Current Issues

Current Issues

Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news

A listing of novels that take a positive, visionary approach to the subject of climate change, focusing on fighting and adapting to climate change. Includes discussion questions. 

A listing of movies for high school students and adults exploring dystopic futures and the social and practical effects of climate change.

A listing of novels for high school students and adults exploring dystopic futures and the social and practical effects of climate change.

A listing of short stories on climate, with discussion questions to get your class reading, writing, and discussing climate fiction. 

Climate poetry, primarily written by real teens, serves as an excellent model for students’ own protest writing. A poem might feel less daunting than an entire novel or short story, or you might choose to pair poems with a longer text. Like the rest of this list, these works focus on the social...

An expanded guide of fiction to engage your students in an imaginative exploration of the climate crisis (July 2025).

This two-part lesson, intended for high school students, consists of two readings that will examine the limits on presidential power in the United States government and examine what authority the president legally holds through executive orders. Questions for discussion follow each reading, feel...

What is the Department of Education, and what does it do? What impact does it have on students, and how would things change if it were abolished? This two-part lesson consists of two readings that investigate the Department of Education as a historic and modern governmental agency. Questions for...

This two-part lesson consists of two readings on the effort to improve the quality of food in school meals programs across the United States. Questions for discussion follow each reading.

As the Los Angeles wildfires continue without full containment, students are most likely experiencing a range of emotions: fear, uncertainty, confusion, anxiety, sadness, and/or hopelessness. It is important that all feelings are validated and space is made to share questions, thoughts, and feelings...