How to Get Students to Care About Climate Change in Your Classroom
Schoolutions: Curious Educators. Evidence-Based Strategies. Classrooms Where Every Child Thrives.
05/13/26
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When students shut down during climate conversations, the answer isn't more data; it's better storytelling. In this short from my S5E37 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, climate educator and author Xochitl Bentley explains why wrapping difficult facts in stories is the key to unlocking student engagement, authentic voice, and real civic action in your classroom.
Whether you're focused on inspiring students, improving student participation, or building a pro-kid mindset across your school, Xochitl's approach to environmental storytelling offers a whole child framework that works across ELA, science, social studies, and beyond.
Watch, reflect, and share Part 1 & Part 2 of our @schoolutionspodcast S5E37 interview.
📧 Book a coaching session with me here if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
Schoolutions is for teachers, education coaches, instructional leaders, school administrators, parents, homeschoolers, teacher mentors, school counselors, and anyone committed to empowered educators and thriving students. Tune in every Monday and Friday for evidence-based, classroom-ready strategies you can apply right away.
📚 CHAPTERS
0:00 Why students shut down during climate conversations
0:22 The problem with facts and statistics alone
0:38 Why storytelling unlocks student engagement
0:52 The power of community-rooted stories
1:05 Authentic voice, honest call to action
#Schoolutions #SchoolutionsPodcast #ForeverGettingBetter #CuriosityDriven #EvidenceBased #ClassroomReadyStrategies #StudentEngagement #ClassroomBelonging #InspiringStudents #ActiveLearning #EffectiveTeaching #InstructionalStrategies #StudentMotivation #TeacherCoaching #InstructionalCoaching #NewTeachers #MentorTeachers #ProfessionalDevelopment #SchoolLeadership #EquityInEducation #CulturallyResponsiveTeaching #InclusiveClassrooms #AntiBiasTeaching #ProKidMindset #WholeChild #StudentSuccess #EmpoweredEducators #EducationTransformation #TeacherImpact #ClimateEducation #EnvironmentalStorytelling #StudentVoice #Schoolutions #ClimateStorytelling #ClimateStewards #XochitlBentley
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Previous Episode
What if the most powerful climate tool we have isn't a statistic, it's a story?
In Part 1 of my S5E37 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, I sit down with teacher Xochitl Bentley to unpack how using six specific storytelling stances can effectively engage students with climate change issues. Xochitl emphasizes that stories can be a more powerful tool than statistics in fostering environmental education and stewardship, highlighting their role in the broader education for sustainability movement.
Some resources mentioned:
📚 Helping Students Become Climate Stewards: Storytelling for Environmental Advocacy and Problem Solving by Xochitl Bentley
📚 Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor by Rob Nixon
📚The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
📚Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
➡️Fukushima Daiichi Accident
CHAPTERS:
0:00 – Introduction & Who Is Xochitl Bentley
1:45 – The Research: Rob Nixon & Slow Violence
3:30 – What Sparked Xochitl's Passion for Climate Stewardship
5:00 – The Food Story That Hooked Students (Heather's Classroom)
6:10 – Lessons from Japan: Foresight, Islands & Sustainability
8:30 – Why Facts Alone Don't Drive Action
9:30 – Wrapping Data in Stories: The Core Argument
10:30 – The Six Storytelling Stances (Overview)
11:00 – Stance 1: Storytelling for Systemic Responsiveness
12:10 – Stance 2: Storytelling About Root Causes
13:10 – Stance 3: Storytelling Beyond Either/Or
14:10 – Stance 4: Storytelling for Kinship & Reciprocity
15:20 – Stance 5: Storytelling for Intergenerational Awareness
16:30 – The Seventh Generation Principle Connection
17:10 – Stance 6: Storytelling for Collective Mobilization
18:10 – Lightning Round Begins
18:45 – Book Rec: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
19:40 – One Word Students Feel: Overwhelmed
20:10 – Most Underrated Genre: Ghost Stories
21:00 – Biggest Myth in Environmental Education
21:30 – A Student Becomes a Climate Steward When...
22:00 – Wrap Up & What's Coming in Part 2
🎧 Part 2 drops Friday, where Xochitl walks through the full storytelling flow and real climate stewardship projects from her classroom.
Join our community of educators committed to cultivating student success, inspired teaching, and creating inclusive classrooms with a pro-kid mindset focused on the whole child.
📧 🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Book a coaching session with me here if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Don't forget to🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE!
#schoolutions #schoolutionspodcast #forevergettingbetter #curiositydriven #evidencebasedstrategies #classroomreadystrategies #StudentEngagement #TeacherCoaching #InstructionalStrategies #ClimateEducation #EffectiveTeaching #ClassroomBelonging #CulturallyResponsiveTeaching
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Next Episode
What if the secret to student engagement, student motivation, and inspiring students wasn't a new app or a new behavior system, but storytelling?
In Part 2 of my S5E37 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Xochitl Bentley (author of Helping Students Become Climate Stewards) walks us through what climate stewardship projects look and feel like in real classrooms: from a Green Ambassador Grant field trip to TreePeople Eco Park in LA to a student-led postcard campaign to city representatives. These aren't assigned projects. They're sparked by genuine encounters with stewardship, and they ripple outward into the community.
You’ll learn:
✦ How to make the case for environmental justice education in any classroom
✦ The "read with the grain / read against the grain" strategy for counter-storytelling
✦ Flash fiction + news stories = student agency in climate narratives
✦ What a real climate stewardship project looks like, start to finish
✦ The 3 questions every student should carry with them for life
💫Make sure to watch Part 1 & check out some resources mentioned:
➡️Flash fiction technique borrowed from writer Kathy Fish: thinking like a mosaicist
➡️The Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a springboard for student flash fiction writing
➡️Louisiana's Cancer Alley as a case study for rhetorical strategies in ELA
➡️Field trip to TreePeople eco park in Los Angeles
Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction & Part 1 Recap
1:45 – The "Read With / Against the Grain" Strategy
4:00 – Banking Student Questions as Visible Inquiry
5:30 – Flash Fiction + News Stories = Student Agency
8:00 – Making the Case for Environmental Justice in Any Classroom
10:30 – Environmental Hazards as Public Health Emergencies
11:30 – The Green Ambassador Grant Project
12:30 – TreePeople Eco Park Field Trip
14:30 – Student-Led Community Showcase & Postcard Campaign
15:45 – Defining "Climate Steward"
17:00 – The Three Questions for Future Ancestors
18:00 – Reading from the Book's Preface
19:30 – Olivia's 3 Big Takeaways
21:00 – Next Episode Preview
📧 Book a coaching session with me here if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Next Week: International educator and author Rachael Thrash is about to challenge everything you think you know about what student leadership looks like. She makes a compelling case in her new book, Let the Learners Lead, for why handing real power to students doesn't just change schools, it changes the world.
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
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