1. Tuesday’s With Morrie
Mitch Albom

2. Introduction:
Mitch Albom was voted the number 1 sports columnist ten times by the Associated Press Sports Editors. He writes for the Detroit Free Press.
TWM reached best-seller status. It is a memoir of a person’s experience with a spiritual mentor.
It is a non-fiction story and is thought-provoking.
Unit seeks to point the beauty of Morrie’s life, and the humility and honesty of the author.

3. No Books, No Grades, One Student
Non-fiction can range from paragraphs to novels. It is rooted in fact. Concerns itself with people who actually lived and events that happened.
Mitch was a student of Morries’s. They lost touch after Mitch graduated and met again in the last few months of Morrie’s life. Albom learned valuable life lessons from his teacher and terms them “life’s greatest lesson”. These are included in the book.

4. Non-fiction Characteristics
Types of Nonfiction:
A: Essay
1) Authors ideas or attitudes.
2) Humorous or serious.
B. History
Events
Persons
C. Biography
Living subject
Deceased subject
D. Autobiography (biography written by oneself)
E. Critical Review.
Books
Plays
Film
Television

5. Lou Gehrig’s Disease Webquest
What is the technical term for ALS?
What causes the disease?
What are the early symptoms?
How does the disease progress?
What are the treatments?
Why is ALS called Lou Gehrig’s disease?

6. The Last Thesis
In the opening four pages of TWM. Explain what the following quotations mean to you.
“Mostly, my thanks to Morrie, for wanting to do this last thesis together.”
“A funeral was held in lieu of graduation.”
“…. When he smiles it’s as if you’d just told him the first joke on earth.”
“I didn’t want to forget him. Maybe I didn’t want him to forget me.”
“When he steps back, I see that he is crying”.

7. Student, Teacher, Lesson
Define Conflict?
Internal vs. External
1) Person against Person – one person tries to block another from reaching a goal.
2) Person against Nature – a character’s goals are challenged by an animal, place, weather conditions, or other natural force.
3) Person against Self- a person works against something within his or her own nature.
4) Person against Society – a character is held back from a goal by an attitude in society.
5) Person against fate – a person seems doomed by predetermined situations.
6) Person against machine – a character is challenged by progress.
PROVIDE REAL LIFE EXAMPLES OF EACH!

8. Tension of Opposites:
Explain how Morrie’s tension of opposites is another description of conflict?
Where in the book to this point have you observed that “pull back and forth”?
What does Morrie mean by his response, “Love always wins”?

9. The Lessons Begin
Comment on the following conversations with Morrie. What does each tell the reader about his character?
His interest in the newspaper strike.
His comment regarding his dependency
His connection to the suffering of others (Bosnia, ect.)
“The most important thing in life is to give out love, and let it come in.”
“Love is the only rational act.”

10. First Tuesday: Silence in the Classroom
Quote Discussion WS
Blog

11. 2nd & 3rd Tuesday Discussion
Throughout the book, Mitch Albom uses educational terminology to emphasize the relationship that began in college. Indicate the “appropriateness” in each situation listed below.
Mitch suggests tape recording sessions because he knows Morrie wants to share his experience.
Morrie reminds Mitch that we all need probing from time to time in order to achieve our destinies.
After Mitch agrees to be the student in a class of one, he begins to make plans for what needs to be done.
In referring to Morrie’s old friend Maurie Stein, who is losing his hearing. Morrie’s comment is a lesson on friendship.
Albom titles Morrie’s reminiscences of childhood “The professor”

12. 2nd & 3rd Tuesday
Course Curriculum WS
2nd Tuesday Blog

13. 4th & 5th Tuesday “As I See It”/ “Mitch and His Brother” WS
4th Tuesday Blog

14. 4th & 5th Tuesday Discuss
Find in the book life situations which could be responsible for the attributes listed below (use your “As I See It” WS)
Spirituality
Physical Contact
Immersion in career/work
Death
Marriage/Family

15. 4th & 5th Tuesday: Lou Gehrig/Luckiest Man?
In the italicized section after “The Forth Tuesday”, Mitch & Morrie talk about Lou Gehrig’s famous farewell speech. Find the speech on the internet and read it. Answer the following:
1) Where and when did the speech take place? In what ways are Gehrig’s comments ironic?
2) Lou Gehrig had a fatal, horrible disease. Why did he consider himself a lucky man?
3) What do Gehrigs comments reflect about his philosophy of life?
4) Do Morrie’s beliefs resemble Gehrigs?
5) List some reasons why you might consider yourself one of the luckiest people on earth.

16. 6th & 7th Tuesday: Everything is Transitory
Discuss:
1) In Mitch’s conversation with Charlotte at the beginning of “The Sixth Tuesday”, what sets the tone?
2) What is the tone in “The Professor, Part Two”? How is this tone created?
3) Does the setting of the story, in a sickroom, in any way affect the tone? If yes, in what ways?
4) How do Morrie’s attitudes about his condition affect Mitch? Do their discussions bring enlightenment to Mitch? How do these chapters affect you?
What is usually the tone of a book about a dying character? Does this hold true in this book?

