{"id":504,"date":"2022-03-05T16:14:05","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T00:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/?p=504"},"modified":"2025-03-12T11:36:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T18:36:40","slug":"fighting-climate-change-through-an-english-class-with-dale-tracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/2022\/03\/05\/fighting-climate-change-through-an-english-class-with-dale-tracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting climate change through an English class: with Dale Tracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Ashley Pocrnich<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite her concern about the planet, KPU English instructor Dale Tracy finds comfort teaching about climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a lot of climate anxiety and it makes me feel better to think \u2018look at all these people learning, who are going to have such strong voices,\u2019\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019m teaching them to be empowered through their ability to communicate confidently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Tracy\u2019s three sections of ENGL 1100: Introduction to University Writing <\/em>this semester, students got a taste of how the power of the written word can affect real world issues like climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her students learned how to use evidence to support their points in an argumentative paragraph in one assignment, using readings suggested by Ellen Pond on the Climate+ Challenge instructors\u2019 site. For another assignment, they wrote persuasive letters arguing for change on a specific issue, like climate change, colonialism or transphobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most exciting factors about the letter-writing assignment was the chance the letters might actually be sent off, Tracy says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her students seem to embrace learning about climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think students are really wanting to think about it, even though it can be stressful because of climate anxiety, but I\u2019ve had a really nice response from students this term and last term,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the students taking ENGL 1100 are new to the university experience, while others are later-year students. If you\u2019re going to teach them how to communicate, she says, it\u2019s a good idea to teach them what<\/em> to communicate about, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracy has been attending the twice-monthly Climate+ Coffee meetings hosted by the coordinators of the project, Pond, Leonora King and Tracy Sherlock. They\u2019ve helped her find a place at KPU, where she hasn\u2019t been teaching for long. She says that gathering with like-minded people has \u201callow[ed] new connections to form.\u201d  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Climate+ Challenge launched in fall 2021, most of the classes were in the Faculty of Arts. While it has expanded across the university now, Tracy says writing fits very well into climate change learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s a writing course, and I really understand writing as a social activity, I love how being part of the Climate+ Challenge has helped me to make that so clear to students \u2014 that writing is something that takes place in the world, among people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about getting the grammar right or wrong\u2026 it\u2019s something that allows you to connect with other people about important things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ashley Pocrnich Despite her concern about the planet, KPU English instructor Dale Tracy finds comfort teaching about climate change. \u201cI have a lot of climate anxiety and it makes me feel better to think \u2018look at all these people … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":906,"featured_media":505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":31,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,8,24],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-education","tag-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/906"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1379,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions\/1379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wordpress.kpu.ca\/climatepluschallenge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}