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Paired Texts > These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change

by Bethany Brookshire 2019

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

Your food choices affect Earth's climate
Your food choices affect Earth's climate
Janet Raloff

In the informational text, "Your food choices affect Earth's climate," Janet Raloff discusses the environmental costs of food production.

Pair “Your Food Choices Affect Earth’s Climate” with “These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change” and ask students to consider the impact that our food choices have on climate change. What is a “carbon footprint”? Have you been aware of your “carbon footprint”? How can the food we eat ultimately impact climate change?

7th Grade Informational Text 1020L
Young Innovators: Detecting Land Mines
Young Innovators: Detecting Land Mines
Robert Siegel

In this interview, a 17-year-old girl discusses her invention of a device that detects land mines using sound.

Pair “Young Innovators: Detecting Land Mines” with “These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change” and ask students to consider the role that young people can play in creating change in the world. How does Marian Bechetel’s invention help us to think about the things that could be achieved if the young people in Bethany Brookshire’s text were given the opportunity?

9th Grade Interview 940L
San Martín in the Mist
San Martín in the Mist
Laura Resau

In "San Martín in the Mist," a young girl fights against injustice in her village in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Pair “These Teens Have Some Ideas For Stopping Climate Change” with “San Martín in the Mist” and have students discuss how young people are working to save the environment. How are young people working to save the environment and protect the planet in “These Teens Have Some Ideas For Stopping Climate Change”? How does Alita work to save the environment in “San Martín in the Mist”? How does Alita show that individuals “have the power to do one thing to stop climate change” in her own village?

6th Grade Magical Realism
Coal Power
Coal Power
Marina Debattista

In "Coal Power," the author discusses how the development of Britain's coal mining industry led to the Industrial Revolution. Pair “These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change” with “Coal Power” and ask students to consider the costs and benefits of nonrenewable energy sources, as well as possible solutions to the problem of climate change. According to “These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change,” what is climate change, and why is it important that we try to develop new solutions? Describe the ideas proposed by the finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. How are both the problems and solutions discussed in “These teens have some ideas for stopping climate change” connected with the information in “Coal Power”? According to the teens, how might greater education and awareness affect people’s willingness to work against climate change? How might people who depend on jobs in mining and other nonrenewable energy fields see the situation differently?

7th Grade Informational Text 1070L