Re-representing a Climate Change Story

Lesson Plans

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10English Language Arts, Visual and Performing Arts

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

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What it is

In this activity, students will choose a 90-second radio story from Yale Climate Connection's extensive library of radio stories and re-tell the story using a different medium.
Students will learn about the important role that storytelling can play in science communication.

Teaching tips

Positives

Each radio story includes a transcript, so students can read along with the audio or use the text on its own.
The Student Page is a fillable pdf that guides students through the activity. It includes links to many radio stories, reflection questions, a rubric, and an example.
This activity allows students to be creative.

Additional Prerequisites

Teachers should use the example found on page 6 of the Student Page to help students understand the activity.
Teachers may want to set a time limit for how long students can spend choosing a radio story.

Differentiation

Students could do a showcase of their re-representations of the radio stories for younger students.
World language classes could adapt this activity so that students re-represent the radio story using both a new medium and a different language.
Other resources on this topic include this ClimateScience activity on writing and performing a climate change monologue, this SubjectToClimate lesson on reading and writing climate change poetry, and this ClimateScience activity on creating a climate change comic strip.

From the scientist review

The resource provides students a chance to learn the basics of storytelling and to have climate conversations with their team. This resource is recommended for teaching.

How we review resources

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Hosted on climatecommunication.yale.edu

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At a glance

Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Subjects: English Language Arts, Visual and Performing Arts
Other types: Articles/Websites, Activity - Classroom, Worksheets, Podcasts
Format: PDF
Language: English
Location: Earth
Provider: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Authors: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Published: April 27, 2021
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · W.11-12.9 + 9 more

Wisconsin Climate Education Hub

English Language Arts

W.11-12.9Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
R.6.2Summarize texts, from a variety of genres, to determine a theme or central idea and how it is developed by key supporting details over the course of a text. (RI &RL)
R.7.3In literary texts, analyze how elements of plot are related, affect one another, and contribute to meaning. (RL) In informational texts, analyze how individuals, events, and ideas are introduced, related to each other, and developed. (RI)
R.8.2Summarize texts, from a variety of genres, to determine one or more themes or central ideas and analyze their development over the course of the text. (RI&RL)
R.8.3In literary texts, analyze how particular lines of dialogue or events propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. (RL) In informational texts, analyze how individuals, events, and ideas are introduced, related to each other, and developed. (RI)
R.8.7Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different media—print, audio, video, stage, or digital—to present a particular subject or idea and analyze the extent to which a production remains faithful to or departs from the written text. (RI&RL)
R.9-10.2Objectively and accurately summarize texts, from a variety of genres, to determine one or more themes or central ideas and analyze its development, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details. (RI&RL)
R.11-12.2Objectively and accurately summarize a complex text to determine two or more themes or central ideas and analyze their development, including how they emerge and are shaped and refined by specific details. (RI&RL)
W.11-12.2Write text in a variety of modes: a) Write arguments and literary analysis to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts. Establish the significance of the claim(s) using valid reasoning. literary theory and relevant and sufficient evidence which introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns; b) Write informative texts that examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content by introducing a topic; organizing complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; including formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension; thoroughly developing the topic by selecting the most significant and relevant well-chosen facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, and other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic; c) Write narratives that develop real or imagined experiences or events using relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences that organize an event sequence logically. Engages and orients the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator or characters; using techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
W.11-12.4Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are culturally-sustaining and rhetorically authentic to task, purpose, and audience.

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