Environmental Writing Projects:
Photos: Jan Wellik
Empowering Students, Documenting the Natural World
by Jan D. Wellik
N
o matter where you teach, whether it is in a huge metropolis or a small village, guiding students to explore the natural world in their own community is a powerful way to teach writing. Bringing students outdoors, into their local neighborhoods and parks, helps them to discover their own creative voices and practice observation and writing skills. For teachers interested in multidisciplinary approaches to teaching English and Science in grades 6 to 12, an environmental writing project can help students explore hands-on environmental science and develop literacy skills. Through an environmental writing project, students select a local environmental issue to study, visit the site or sites affected, interview local experts and community members engaged in the issue, and then develop a book or portfolio of writings related to the issue. Some of the writings may be essays and articles based on interviews with environmental professionals, activists and city employees. Nonfiction writing can be combined with nature poetry written by the students about the places they are studying. If you have the funding, a small booklet of the collective student work can be created and displayed in your community to educate others about the issues students are working on.
The goal of the project is to empower the students to play an active role in their community, finding solutions that benefit others, and to act as investigative reporters conducting research and learning how to effectively communicate their findings. An environmental writing project can be used to explore an environmental issue and to extend the learning of a community service event such as a habitat restoration or river clean-up. The project is great training for future environmental journalists, scientists and city workers.
Five steps to an environmental writing project 1. Choose an environmental issue
Many environmental issues overlap with the topics covered in Earth Science and Environmental Science courses. You can begin the project idea by suggesting correlations between environmental issues in your region and subjects covered in class. For example, if the school is near a polluted river or watershed restoration area, this would tie into water cycles and natural resources. Teachers can help choose an environmental topic by encouraging the students to think about what environmental problems they know about in their area. Bring in copies of local newspapers for students to study, and begin with
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