Exploring Climate Voices

Overview

In this first lesson of Voices for a Changing Climate, students are introduced to discursive writing as a way of examining an issue from more than one perspective. Using short climate-change examples, they distinguish discursive writing from persuasive argument and identify how purpose, audience, language, tone, and structure shape meaning.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• understand the purpose and characteristics of a discursive text
• identify how writers analyse, reflect, explore, and speculate
• recognise how audience and purpose influence language, tone, and structure
• compare discursive writing with writing that argues a single position
• use accurate terminology to discuss features of texts

Success criteria

• I can explain what a discursive text is and what it is designed to do.
• I can identify language choices that show analysis, reflection, exploration, or speculation.
• I can describe how a text’s audience and purpose affect its tone and structure.
• I can support my observations with evidence from a climate-change example.

Curriculum links

• Crafting Texts — establishing a voice and modifying language, style, and tone for form, audience, and purpose.
• Text Studies — examining how language, tone, structure, and persuasive features work together to shape meaning.
• Oral Communication — analysing how tone, language choices, and delivery affect credibility and impact.
• Grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary — developing accurate and purposeful language choices, including active and passive voice.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Hook: one issue, different voices. Teacher displays two short statements from the climate-change opening slides: “Climate change is the greatest challenge facing our generation” and “What might climate change mean for communities in different parts of Aotearoa?” Students silently decide which statement sounds more like a firm argument and which invites exploration, then discuss their reasoning with a partner.

2. 7–17 min · Direct teach: what is discursive writing? Teacher introduces the definition and features on the discursive writing teaching slides: a discursive text explores an issue by considering ideas, perspectives, evidence, possibilities, and implications rather than simply trying to make the reader agree. Students record a brief definition and sort the key purposes—analyse, reflect, explore, and speculate—against teacher-provided examples on the discursive writing investigation sheet.

3. 17–29 min · Guided close reading. Teacher reads two short climate-change extracts from the paired climate extracts aloud, modelling how to notice cautious verbs, questions, modal language, contrast, evidence, and inclusive or impersonal phrasing. Students annotate each extract, identifying its purpose, likely audience, tone, and one feature that makes it discursive; they then share one observation with another pair.

4. 29–42 min · Collaborative comparison. Teacher displays the comparison task and sentence prompts on the text comparison and discussion slides. In groups of three, students compare a discursive extract with a single-position argument from the worksheet. They complete a table covering purpose, audience, viewpoint, structure, tone, language choices, and treatment of evidence, then prepare one evidence-based comparison beginning, “Unlike the argumentative text, the discursive text…”

5. 42–53 min · Apply: create a discursive opening. Teacher models transforming the statement “Schools should ban cars near the gate” into a more exploratory opening, such as: “Reducing traffic near school gates could improve safety, although it may create difficulties for some whānau.” Students write a two- or three-sentence opening on a climate-related issue, such as school energy use, public transport, or adaptation to extreme weather. Their opening must acknowledge at least two considerations and use one exploratory or speculative phrase, such as “One possibility is…” or “This may suggest…”

6. 53–60 min · Share and exit reflection. Teacher invites two or three students to read their openings and revisits the success criteria on the plenary and exit slides. Students complete the final section of the self-check and exit reflection: define discursive writing, name one feature, and explain how their own opening avoids arguing only one side. Collect responses to identify priorities for lesson 2.

Resources

• the Voices for a Changing Climate slide deck
• the discursive writing investigation sheet
• Projector or interactive display
• Highlighters or coloured pens
• Exercise books or digital writing spaces
• Board and markers
• Timer

Assessment

• Listen to partner and group discussions, checking whether students distinguish exploring an issue from arguing a single position.
• Review annotations and comparison tables for accurate identification of audience, purpose, tone, structure, and language features.
• Use the exit reflection and student-written openings to assess whether students can apply discursive features and identify next-step needs.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank on the worksheet with terms such as perspective, evidence, possibility, implication, tone, and audience, plus sentence starters including “The writer appears to…” and “This creates a tone of…”.
• Read extracts aloud, allow students to listen and annotate, and pair students strategically. Offer enlarged, uncluttered text and additional processing time for students with dyslexia or other learning needs.
• Support multilingual learners with explanations of modal language and examples of cautious phrasing; permit initial discussion in a familiar language before sharing ideas in English.
• Challenge confident writers to use an active and a passive construction deliberately, then explain which better suits the audience and purpose.