Death in the Classroom

Jeffrey Berman is Distinguished Teaching Professor of English at the University at Albany, State University of New York. His previous books include Dying to Teach: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning, also published by SUNY Press; Cutting and the Pedagogy of Self-Disclosure; Empathic Teaching: Education for Life; and Risky Writing: Self-Disclosure and Self-Transformation in the Classroom.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Getting Started2. Writing an Obituary3. Writing a Eulogy4. On Teaching the Book of Job—and Being Denounced as a"False Prophet"5. Writing on Religion and Death6. Cathy’s Letter to Her Deceased Mother in Wuthering Heights7. A Problem with Another Student, and Evaluating the Evaluator8. Ten Things to Do before I Die9. Writing about Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide10. Writing about Jeff’s Former Students in Empathic Teaching11. A Teacher’s Self-EulogyAppendix A: "Helping or Harming Students?" Richard BowerAppendix B: "Writing Has Saved My Life," Breanna’s StoryAppendix C: "Literature, If Anything, Will Save Me,"Sara E. MurphyAppendix D: English 226: Love and Loss in Literature and LifeWorks CitedStudent WritersIndex

"…[an] inspired and inspiring book." — Metapsychology"This intensely personal, reflective work tackles emotionally charged subjects—love and loss—with sensitivity and grace … Engaging and provocative, this is a book for students and teachers of composition." — CHOICE"Death in the Classroom deals with an extremely important topic—our attitudes toward death and grieving and the possibility of helping students, through reading, writing, and classroom discussion, to reflect on death and grieving in their own and others' lives. I like the book's clarity and the vigor of its argument for death education in the university classroom. This is a book for teachers, especially teachers of literature and life writing who are committed to teaching literature from an ethical and experiential perspective, and it will also appeal to those interested in death education and attitudes toward death and dying, particularly in North America." — Hilary Clark, editor of Depression and Narrative: Telling the Dark