You should now have your Blog set up and ready to go. If you don't, you need to go to the Tab on the left side of the page and follow the instructions there. Our Learning Intention in this week is to better understand the process of grief. We will do this by examining websites developed to help people who are grieving to better understand the experience. We will use Blog Posts to record our learning.
ACTIVITY 1: SELF REFLECTION
If you haven't already done so, Blog Post 1 is a brief description of who you are and what this Blog is about - so that readers of your blog know a bit about the person who is presenting information to them. You will need to explain that because this Blog is your Workbook for Religion class, AND that since you are studying a unit on Grief and New Life, there may be some information on your Blog that is disturbing to some readers. If they have recently experienced grief, they can then make a decision about whether or not to read on.
ACTIVITY 2: HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THIS UNIT?
Your second Blogpost is reflective task. The answer you provide is your own personal thoughts and feelings. There is no right or wrong answer, but it is important that you think about this topic before we proceed. You may be asked to share some of your answer verbally in class. Write a post explaining how you feel about studying this unit, including the things your are looking forward to, and the things that you think might be challenging. Use the information on the Home page of this Wiki to describe what you will be studying and how you FEEL about these things (for example, you may be scared about the visit to the funeral home...or you may be excited to learn what goes on there). You could describe any concerns you have about the content, and which aspects you are excited to learn more about. Make sure it is an interesting post for your readers and try to understand and explain WHY you feel this way.
ACTIVITY 3: IMAGINATIVE EXERCISE ON GRIEF We're now going to begin the content for this course. Everything we study or look at from now on will be used to assist with the work in your Major Assignment. Remember, assessment tasks are designed for you to SHOW OFF what you have learned...so make sure you learn well along the way!
Grief can occur as a response to ANY change that happens in our lives. While most of us immediately think of death when we think of grief, in fact, we grieve for many things over the years of our lives. For each of the following life changes, think about some of the reasons why a person going through this change might experience grief…
§ Moving house or changing school § Leaving home § Marriage breakdown or Separation/divorce § Loss of a limb (arm or leg) § An accident or disease that leads to a disability § Being told you have a terminal illness § Any change that means you lose some familiar aspect of your life
Each of these life changes will potentially lead to an experience of grief.
ACTIVITY: Choose one of the experiences of loss in the list above, and write a 200 word diary entry imagining that ONE of these things has happened to you – how would you feel and react to such an event? Remember, your Blog is published live to the Web, and anyone in the world can read your work. For this reason, at the TOP of your Blog, make sure you write: "This Blogpost is a work of fiction for classwork." This will (hopefully) stop people from worrying about you.
ACTIVITY 4: REPORT ON THE EXPERIENCE OF GRIEF (1) Watch at least two of the following clips, which attempt to explain grief. While you are watching, consider the question 'What are some different ways that people might act when they are grieving?'
This first clip from YouTube "If you are Grieving" can't be embedded in the Wiki, so please follow the link (it's excellent to watch, but you might need some tissues!).
This one, "A journey well taken" gives a different perspective...
And this is a lovely poem, which reminds us that Death is not the end...
(2) Read "Deathiquette", which is an article about grief and the way that people respond to death and dying. Write down 5 facts that you've learnt about grief so far.
(3) As you look at the four following websites, consider "Is there a basic agreement amongst experts about how people grieve?" If you find differences, have a discussion with the people at your table, to see if you can decide which website is the one that you trust the most, or think gives the best explanation.
And here's a great article from a woman describing how she supported a grieving friend.
TASK: For your next ACTIVITY, write a "GRIEF GUIDE", explaining to a teenager what grief is, when they might experience it, and what stages they might expect to go through if they are grieving. This post should be about 300 words long (you will probably need a few sub-headings), and should include a description of each of the stages of grief (in a way that a teenager would understand).
KEY LEARNING 1. Grief is not restricted to death and dying. 2. Grief follows from any significant experience of loss. 3. People experience grief in different ways, but there are some key stages (or phases) that most people experience at some stage.
ACTIVITY 5: DEFINITION OF GRIEF
With everything you have learnt so far, devise your own definition of "grief". Here's one that might help you get started: "Grief is the process which involves the healthy adjustment of a person to any significant loss in his or her life".
