Classroom Caffeine
Classroom Caffeine
A Stories-To-Live-By Conversation with Catherine Manfra
A classroom can be a launchpad for climate action when reading meets real life. We sit down with Miami-area educator Catherine Manfra to explore how English language arts becomes a powerful space for climate literacy, creative expression, and student agency—especially in a region living with hurricanes, sea-level rise, and rapid development at the edge of the Everglades.
Catherine walks us through her Earth Day unit anchored by Hope Jahren’s The Story of More and climate-focused poetry, showing how accessible science writing invites teens into complex topics without overwhelming them. From lunchroom showcases to one-minute PSAs, her students translate facts into story, practice tight writing and media literacy, and share concrete steps that counter defeatism. We also unpack how giving students information and choice sparks deeper research, community involvement, and everyday action.
Beyond the classroom, we highlight the Stories-To-Live-By collective, a statewide network of teachers and researchers crafting place-based, multimodal approaches to climate education while navigating book bans and shifting policies. Catherine shares how the group’s workshops and shared resources build confidence. She also talks about how the Fairchild Challenge debate strengthens ELA standards, STEM integration, and civic discourse by asking students to argue multiple sides of timely environmental issues. It’s a hopeful blueprint for educators who want rigorous, inclusive climate literacies that prepare young people for a just, livable future.
If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a review with your favorite climate literacy text or project idea. Your feedback helps us bring more teacher-tested practices to more classrooms.
Catherine is a Florida native. Born in Hialeah, a suburb of Miami with a predominantly Hispanic community, she now lives in the Kendall area just south of Miami. She has seen Miami-Dade County continue to expand westward since her childhood, including encroachment on the Florida Everglades. The Florida Everglades are ecologically significant in their role as a subtropical wilderness, a habitat for many threatened and endangered species, and a provider of flood control, water filtration, and freshwater supply for millions of people. She became a part of the Stories-To-Live-By project by answering an initial online survey of teachers who incorporate environmental topics into their curriculum. After teaching all levels of high school English in public schools in Miami-Dade County for 22 years, Catherine now teaches at Palmer Trinity School, an independent private school. Additionally, Catherine is a part of the Junior League of Miami, a women's group that serves and focuses on women's and children's issues in the community from education to safety.
To cite this episode:
Persohn, L. (Host). (2025, Oct 14). A Stories-To-Live-By Conversation with Catherine Manfra. (Season 6, No. 4) [Audio podcast episode]. In Classroom Caffeine Podcast series. https://www.classroomcaffeine.com/guests. DOI: 10.5240/33A8-951D-21CD-B5CE-9F8A-B
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Education research has a problem. The work of brilliant researchers often doesn't reach the practice of brilliant teachers. Over the years, we've also talked about how the work of brilliant teachers often does not inform the work of education researchers. In this special series of Classroom Cafe, in collaboration with the Stories to Live by Collective, we highlight this group of K-12 teachers from across the state of Florida and former teachers now in higher education who are working together to fenze make and take action. We talk with educators and researchers who are working together to explore how literacy teaching can respond to the climate crisis. Since 2021, they have gathered in person and online to write, make art, share stories, and reflect on how climate change is shaping our classrooms and communities. Supported by grants and partnerships, they hold regular workshops and virtual meetings, creating space for teachers to learn from one another while navigating challenges like book bans, censorship laws, and the realities of living through major hurricanes. Through this work, the group is studying how teachers use stories, place-based activities, and multimodal composing to bring climate change into English language arts classrooms. Their collaborative research asks, how do teachers tell stories about climate change? How do they navigate the political, social, and environmental pressures of their schools? And how can they build new literacies that prepare young people for more just and livable futures? In each episode of this special series, we talk with a collaborator in the Stories to Live By collective about their experiences, connections, and learning through this work together. In this Stories to Live By episode, Catherine Monfra talks to us about her passion for supporting students to understand the environmental impact of their everyday choices. Catherine is a Florida native. Born in Hylia, a suburb of Miami with a predominantly Hispanic community, she now lives in the Kindle area just south of Miami. She has seen Miami-Dade County continue to expand westward since her childhood, including encroachment on the Florida Everglades. The Florida Everglades are ecologically significant in their role as a subtropical wilderness, a habitat for many threatened and endangered species, and a provider of flood control, water filtration, and a freshwater supply for millions of people. After teaching all levels of high school English in public schools in Miami-Dade County for 22 years, Catherine now teaches at Palmer Trinity School, an independent private school. Additionally, Catherine is a part of the Junior League of Miami, a women's group that serves and focuses on women's and children's issues in the community from education to safety. She became a part of the Stories to Live By project by answering an initial online survey of teachers that incorporate environmental topics into their curriculum. Catherine offers insights into teaching practices and her thinking around bringing climate literacies and environmental education into her English language arts classroom. So pour a cup of your favorite drink and join me, your host, Lindsay Person, for this special series of Classroom Caffeine. Stories to live by that are sure to energize your thinking and your teaching practice. Catherine, thank you for joining me. Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, thank you so much for having me, Lindsay.
