Teaching Sacrifice Zones

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Civics, English Language Arts

What it is

This resource features Rosemarie Frascella's first-person experience as she teaches about sacrifice zones in her English classroom.
Rosemarie uses discussion, journaling, and poetry to elicit students' feelings and ideas about sacrifice zones.

Positives

This activity is based on mutual respect and honoring student funds of knowledge.
Through reading this resource, teachers will not only get an activity to implement in class but also some pedagogical insight.

Prerequisites

Teachers will need to create a free account to download the article.
It may benefit students to understand the health impacts of living in sacrifice zones.
Teachers may want to find the poem “Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits” by Martín Espada to have in class for students to read.

Differentiation & Implementation

Students can look at population data compared to locations of oil refineries, fracking sites, and other harmful sites.
Students can read this article to extend this lesson by learning about the impact of sacrifice zones on health and how they connect to climate change.
Teachers can also use this social studies lesson to guide students in taking action against environmental injustice.

This article has no science to review but is well-cited.

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Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.

Standards alignment · D2.Civ.1.6-8 + 8 more

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards

D2.Civ.1.6-8Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
D2.Geo.10.6-8Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
D4.6.6-8Draw on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.

English Language Arts

R.6-8.5Provide an accurate summary of various texts; determine the central idea(s) or theme(s) and analyze its development throughout each text.
R.6-8.7Interpret words and phrases as they are used in various texts, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
W.6-8.3Routinely produce a variety of clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, audience, and purpose.
R.9-12.12Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Health Education

1.4.6-8Students determine how the environment and other factors impact personal health.

Science and Engineering

HS-ESS3-1Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.