1. Readiness
a. Motivation:
“Today we will be talking about the stages
of death. To get us started thinking about it I have a handout of a poem
called Your Lone Journey. Each of you will have a copy to keep and follow
along while I read it out loud.”
Your Lone Journey
Paintings by M.B. Goffstein
For a song by Rosa Lee and Doc Watson
God’s given us year of happiness here.
Now we must part.
And as the angels come and call for you,
the pains of grief tug at my heart.
Oh, my darling!
My darling!
My heart breaks as you take
your lone journey.
Oh, the days will be empty,
The nights so long, without you, my love.
And as God calls for you I’m left alone.
But we will meet in Heaven above.
Oh, my darling!
My darling!
My heart breaks as you take
your lone journey.
Fond memories I’ll keep
of happy days that on earth we trod.
And when I come, we will walk hand in hand
as one in Heaven, in the family of God.
Oh, my darling!
My darling!
My heart breaks as you take
your lone journey.
“This poem is a story of an experience with death that one person
when through.”
b. Tapping and Developing
Background Experience:
“How many of you have experienced a death in your family or someone
you know?” “How did you feel when it happened or when you
found out that it had happened?” (Students share experiences such
as sad, mad, unhappy.)
“It sounds like almost everyone has had some type of experience
with death. Even if you haven’t, right now with the war and the
tsunami that just happened we have heard about people dying everyday
on the news. In the newspaper we can also read obituaries of people
who have died in the community. (Show an example). The experiences you
have, but especially the feeling that you felt when somebody dies is
what we will be focusing on in this lesson which is about the stages
of death.”
c. Concept Development:
“To better understand death and the stages of death there are
a few concepts that will be talked about in our textbook reading that
you will need to know. These words are terminally ill, inner resources,
and monologue. Write these in your notebooks. For the vocabulary that
are made of two words break them down and look at one word at a time
to figure out their meaning. For example think about what terminally
means and then what ill means and then put them together to make one
definition. Now on your own write what you think the definition is.”
(Students work and write what they think the definitions are)
“Now partner up and share your definitions and then revise or
keep your definitions or come up with a better one with your partner.”
(Work with partners)
“Now as a class some of you can share your partner definitions.
(students share a couple of examples. If the examples are okay, I will
tell the students...) "If your definitions are close to these you
can leave them, if you like one of the definitions shared by a student,
change yours. Please make it something you think you can remember. Later,
if you want, each of you on your own can draw a picture or something
that will help you remember these words.”
d. Purpose for reading:
“Today you will be reading from your textbooks to become more
informed about death and the stages of death. In the text you will learn
about the process of emotions/feelings that a person goes through when
someone dies.”
2. Silent Reading:
Students will read pages 312-316 independently. While reading the students
will take notes and make a thematic web (graphic
organizer) with the word death in the middle. (Before the students begin
to read I will model on the board how the thematic web will work.)
Differentiation: Students who have
trouble reading may listen to the reading on tape. Students can make
their thematic web on paper by hand or use the computer to create
their own thematic web using shapes in a word document.
3. Discussion:
After reading students will get into small groups (3-4) and share with
the people in their group the thematic web that they made while reading.
Then in their groups the students will discuss the questions given to
them. Then they will be discussed as a whole class.
Discussion questions:
1. What are the stages of death?
2. What is thanatology?
3. What are the similarities and differences between hospices and hospitals?
4. What does it mean to hide from death?
5. What are terminally ill people most afraid of?
6. What might happen if a person never goes through the stages of death?
4. Rereading:
Students can go back and reread the chart on pg. 315 to review the 5 stages
of death.
5. Follow-Up (reinforcement):
"Your assignment to work on is to develop questions for an interview
and interview two people, like your grandparents or neighbors if you don't
have grandparents, and ask them what they think about death and dying
and if they have dealt with a death of someone around them ask them about
the grieving process that they went through."
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