SPEAKER_01:So, from your own experiences, will you share one or two moments that inform your thinking about climate literacies?
SPEAKER_00:So for me, it really started uh in elementary school with uh watching shows like Captain Planet, the cartoon, and I don't know, it just really impacted me. Uh, I was one of those uh students that whenever there was some kind of project related to Earth Day or the environment or anything like that, I was always very much engaged because even though I'm not much of an outdoorsy person, like I don't really do the camping thing, but I do realize how important our environment is and how we need to, you know, just take care of this place because we live on a finite planet that at some point, you know, is is going to give, and we're the ones responsible for taking care of it. So then when I became a high school English teacher, whenever I could fit in uh environmental texts or do environmental literature, I would, you know, find a way to put it into my curriculum so that my students could also be engaged in that. And I think the the current generation of students I have do recognize that, you know, this is an issue that we need to address um sooner rather than later.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's been my experience also, is the the generation coming up. I think even in their lifetimes, they feel like they've experienced um effects of the climate changing. And for them, it's not a matter that's up for debate. I think you know, they they do see the effects in their own lives. And I think there's nothing that shapes your thinking more than our own personal experiences.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. My daughter, who's 16 now, we have conversations about it, and you know, she gets very passionate about how she doesn't understand how there's people that could, you know, call it a hoax or or say that this isn't real. Because, like you said, even in her 16 years, like she'll point out, like, mom, I don't remember the summers being this unbearable, or I don't remember the thunderstorms, you know, being this bad, where it's almost like not mini hurricane, but like a mini tropical storm, like pops out of nowhere. So yeah, it's definitely here and and the way I handle my classroom is I believe that I am here to share information with my students and give them access to the information. And then it's their decision, you know, what they do with that. Do they want to go ahead and, you know, do their own deeper dive and learn more? Do they want to get involved in the community in ways that help the environment? I just give them the resources and then let them go from there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a I think it's a very smart approach because it does let everyone think about issues from their own lens in an informed way, right? Through those resources and and their own experiences. So, what do you want listeners to know about your work related to climate literacies?
