ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS AND READING (ELAR) Connecting to Nature through Personal Essays An arts-integrated English/Language Arts and Reading lesson sequence for middle school Estimated time needed: Two 90-minute sessions UT Lead(s): Jenni HewettARS Teacher-Designer(s): Danielle WillieYPAR/ARS Student-Researcher(s): Lucia Romero Unit Overview In this 9-week ELA unit, students explore their relationships with nature through personal narrative writing and storytelling. Drawing on experiences connected to the natural world, environmental change, and climate resilience, students brainstorm, draft, revise, and publish personal essays that communicate meaningful moments, perspectives, and connections to place. Additional details As a culminating project, students revisit the “heartbeat” of their essays and create a digital anthology. During a nature hike, students photograph elements of the natural world that metaphorically represent the heartbeat of their stories. They then curate these images alongside excerpts from their personal essays and audio recordings of themselves reading a passage aloud. Together, these pieces form a collaborative digital anthology that showcases students’ writing, creativity, and personal connections to nature while inviting audiences to experience the heart of their personal essays through multiple modes of expression. UNIT SCOPE & SEQUENCE In this two-day example lesson sequence, students explore what it means to create a “heartbeat” within a personal essay. Through drama-based and embodied literacy strategies, students develop and refine the central ideas, emotions, and experiences that give writing its energy and purpose. Additional details Interactive activities such as Heartbeat Ball, Tiered Storytelling, Visual Mapping, and Role on the Wall invite students to connect movement, discussion, and reflection with the writing process. Together, these experiences support students in strengthening voice, structure, and revision while providing engaging approaches to personal essay writing. TWO-DAY LESSON SEQUENCE Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS): English Language Arts and Reading – Grade 7(9) Author’s purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors’ choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author’s craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances. Additional details The student is expected to: (A) explain the author’s purpose and message within a text; (B) analyze how the use of text structure contributes to the author’s purpose; (D) describe how the author’s use of figurative language such as metaphor and personification achieves specific purposes; (E) identify the use of literary devices, including subjective and objective point of view; (F) analyze how the author’s use of language contributes to mood, voice, and tone (10) Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts–writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions. Additional details The student is expected to: (A) plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as discussion, background reading, and personal interests; (B) develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by: (i) organizing with purposeful structure, including an introduction, transitions, coherence within and across paragraphs, and a conclusion; and (ii) developing an engaging idea reflecting depth of thought with specific facts, details, and examples (C) revise drafts for clarity, development, organization, style, word choice, and sentence variety Educator & Student Reflections“We’ve written personal essays before, but this focus added depth. Students had to think about their connection to nature—many started saying, ‘I don’t know, I’m always inside,’ but through reading and going outside, they all found something meaningful. That connection is the foundation for the bigger climate work.” -Danielle (Teacher)“They made learning more fun and collaborative. Instead of just reading and writing, we acted things out and made it funny. It was a really fun way to learn.” – Lucia (7th Grader) YPAR | Youth Participatory Action Research Student survey responses reflecting on the impact of the ELAR classroom project YPAR Arts-Based Research Outputs Student Examples Students’ Role on the Wall diagrams used to identify the “heartbeats” of their personal essays A student’s contribution to the class digital anthology based on their personal essay about connections to nature
