Questions the Story Helps us to Consider

How do the rules of our society: Shape who we are? Affect how we feel? Impact the decisions we make? Change how we think about

the world and ourselves?

Warm-Up1. How do the things in this image

compare with our reality?2. What do you think the future will be

like?3. Why do we naturally wonder what

the future will be like?4. How does the thinking about the

future help us today?Drawn in 1950.

What artist believed Earth would look like

in the year 2020

The Last Dog• Written in the 1990’s by

Katherine Patterson

Katherine Paterson Background• Born in China in the year 1932 to U.S.

Missionaries• At age 5, her family was forced to leave

China during the Japanese invasion of 1937

• The family moved to Richmond, Virginia for a short while before returning to China to live in Shanghai

• In 1940, the family was forced to flee again, this time to North Carolina

• Her family moved 18 times between 1937 and 1950 because of the war in China and her Father’s job

Chinese Civil War 1927-1950Nationalists

Vs. Communists

Katherine Paterson Background• Katherine Paterson always felt like an outsider, because she was always moving

• When she arrived to the U.S., she

says she felt “poor, small, and foreign” on the playground, even though she was technically an American

• She claims that being an outsider has made her a better writer

The Last Dog: Science Fiction

• Combines real and scientific information, with elements from author’s imagination

• Usually takes place in the future• What power does imagining the

future have?• What is the purpose of thinking

about what the future might hold for humans or society?

Earth in the Future• The Earth has been poisoned by pollution and global warming

• In this future, the world is uninhabitable, so people live in a dome

• The society in this story is only slightly different from our own

HOW GLOBAL WARMING WORKS

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

The Sun’s energy passes through the car’s windshield.

This energy (heat) is trapped inside the car and cannot pass back through the windshield, causing the inside of the car to warm up.

Example of the Greenhouse Effect

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMINGIncreased Temperature

Habitat Damage and Species Affected

Changes in Water Supply

Rising Sea Level

PORTAGE GLACIER

1914 2004

Alaska

Photos: NOAA Photo Collection and Gary Braasch – WorldViewOfGlobalWarming.org

COLORADO RIVER

Arizona

June 2002 Dec 2003

Global Atmospheric Concentration of CO2

Leaning Goal Analyze the text effectively by:

Making inferences using logic and reason

Citing evidence from the text to sound more logical

Elaborating on ideas in order to communicate more effectively