SPEAKER_00:So, in in my classroom, I think it's important to share my personal experiences when it comes to the environment, whether that's what I do in my own time, you know, doing beach cleanups, you know, the little things recycling or composting, or just even being out in nature and writing about it, having those moments of just appreciating, you know, what we have right now, um, whether it's sitting by a lake or listening to the ocean waves, you know, all of that stuff I I think is important. And so I I share those experiences with my students. And then it's going into you know reading pieces that are related to the environment. There's so much poetry that touches upon the environment and nature, and I specifically have been using the story of more by Hope Jaren the last several years in my classroom. And I typically use it um around April, which is when Earth Day is. Uh, and so uh I've developed a curriculum using that novel. And so I'll have the students we we read it in class, and then I give them a culminating project. Uh, and and the project has has changed over the years. The first time I did it, I had them create science boards where they would during the lunch period go into the the lunchroom and uh share what they learned with their fellow uh classmates and schoolmates from around the school and just kind of uh talk with the students about the that particular book is broken into sections. So there's a section about the ocean, uh a section about uh food production, a section about the the earth itself. Um, and so each of the groups would get a different section of the book to talk about. Um, so that was the first couple years I did different variations of that. And then this past year, I had students create a PSA, a one one to one and a half minute PSA that they shared with the class. And then, of course, I told them if they wanted to upload it on YouTube, they could. Uh, and some of their videos or audio recordings were very creative. One of the students created like a spoken word poem based on what she learned from the book. There were several that created, you know, videos of animals and uh just uh general images of the earth and talking about ways that they could, you know, help. Because I think one of the most important things I share with the students is that any little decision that they make can make a difference. I don't want them to just throw their hands in the air and say, well, what I do doesn't make a difference because it does. If they decide to throw their water bottle, uh their plastic water bottle or their can of soda in the recycle bin instead of the general trash can, that's gonna make a difference. It's when they get this idea that it's it's not uh gonna help at all, this defeatism, if you will, that I'm trying to get them out of. And I think most of my students definitely do feel like they can make a difference. So that's that's kind of where I'm at in my classroom.
SPEAKER_01:And Catherine, this is such, I mean, it's such a positive teaching practice in general, right? To help our students understand that their actions do, in fact, matter, what they think matters and what they do matters. And the way that you've related that to a book that you all read together and a follow-up project, I think I can just only imagine the impact that that has on your students for today, but also in the long run, right? I think that's it's just such a critical message to share with young people, really with anyone, that what they do does have an impact on themselves, you know, and the way they feel about things, but also on everyone around them and ultimately, you know, their environment and as you pointed out, the planet that we all share. So what a what a great way to utilize a story. And this is one I have not read yet. So I'm gonna have to add this to my my reading list, the story of more. Because yeah, I I can imagine there's so many different ways that projects could go.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. The first book I that I read by Hope Jarren was called Lab Girl. Her writing, because a lot of times scientific writing is very dry or boring or technical for a lot of people. And so the way she writes is just so clear. I mean, I even even when I first introduced the book with my own students, I tell them, I'm like, you're going to read this book and you're going to be able to understand it in such a way because she writes for the average person to be able to understand um what's going on. It's, you know, not, I mean, she does use technical terms and the science and everything, but it's in such a way that you can see, you can feel what's going on and digest the information in in a way that's not boring, that's not so dense. Um, and so I think it's it's a great book to use with the students. And and I the, you know, the first when we read the introduction together and and we finish it um together, I I look at them and I s and I ask them, I'm like, you know, was there anything in that introduction that you didn't understand or that was so technical that that you didn't get it? Or was it so clear that you're like, wow, like I get it. I understand what she's talking about. And and they all they're like, yeah, I want to keep reading. Um, and that's such a a wonderful thing when the students are like, yeah, this isn't boring, because unfortunately, a lot of times the literature that we have to cover is not easy for the students. And so when when you get a piece where um it's it's easily digestible, it it just it's it makes it more enjoyable. And then seeing them be excited about continuing to read and wanting to read what she has to say really just brings it home.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that accessibility of a text is is so critical. And for it to contain important and easy to understand information on top of being engaging, it sounds like it's just a great choice for your audience. Yes. Yeah. So let me ask you kind of a follow-up question to that, Catherine. So you participated in the Stories to Live by project, and I'm wondering how that may have helped to further or shape your thinking about how you talk about these topics, you know, how you might inspire high school age learners to maybe continue thinking on this path, or, you know, what do they do with those ideas? I guess I'm just wondering how the project has helped you to sort of further your own thinking and your teaching.
