Tuesday's with Morrie

• Curriculum is the outline of concepts to be taught to students to help them meet the content standards
• Curriculum refers to an interactive system of instruction and learning with specific goals, contents, strategies, measurement, and resources
• No grades were given, but students were expected to:

  • Have oral exams each week
  • Respond to questions
  • Pose questions of their own
  • Perform physical tasks like lifting the professor's head or placing his glasses
  • Kissing him goodbye earned extra credit
• Students were expected to produce one long paper on what was learned
• Syllabus provides important information about course requirements, assignments, deadlines, participation, attendance expectations, and grade calculation
• Subject: Meaning of life was taught from experience
• Topics included love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, death (no books)
• Morrie had ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Lou Gehrig’s disease, a brutal illness with no known cure
• Morrie was a dancer and frequented "Dance Free" in Harvard Square every Wednesday
• ALS is described as melting nerves and leaving the body a pile of wax, starting from the legs and working its way up
• Morrie's final project was his own death, aiming to be a research subject for study
• Living funeral was held where family and friends visited Morrie
• Mitch's dream was to be a famous musician, but he ended up as a sports writer
• Mitch's favorite uncle died of pancreatic cancer at the age of forty-four
• Janine, Mitch's wife, supported him despite his busy schedule and constant absences
• Ted Koppel hosted the program where Morrie's thoughts were shared
• Morrie emphasized the importance of giving and receiving love
• Morrie asked thought-provoking questions about life and encouraged Mitch to think deeply
• Chap 2

  Syllabus-A syllabus provides important information about what is expected from students taking the course. It details the course requirements, your assignments and their deadlines, participation and attendance expectations, and how your grade is calculated.
• Chapter 2 The Syllabus

  • The chapter when Morrie knew of his disease
• Chapter 2 The Syllabus

  Neurological Problem

  He was tested, he sad in an electric chair and zapped him with electrical current and studies his neurological responses Morrie had ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Loue Gehrig’s disease – a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system No known cure
• Morrie was a dancer: music did not matter rock and roll, big band, the blues
• In the Harvard square every Wednesday during “Dance Free” . No one there knew he was a prominent doctor of sociology, with years of experience as a college professor and several well-respected books. They just thought he was some old nut
• End of driving: He struggled to push the brakes when backing the car out of the garage
• End of walking: He started tripping and had to use a cane
• End of privacy: He needed help to undress after swimming and hired a home care worker named Tony
• End of secret: He disclosed his incurable illness to his students during a Social Psychology class
• Social Psychology- Morrie taught this course for 20 years.
• ALS is like a lit candle -it melts your nerves and leaves your body a pile of wax.
• Morrie told his friends that if they really wanted to help him, they would treat him not with sympathy but with visits, phone calls, a sharing of their problems—the way they had always shared their problems, because Morrie had always been a wonderful listener.
• Chapter 3: The Student Mitch -headed for New York City - Dream was to be a famous musician (the dream soured after several years of darkness, empty nightclubs, broken promises, bands that kept breaking and producers who seem excited about everyone but except him)
• Mitch’s Fav Uncle (Died of pancreatic cancer at the age of forty-four.) -man who had taught him music, drive - teased about girls -He was a short, handsome man with a thick mustache.
• Chap 3 The Student

  Mitch - earned a master’s degree in journalism and took the first job offered as a sports writer - bounced around from New York to Florida and eventually took a job in Detroit as a columnist for the Detroit Free Press - writing sports books, doing radio shows, and appearing regularly on TV, spouting opinions on rich football players and hypocritical college sports programs.
• Chap 3 The Student Janine (Mitch’s Wife) a dark-haired woman named Janine who somehow loved Mitch despite his schedule and the constant absences
• Brandeis University sent letters to Mitch but thrown because of the thought that they were after his money
• Chapter 4: The Audiovisual ~March 1995 The program, aired on a Friday Night Ted Koppel- the host of ABC-TV’s “nightline” Morrie’s House – West Newton, Massachusetts
• Chap 4 The Audiovisual

  The reason how Koppel got to Morrie is because a fellow professor in Brandeis named Maurie Stein was so taken with the words that he sent them to a Boston Globe reporter, who came out and wrote a long feature story on Morrie
• Chap 4 The Audiovisual

  Morrie’s philosophy was that death should not be embarrassing; he was not about to powder its nose. The two men spoke about the afterlife. They spoke about Morrie’s increasing dependency on other people. He already needed help eating and sitting and moving from place to place
• Chap 4 The Audiovisual

  First Class -Spring 1976 Morrie’s Book: sociology, philosophy, religion, psychology.
• When Mitch entered Morrie called him and asked what he wants to be called, then Mitch responded “ Mitch” because he said that it was what his Friends called him, then Morrie responded with “I hope that one day you will think of me as your friend.