17. 6th & 7th Tuesday
“Feeling & Aging” WS
Complete ALL BLOGS

18. 8th & 9th Tuesday Watch rest of Ted Koppel Interviews:
Blog about interviews
The Professor Blog

19. 8th & 9th Tuesday Discuss:
1) What is the theme of “Tuesdays With Morrie?
2) How do you come to the above conclusion?
3)Name two situations where in Morrie’s conversation causes Mitch to evaluate his own life.
4) Name two situations which show that Mitch has already changed.
5) Several times Morrie tells Mitch, “You’re just like a younger version of me.” Is this true?

20. Graphing Albom
Create a plot diagram map on “Read Write Think” that shows the progression of “Tuesdays With Morrie”.

21. Sub-Culture:
10th &11th Tuesday

22. What does this mean in your own words?
What is Sub-Culture?
A ) The cultural values and behavioral patterns distinctive of a particular group in a society.
B) A group having social, economic, ethnic, or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.
What does this mean in your own words?

23. Subculture & Morrie
“People are only mean they’re threatened, and that’s what our culture does…. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture” (pg. 154).
“But the big things- how we think, what we value- those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone-or any society-determine those for you.” (pg. 155).
“It’s the same for women not being thin enough, or men not rich enough. It’s just what our culture would have you believe. Don’t’ believe it.” (pg. 155)
How do these quotes relate to the definition of sub- culture? What do they tell us about how Morrie thinks about sub-culture?

24. High School Sub-Culture?
“A high school subculture is comprised of a group of high school students with identifiable and distinctive traits. (Such a group can also be known as a 'clique' or 'clic’. (indopedia.com).
DO YOU THINK high-school subcultures exist? How do you know?

25. How are sub-cultures created?
Regional differences and even radical differences in extant subcultures between nearby high schools exist. The name for a substantially similar subculture in two different places is also often different. Some subcultures (e.g. jocks and nerds) are quite old; others (e.g. goths) are relatively new.

26. Breakfast Club & Sub-Culture
The first scene gives us the characterization of each. Which subculture would you identify each character with? What about these seen tells you that they fall into that sub-culture? Study the movements, expressions, and the conversations to examine this?
Like Morrie, that narrator of this last scene has a definite opinion about subcultures as a whole? What do you think the narrator feels about these subcultures? Why do you think this?

27. Types of High-School Subcultures:
Breakfast Club gives you the most “general subcultures” but many more exist. As society changes, new subcultures are created.

28. Other Films that Highlight Subculture?

29. Classroom Blog: 11th Tuesday: Subculture
Please respond to at least 3 other classmates Blogs.

30. Morrie on Marriage & Culture
Discuss:
1) Charlotte, Morrie’s wife is quietly and lovingly in the background throughout the memoir. What do you deduce about her? How do Morrie’s comments about marriage in general reflect their relationship?
2) Morrie emphasized the importance of respect, compromise, openness, and shared values in a committed love relationship. He also believed in the importance of marriage. What have you observed about these beliefs in the marriages you have encountered?
3) Morrie mentions that his generation had a lot of problems with marriage, whether form reluctance to getting engaged in the first place or from ending it with divorce. What are your generations attitudes toward marriage?
4) Morrie said that society and culture everywhere surround people with unhealthy, threatening messages. Give some examples from our own culture.

31. 12th & 13th Tuesday
Read the following list of words and document how Morrie understood them differently before and after his illness.
1) Emotions
2) Aging
3) American Culture
4) Forgiveness
5) Money
6) Marriage
7) Love
8) Life
9) Death
10) Graduation

32. 12th & 13th Tuesday
13th Tuesday Blog: Graffiti Wall

33. The Final Tuesday Commencement- Discuss:
1) List the numerous clues which finally brought Mitch to the realization that Morrie’s time was near
A) from his body
B) from Charlotte
C) from the unused tape recorder
2)During Mitch’s final visit, what did Morrie insist he be called?
3) Where was Morrie during this visit? What does this recall to Mitch’s mind?
4) When Mitch and Morrie verbalized their mutual love, what did Morrie mean by, “You always have….”?

34. A Fond Farewell?
Indicate the aspects of “nostalgia” in the following situations:
1) Mitch checked his tape recorder on his final visit, knowing he wouldn’t need them.
2) In the kitchen Mitch noticed that morphine had been added to Morrie’s huge supply of medicine.
3) Even though Morrie could not longer swallow, Mitch still brought his favorite foods when he visited.
4) Morrie was dying, but his beard continued to grow.
5) When Morrie tried to laugh and could not, Mitch describes it as a sad sound.

35. Final Tuesday
Complete “Graduation” WS

36. Mitch’s Story Complete “Focus on Mitch” WS & answer the following:
1) Several publishers came forward to see the book published. Interpret and explain this as an A+ grade on Morrie’s final class?
2) What practical results came from the book?
3) Aside from a reunion with a cherished teacher and one final class from him, what other benefit came to the author?
4) Describe how the book’s title came about?

37. TWM FILM
Complete “The Movie Versio” & “Writing A Movie Review “ WS to be turned in at end of film.