Tuesdays with Morrie: Learning About Death and Self
Outcome:
1- Students will understand perceptions of death in various cultures.
2- Students will reflect on who they are and who they want to become.
Procedure:
1- Students will understand perceptions of death in various cultures.
2- Students will reflect on who they are and who they want to become.
Procedure:
- Attention getter: Students will have a starter on the board to free write about in their writing journals: Morrie said that “Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.” What would you do differently? Would you do anything differently? Were there any passages from Tuesdays with Morrie that affect our answer? If so, what?
- Students will be broken into groups of 3-4 people. Each group will have information about a different culture’s views on death- North American, Christian, Buddhist, Maori, and Ancient Egypt. Students will read their information, have one person record a summary of their findings, and prepare to share with the class.
- Students will discuss the interesting things that they found from the readings on death. Students will reflect- Which culture do you think Morrie’s views on death would best align with?
- After talking about death across the globe and through time, return to the attention getter question. What would you do differently? Ask for multiple examples from the class and any passages that affected them.
- Tell students that Morrie left his legacy spelled out on his tombstone. It read: “A teacher to the last.” Based on the new perceptions of death and the legacy that students want to leave behind, have them think about things that they would include in their own obituary.
- Students will watch a clip from the movie “Serendipity” where John Cusack’s character reads his own obituary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1mutE1t1n8
- Students will have time to write their own obituary. If there is time, students will share their work with a partner.
- Hearing the words of a man preparing to die can help us assess our lives. Will we have regrets when we get to that point? Will we have such an optimistic outlook on life? How can we be better in our lives as to be someone that we want people to remember us as being? Tell students to continue to think about these questions as they polish their obituaries.
- Students will polish their obituaries to turn in during the next class. They will be assessed based on whether or not they put thought into who they want to become and how they want to change based on the life and teachings of Morrie Schwartz.
