Facing Calamity: Climate Change Facts and Fictions

Lesson 9
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ELA

Unit 5

8th Grade

Lesson 9 of 23

Objective


Determine a theme in the short story, "Notes from a Bottle" and explain how the author develops it; identify literary allusions and explain how they help to build meaning in a text.

Readings and Materials


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Target Task


Writing Prompt

What theme does Stevenson develop in this text? And although the author of this story does not explicitly mention climate change, how can the theme he develops in this story apply to the current climate crisis? Carefully explain your reasoning and what we can learn from this story today.

Sample Response

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Key Questions


Close Read Questions

  • How do the characters in the story initially respond to what is happening? What does this reveal about their perspective? Provide at least three examples from the story to support your answer.

  • Locate Stevenson's allusion to the biblical story of Noah and the flood. How does this allusion develop meaning in the story? How does your knowledge of the causes and outcome of Noah's story impact your understanding of "Notes from a Bottle"?

  • How do the characters in the text respond as the flooding continues? What does this reveal about their changing perspective? Provide at least three examples from the story to support your answer.

  • At the end of the story, Alice MacNeil tries to get everyone to sing "Nearer My God to Me,"—a song that the passengers aboard the Titanic sang as the boat was sinking. How does this allusion to the Titanic develop meaning in the story?

Discussion Questions

  • Reread the title (and subtitle) of this story. How does it develop your understanding of the text? What do you think happened? What does it suggest to the reader?

Vocabulary


Literary Terms

allusion

n.

an indirect (implied) reference to something/someone from literature, history, or culture

theme

n.

the author’s message in the text about the way the world works or what it means to be human. Generally applied to literary texts (fiction, poetry, dramatic works)

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Common Core Standards


  • RL.8.2 — Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
  • RL.8.9 — Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.

Supporting Standards

L.8.6
RL.8.1
RL.8.4
RL.8.10
SL.8.1
SL.8.6
W.8.1
W.8.1.a
W.8.1.b
W.8.4
W.8.9.a
W.8.10
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Lesson 8

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Lesson 10

Lesson Map

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