EXPLORING GRIEF
You should now have your Blog set up and ready to go. If you don't, you need to go to the Tab on the left side of the page and follow the instructions there. Our Learning Intention in this week is to better understand the process of grief. We will do this by examining websites developed to help people who are grieving to better understand the experience. We will use Blog Posts to record our learning.
ACTIVITY 1: SELF REFLECTION
If you haven't already done so, Blog Post 1 is a brief description of who you are and what this Blog is about - so that readers of your blog know a bit about the person who is presenting information to them. You will need to explain that because this Blog is your Workbook for Religion class, AND that since you are studying a unit on Grief and New Life, there may be some information on your Blog that is disturbing to some readers. If they have recently experienced grief, they can then make a decision about whether or not to read on.ACTIVITY 2: HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THIS UNIT?
Your second Blogpost is reflective task. The answer you provide is your own personal thoughts and feelings. There is no right or wrong answer, but it is important that you think about this topic before we proceed. You may be asked to share some of your answer verbally in class.Write a post explaining how you feel about studying this unit, including the things your are looking forward to, and the things that you think might be challenging. Use the information on the Home page of this Wiki to describe what you will be studying and how you FEEL about these things (for example, you may be scared about the visit to the funeral home...or you may be excited to learn what goes on there). You could describe any concerns you have about the content, and which aspects you are excited to learn more about. Make sure it is an interesting post for your readers and try to understand and explain WHY you feel this way.
ACTIVITY 3: IMAGINATIVE EXERCISE ON GRIEF
We're now going to begin the content for this course. Everything we study or look at from now on will be used to assist with the work in your Major Assignment. Remember, assessment tasks are designed for you to SHOW OFF what you have learned...so make sure you learn well along the way!
Grief can occur as a response to ANY change that happens in our lives. While most of us immediately think of death when we think of grief, in fact, we grieve for many things over the years of our lives. For each of the following life changes, think about some of the reasons why a person going through this change might experience grief…
§ Moving house or changing school
§ Leaving home
§ Marriage breakdown or Separation/divorce
§ Loss of a limb (arm or leg)
§ An accident or disease that leads to a disability
§ Being told you have a terminal illness
§ Any change that means you lose some familiar aspect of your life
Each of these life changes will potentially lead to an experience of grief.
ACTIVITY: Choose one of the experiences of loss in the list above, and write a 200 word diary entry imagining that ONE of these things has happened to you – how would you feel and react to such an event? Remember, your Blog is published live to the Web, and anyone in the world can read your work. For this reason, at the TOP of your Blog, make sure you write: "This Blogpost is a work of fiction for classwork." This will (hopefully) stop people from worrying about you.
ACTIVITY 4: REPORT ON THE EXPERIENCE OF GRIEF
(1) Watch at least two of the following clips, which attempt to explain grief. While you are watching, consider the question 'What are some different ways that people might act when they are grieving?'
This first clip from YouTube "If you are Grieving" can't be embedded in the Wiki, so please follow the link (it's excellent to watch, but you might need some tissues!).
This one, "A journey well taken" gives a different perspective...
And this is a lovely poem, which reminds us that Death is not the end...
(2) Read "Deathiquette", which is an article about grief and the way that people respond to death and dying. Write down 5 facts that you've learnt about grief so far.
(3) As you look at the four following websites, consider "Is there a basic agreement amongst experts about how people grieve?"
If you find differences, have a discussion with the people at your table, to see if you can decide which website is the one that you trust the most, or think gives the best explanation.
Australian Centre for Grief
Teen Health and Grief
Stages of Grief
Stages of Grief 7
And here's a great article from a woman describing how she supported a grieving friend.
TASK:
For your next ACTIVITY, write a "GRIEF GUIDE", explaining to a teenager what grief is, when they might experience it, and what stages they might expect to go through if they are grieving. This post should be about 300 words long (you will probably need a few sub-headings), and should include a description of each of the stages of grief (in a way that a teenager would understand).
KEY LEARNING
1. Grief is not restricted to death and dying.
2. Grief follows from any significant experience of loss.
3. People experience grief in different ways, but there are some key stages (or phases) that most people experience at some stage.
ACTIVITY 5: DEFINITION OF GRIEF
With everything you have learnt so far, devise your own definition of "grief".Here's one that might help you get started: "Grief is the process which involves the healthy adjustment of a person to any significant loss in his or her life".