case to be heard again by a higher court.

Critical-Thinking Question (5 minutes)

• A lawyer for Montana said that the warming planet is a “global issue” to explain why Montana officials couldn’t be held responsible for it. Do you agree? Can the leaders of any one state be held responsible for climate change? (critical thinking) Answers may vary. Some students might say that pollution happens worldwide and affects the whole world, so changes made in one state can’t (and can’t be expected to) make a real difference. Others might say that a state like Montana, where a lot of fossil fuels are burned, can make a real difference by changing the way things are done locally.

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill activity at the end of the article.
• Go further: Assign students to work independently on our Summarizing activity, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
• Writing prompt: Not everyone lives on a cattle ranch, but we are all affected by our environment. Write a short essay about a time when extreme weather (such as a storm, a flood, or a wildfire) affected your life. If you’ve never had an experience like this, write about how something like this might affect you in the future and why it concerns you.