SPEAKER_00:Well, first of all, I was so grateful to be part of this group of teachers from around the state. And it just made me feel like I'm not alone in my, you know, wanting to include these types of topics in my classroom because it does feel sometimes like we're being restricted in what we can teach and not teach. And so this group reaffirmed that the things I'm doing in my classroom with environmental literacy is important and that there are others that are doing similar things. And so I was very grateful to be able to add my own ideas with the other teachers, learning new ways to, you know, share environmental projects with my students and just kind of have this springboard of working with others and and sharing ideas. I mean, it was each time we met, um, whether it was virtually or in person, I just I felt uh a sense of of community and a sense of, you know, we're we're doing the right thing and we're doing something in our classrooms that is going um to benefit our our students from, you know, just sharing a different, I mean, even the children's books that we would receive in our meetings together, I shared it with my high school students because honestly, I still think that high school students are children at heart and they love to be read too. And so I would read the the children's books that I received from the group and you know, just just kind of have a little moment with them to rem you know remember what it's like uh to be a kid. And you know, I think the most important thing from the project was just learning a variety of ways to incorporate in our classrooms the ideas of you know environmentalism in general. It's not something that a lot of times we know many of our colleagues stay away from the general, you know, environmental topic because of the politics involved, but we were like, you know, this is important and there are ways to get around it, you know, especially like if it's important to get the parents to understand what we're doing um in our classrooms and and the students as well. So those were the kind of conversations that we had, and we would walk away feeling like, okay, you know, we can do this, and um, we don't have to be uh afraid of what we're doing because in the end we are teaching, which is our job as educators, and we're doing it in a way that is not pushing any particular agenda, we're just sharing the information and where the students go from there is up to them. And also, uh as I mentioned, the the parents.
SPEAKER_01:I think there's obviously so much to learn just by inviting critical perspectives, regardless of what the issue is. But whenever you, whenever your students know that you're talking about something that could be seen as contentious in some circles, I think whenever you can push them to say, well, here is information. What are we going to do with it? What questions do you have about it? What kind of sense are you making of it? And I think encouraging that um even healthy debate within our own classrooms, it meets a lot of educational goals, right? Of you know, supporting civic engagement and um the idea of collaborating with others and you know, civil civil conversations and discourse. I think all of those things are just so important and maybe even more important now than they have been within my or your teaching career, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And I've also been uh I'm in the Miami-Dade County system, and I'm lucky enough that we have the Fairchild Tropical Gardens, uh, botanical gardens here. And for I think it's over 15 years now, they've been holding an annual Fairchild Challenge that elementary, middle, and high school students can participate in with their teachers. And each challenge, you know, it's gone through uh changes over the years, but it's a program that you can fit into your curriculum. They provide, you know, what standards are being met by these challenges with our students. STEM is definitely a big area that they want to promote in our classroom. So it also, you know, allows us to incorporate that. So Fairchild, uh, I've been doing it for I think close to 10 years. Though the main one that I've been participating in is the environmental debate challenge. And I do that with um my AP language and composition students because they have to learn how to argue and argue well, have a line of reasoning when they're, you know, coming up with their ideas. And the environmental topics that the Fairchild provides us as teachers in the classroom are very topical, very up to date. And the students always have a great time with it because I do it first in my classroom where they debate against each other in groups, and then I pick usually the top students or the ones that I see are really engaged, and I will approach them individually and say, I'd love you to come and represent the school at this challenge, because I can take up to six students to the actual debate challenge. And every year that I've taken them after the challenge is over, they're always like, Oh, I want to do this again next year. Of course, they don't have me the following year, so it's a new set of students, but they always find it very engaging and just that sense of competition as well. Like, you know, are their arguments going to be better than the other school they're competing against? And like we were saying, it's important to be able to have those difficult conversations. A lot of times they want to be on the positive environmental side, but they may randomly be selected to argue against the environment or you know, the the negative side of it. And so they they have to think of it in in that way as well. And so it's important, you know, for for them to see that it's it's not always easy that there's the economic and business kind of side of things and jobs at stake if certain environmental laws are are put into place. So they get to see that real world argument going in into this challenge. So that's this is definitely something that uh I'm I'm very appreciated that Fairchild has this for us as educators.
