ELA Lesson: Connotation in Nature Writing
Lesson Plan
1 hour 30 minutesGrades9, 10, 11, 12English Language Arts
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Written by Will Cogswell
About this lesson
Students analyze how language reflects our relationship with the natural world and impacts climate change by analyzing the denotation and connotation of the author’s word choices. Students compare Indigenous writers' kinship with nature to more anthropocentric views, then apply these insights in their own nature writing.
Inquire: Students react to words related to climate change and discuss what led to their reactions.
Investigate: Students view examples of connotation, identify the connotation of words in passages, and learn about anthropocentric and kinship relationships to the natural world.
Inspire: Students brainstorm words, complete an outdoor writing exercise, and collectively create a word wall that encourages a healing relationship with nature.
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Suggestions
- The Investigate and Inspire sections can be completed on separate days or extended over several days.
- This lesson can be used to reinforce the importance of paying close attention to word choice both when reading and writing.
- This lesson can be taught in a unit that features the writing of Transcendentalists, like Henry David Thoreau, or other environmental writers.
- This lesson features the writing and perspectives of Indigenous Wabanaki authors.
- This lesson engages students in outdoor learning.
- As an alternate activity to the outdoors writing in the Inspire section, the teacher can prompt students with pictures of the local environment or instruct students to write about a place they know well.
Prerequisites
- Students should have a basic understanding of climate change and its causes.
- Teacher will need to gather supplies and/or create a space for the word lists and word wall in the Inspire section. Supplies may include butcher paper, markers or colored pencils, and tape.
- Teacher will need to supply students with clipboards or have them use another hard surface (like a textbook or notebook) for writing while outdoors in the Inspire section.
Differentiation
- To learn more about Wabanaki perspectives on the environment, climate change, and activism, students can explore the following module on the Maine Department of Education’s MOOSE Wabanaki Studies Learning Progression website: The Art of Allyship: Partnering with Wabanaki Conservationists for a Better Tomorrow (Grades 9-12). The Wabanaki and the Environment: Learning to Use My Voice Through Activism Today module also has relevant materials and activities that can easily be adapted for high school students.
- For younger or less experienced readers, teacher can direct students to read just the passages from the Maine Forest Service and Robin Wall Kimmerer, which offer a very clear contrast in language.
- Older or more experienced readers can use the internet or library to access, read, and analyze longer selections of the texts excerpted in this lesson.
From the scientist review
Students can investigate how language is important in bridging the gap between humans and the natural world. They will discover the meanings behind words and how word choice affects how involved Indigenous people are in climate action. The lesson passed our credibility criteria for science when we evaluated it.
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About the teacher writer
Will Cogswell
Will Cogswell teaches high school English Language Arts in Midcoast Maine. He has taught high school ELA for ten years in Maine and Salt Lake City, UT; worked with pre-service teachers in Nashville, TN; and taught English to non-native speakers in Bogotá, Colombia. Regardless of the setting, Will aspires to cultivate collaborative, critical thinking and active, engaged citizenship. When Will is not teaching, you can find him reading books with his kids or romping through Maine’s woods, waters, mountains, and snow.
