Can We Teach for Climate Justice in an English Class? Climate Fiction and Teacher Preparation (Poster 5)

• In Event: Climate Teacher Education as Spaces for Holding Climate Precarity, Hope, Community, and Youths’ Flourishing Futures

Abstract

Problem
Given the need to prepare future teachers to teach about climate change, regardless of content area (Beach, 2023), we embarked on a journey with fifteen secondary ELA teacher candidates to discover what teaching climate fiction (cli-fi) in an ELA context might do to foster a sense of agency and hope in future educators and, potentially, their future students. We examined literature of the use of art in mitigating climate grief and compelling student action toward climate justice (Bentz & O’ Brian, 2019; Chappell & Chappell, 2016), the use of student narratives for fostering climate action (Smith et al., 2021), and the role of climate fiction in envisioning possible futures (Lindgren Leavenworth & Manni, 2021; Milkoreit, 2016; Schneider-Mayerson et al., 2023). In particular, we took seriously Whyte’s (2018) call to look beyond dystopian and post-apocalyptic visions of climate change and to recognize the ongoing climate crisis as a consequence of colonial violence. Because of this, we selected texts that live at the intersections of science, imagination, and identities that have not historically been centered in teacher education (Brady, 2019; Boyle & Eggers, 2019).

Design
We designed a seven lesson sequence in which candidates practiced leading discussions about cli-fi stories, read about indigenous understandings of climate change, and created art that represented their feelings and understandings of the purpose of teaching cli-fi in an ELA classroom. Throughout this process we collected data from each candidate: three written reflections, two artistic reflections, and a written lesson plan and reflection, which provided the data for our analysis.

Findings/Analysis
Through a process of open and axial coding, we observed several themes. Perhaps most significant was that all fifteen candidates expressed the importance of teaching cli-fi, and many identified art and multiple modes of literacy as ways to help their future students process eco-anxiety and eco-grief. Additionally, eleven candidates identified the imperative to center the voices of Indigenous, Black, and other authors of Color. One candidate, reflecting on how much their thinking had changed since the beginning of the unit, wrote “I am realizing that Indigenous perspectives and the perspectives of people of historically oppressed communities are foundational…when talking about climate fiction” Finally, twelve candidates identified the importance of helping their students develop hope and agency to find ways of moving toward action through the reading of cli-fi. One candidate wrote they were inspired “to take a more hopeful stance, to value human connection to nature and to strive for climate justice in teaching about climate change.”

Contributions/Significance
These emerging findings suggest that literature and art has an important role to play in helping prepare future teachers to work toward climate justice. When paired with reflective artistic experiences, literature can provide an opportunity for candidates to process their climate anxiety and grief and learn from the diverse perspectives that should be centered in teaching for a more just world.

Authors

• Maia Goodman Young, University of Washington

• Grace Unhea Lee, University of Washington

• Ledah Kaplan Wilcox, University of Washington