The document provides an introduction and overview of the novel Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It establishes that the story is about Mitch rediscovering his old professor Morrie Schwartz during the final months of Morrie's life as he dies of ALS. As they meet each week, Morrie shares life lessons with Mitch that teach him how to find meaning and appreciation in life.

1. TODAY: Introduction to Tuesdays With Morrie
Objectives:
* To prepare for the reading of this novel.
* To understand and appreciate the subject and/or
topics that will be the focus of this novel.
* To gain an understanding of the author’s intent and
purpose for writing this novel.
* To review , understand and create aphorisms.
"The truth is . . . once you learn how to die,
you learn how to live.“
~ Morrie

2. What’s on your Bucket List??
 A list of things to do before you die. Comes
from the term "kicked the bucket".
 A list of things you think you might need to
accomplish because you feel your own
mortality closing the door on you.
 You feel insecure about your life and therefore
make a list of things to get busy on.
 A list of hotties that you always had your eye
on and you most now go conquer.

3. DO NOW:
Think about what you would like to accomplish
before you “kick the bucket.”
Today, you will start a Bucket List of your
own.
In your notebook, create a list of ten ‘things’
you would like to do before you are ‘lying six
feet under.’ I want these to simply be the first
ten things that come to your mind. You will
have plenty of time in the near future to
add/change your list!

4. Tuesdays With Morrie
An old man, a
young man and
life’s greatest
lesson.
~Mitch Albom

5. Overview:
We all know the ‘age old’ question – Who is
your hero? Who helps you see the world as
a more profound place and gives you sound
advice to help you make your way through
it?
For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his
college professor from nearly twenty years ago.
Maybe, like Mitch, you will lose track of this mentor as
you make your way through life. You may want or
need to see that person again, to ask the bigger
questions that may still haunt you, or to receive
wisdom for your busy life . . .

6. Overview Continued:
 Mitch Albom had that second chance. He
rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the
older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie
visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday,
just as they used to back in college. Their
rekindled relationship turned into one final
"class": a class that taught him lessons in how
to live.
 Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of
their time together, through which Mitch shares
Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

7. Who is Morrie??
Morrie was Mitch’s college professor. He used to live a
life full of dancing, helping others, and spending time
with his loved ones. After he was diagnosed with ALS,
also know as Lou Gherig’s Disease, Morrie stopped
being able to do these enjoyable things he loved. He
accepted the fact he was dying, and lived a life of helping
others . .
He continued teaching classes after he was diagnosed
with ALS at the age of seventy-six, incorporating what he
was learning about the meaning of life as he faced
impending death. When ABC-TV's "Nightline" producer
heard of his classes, Ted Koppel flew to Boston for the
first of three interviews with Morrie. The shows were
among the highest rated ever for "Nightline."
Morrie Schwartz wrote his own epitaph:
"A Teacher to the Last."
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3863455317235235085#

8. I have an Aphorism for you. . . .
Aphorism is a brief saying containing a moral, a precise statement of
a principle or value given in pointed words.
A LIFE LESSON
Examples:
Hippocrates: Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting,
experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult.
Pope: Some praise at morning what they blame at night.
Emerson: Imitation is suicide
Franklin: Lost Time is never Found again.
Miss Territo: An open mind opens doors . . . .
Don’t let go too soon . . . But don’t hold on too long,
Find a Balance. ~ Morrie

9. Who is Mitch??
Mitch graduated from Brandeis University At that age he
made promises easily. Keeping them was another story.
"You'll stay in touch?", his sociology professor Morrie
Schwartz asked him on graduation day in 1979. Mitch
answered his favorite professor, his mentor, his friend,
without hesitation, "Of course."
Fast-forward sixteen years to Mitch's life as a successful
newspaper sports columnist and broadcast journalist.
Adept at juggling phone calls, faxes, interviews,
problems, often it seems while driving too fast to another
appointment on an overloaded docket, Mitch has a
wonderful wife but no time to spend with her, a beautiful
house on a hill, a stock portfolio, and a brother he hasn't
talked to in years. He lives on a deadline--too fast is the
only speed he knows.
Then, one night, . . . Well let’s let him tell you . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuazNYNIl5c

10. Conflicts
1. Morrie vs. ALS - Morrie must come to terms with
his illness and accept his coming death from ALS.
How will he choose to live his final days? What does
he have to offer the world?
2. Mitch vs. Himself - Mitch is overcoming a
materialistic ,unfulfilling lifestyle. This is an internal
conflict because Mitch is struggling with himself on
how to live life. Should he live his life full of money
and fame, or live with his own interests and good of
others in mind?