Literature and the Land: Reading and Writing for Environmental Literacy, 7-12

For Emma Rous, the natural environment offers countless ways to engage students in significant reading, writing, and thinking. She breaks down the barriers between school and life. She raises complex ethical questions. She creates a course of study her students care about.

With Literature and the Land, Rous not only inspires you to help students become environmentally literate, she provides the tools you need to make it happen. Beginning with readings and exercises about perception, the book explores a wealth of nature writing activities, the history of people's relationship with nature from mythological times to the present, case studies of current environmental issues and action projects, environmental themes in fiction and poetry, and the potential of outdoor adventure. The book is packed with descriptions of literature, classroom activities, student responses, and lists of resources. The materials are all designed to support a heterogeneous classroom, a student-centered pedagogy, and a gender-balanced curriculum.

Ideal for teachers looking for new ways to make the literature classroom both interdisciplinary and experiential, Literature and the Land is a one-of-a-kind reference-whether you're attempting to implement a single unit on nature literature or a full course of study.