As a High SchoolEnglish Language teacher, you can use this lesson plan to teach about the literary device of allegory and examine an allegory in climate literature.
This lesson plan will allow you to teach about the usage of allegory as a literary device, its multiple interpretations and its examples in literature. Climate change being an important issue of our times, has spawned climate literature in verse and prose. As part of this lesson plan, your students will analyze a contemporary fairy tale about climate change for its allegorical components.
Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a core topic in English Language.
Want to know more about how to contribute? Contact us.
Questions
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
What is an allegory? Describe its role in myths and fables.
What are the different types of allegories used in English literature?
Comment on the use of allegory as a device to communicate about climate change.
About Lesson Plan
Grade Level
High school
Discipline
English Language, Humanities
Topic(s) in Discipline
Literary Devices, Allegory, Metaphors
Fables, Parables, Types of Allegory
Climate Topic
Introduction to climate change
Location
Global
Language(s)
English
Access
Online
Approximate Time Required
40 min
Contents
Reading
(~15 min)
An introduction to allegory as a literary device through the ages and brief descriptions of its types and examples in literature.
An audio file that introduces an allegory about climate change by the author, a climate scientist at Columbia University and NASA. This allegory will be examined in the ensuing classroom activity. Also, a visualization that depicts the climate fact on which the allegory is based.
The reading of the above-mentioned allegory about climate change and a list of questions for the examination of this text for its allegorical components and interpretations.
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Step 1: Topic introduction and discussion
Use the reading, ‘Allegory’ by Encyclopedia Britannica to introduce the topic of allegory in English Literature.
Use the text to define allegory and describe how it has been used in literary texts.
Discuss how allegories are an integral part of fables, parables and myths.
Use the reading to discuss about the works of writers who have used this literary device in the past.
Describe the different types of allegories such as personification and symbolism.
Finally, emphasize on the central idea or background information on which the allegories are based.
Step 2: Background information for the allegory to be studied in class
Use the audio file from the report, ‘A Climate Scientist On ‘Slaying The Climate Dragon’’ by National Public Radio, Inc (US), to introduce the author of a climate change allegory (that will be examined in the ensuing classroom activity).
In the report, the author Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at Columbia University and NASA, reads a part of the story and explains the allegorical components of it.
Use the report to provide your students with the vital background information about human induced global warming.
Use the visualization, ‘Warming relative to 1850-1900’ by World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), to show that global temperatures are rising above the pre-industrial age levels and will continue to rise unless preemptive actions are taken to curb the anthropogenic causes of global warming such as greenhouse gas emissions.
Step 3: Classroom Activity: Examine an allegory on Climate Change (Go to the Resource)
Use the reading, ‘Slaying the Climate Dragon’ by Kate Marvel in the Scientific American, to analyze an allegory on climate change.
Direct your students to read the fairy tale closely and allow enough time for them to make notes about its allegorical elements.
Use the notes to initiate a classroom discussion on different aspects of the story.
Ask your students to draw parallels between the fairy tale narrative and the real-world scenario by listing all the perceived elements of climate change in the text eg. rising sea-levels, biodiversity loss, and extreme weather events.
Finally, facilitate a classroom discussion using the following list of questions to assess student understanding of allegory as a literary device for communicating climate change.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.