SPEAKER_01:What a wonderful interdisciplinary learning opportunity, I think, that you've created all year long, but certainly that you're tapping into at the Fairchild Botanical Gardens. The idea that even though you are teaching English, high school English, and you're able to bring in these STEM concepts, which I feel like have been, you know, on everyone's mind for at least the last decade or so, and being able to integrate those ideas so seamlessly. You know, obviously, if you're teaching English language arts, there is content to that. And there is also you you may have to have texts that relate to something in order to teach your English language arts concept. So I love that you've been able to bring in the environmental literacies and climate literacies as material for your English content area. It's it's a really great blending of topics that I think you know obviously has so much meaning to your students. So it's really, really good stuff, great examples. So given the challenges of today's educational climate, and you've you've touched on this a bit, what message do you want other teachers to hear?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's important that as educators, we understand that we are the professionals in our classroom, and that we know that what we're doing for our students is for their benefit. We're not here to harm them, we're not here to promote an agenda. We're here to open their eyes, open their minds to the information out there, and then let them go from there. At the end of the day, uh the the parents still have a lot of power in their homes, right? And I and I think unfortunately, because of the political climate, there are a lot of uh misconceptions that teachers are trying to force our beliefs on our students, and that's not the case at all. I think as educators, all the educators I know personally, we we genuinely care about our students and our communities, and we just want what's best for them. We're not out here to harm at all. We're here to educate. And I think for us as teachers, and and my message to other teachers would be to not be afraid if you know that what you're doing for your students is coming from a good place and and that you know you're there because you care. Continue to do what you're doing because we need good teachers in the classroom, we need educators that love what they do. It just feels like the more and more time goes on, a lot of good educators are are leaving the classroom because of the political climate and just because of the negative pressures that are put on us. And and I get it, I mean, myself included, my I'm I'm getting to a point in my career. I I just finished my 22nd year of teaching where I start to think, you know, my mental health is important, and you know, I need to to look out for for myself and my family, but I I also know that I want the next generation to have information that you know will help them grow and is not coming from just one side of the spectrum. I had a conversation with uh a student a couple years ago where we were talking about something that was on the news and they were like, oh, I don't know why, you know, we're even talking about this or whatever. And I looked at them and I said, but listen, if we don't have these conversations in our classrooms, how are you going to go out into the real world and know how to carry on these difficult conversations? We can't avoid having these conversations. We have to be able to understand one another. And a lot of times it's just being okay to say, I agree to disagree, and that's all right. But not, you know, not having those conversations or avoiding those conversations uh is not helpful. So as teachers, I I would say, you know, do what you do because you care and because you love what you do. And you know, you may not reach all the students, you may not reach all the parents, but you you will reach those and and you will make impacts that will ripple. And that's what our our jobs are.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think that's a really a really beautiful way to think about it. And I do think there are many folks who get into teaching in order to support others, right? And to to pass uh knowledge and critical thinking on to a next generation. There was something else you were you were talking about when it comes to these contentious topics, and sometimes I think teachers may feel like they need to shy away. But I think the the thing that's so important to acknowledge is that oftentimes when we do get into a conversation with students around a topic that could be seen as contentious, we are often following their lead, right? We are often we are often um going in a direction that our students wanted to go. And so, you know, I think that that's also part of the good work of teaching is that you, you know, you follow what your students have on their minds as well. So yeah. Well, um, Catherine, I thank you so much for spending some time with me today and for sharing the great work that you're doing in your classroom. And And thanks so much for thinking about climate and environmental literacies with me.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you again, Lindsay. All right, have a great day.
SPEAKER_01:By centering teachers' experiences and creativity, the Stories to Live By collective reimagines literacy education as a powerful way to engage with the climate crisis. Together, members of this collective are showing how stories and teaching practices rooted in place can help communities respond to climate change while nurturing hope, justice, and resilience for future generations. If you have an interest in joining this group, please reach out to Dr. Alexandra Panos, Associate Professor of Literacy Studies at the University of South Florida at ampanos at USF.edu. That's ampanos at usf.edu.