These lessons are designed to invoke debate, discussion, reading and the formation of a youth prize entry in response to our 2022 theme: Coming Up For Air: Writing the Climate Crisis.
LESSON PLANS
INSPIRATION
Three lessons to get you inspired about this year’s theme!
1. Lesson One: Wonder Walk
Share your wonder walks with us! We hope that you get some fun responses to the wonder walk challenge and would be keen for you to send evidence of your class wonder walks back to Orwell HQ where we can share them with other schools on the Orwell Youth Prize Instagram.
2. Lesson Two: George Orwell, The Original Eco-Warrior
3. Lesson Three: If I Ruled the World
3A. Lesson Three ALTERNATIVE: The Common Toad
RESEARCH
A lesson to help you begin your research!
4. Lesson 4: Research
FIND YOUR FORM
Explore and experiment with different forms of writing, to find the perfect form for your own writing!
5. Lesson 5: Find Your Form
START WRITING
A lesson to help you conquer the blank page and start writing!
6. Lesson 6: Start Writing
Still to come – check back soon for our final lesson on Responding to Feedback!
You can also still access our 2021 lesson plans here. And you can find our guide through the pathway for individual entrants and additional resources here.
KEY QUESTION: CLASS DISCUSSION & DEBATE
We are asking all young people who enter their work into the Orwell Youth Prize this year to also submit a short answer to the following question:
What one positive change would you like to see to help tackle the climate crisis?
We’d really like to encourage you to debate this question with your students with our 2022 theme in mind. We’re hoping students will think personally, tangibly and locally about this question. Rather than stating the outcome we want the idea – and something small and local could be linked to a global problem. What would it take to make this change happen? And what’s standing in the way?