Adriana Chavira, Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, Van Nuys, CA 91406
“ Write Your Own Obit”
I. Overview and Rationale: Students read obituaries and learn to write news obituaries as part of the
Journalism 1 curriculum. Students are asked to look into the future and write their own obituary published
75 years from now.
II. Goals for Understanding: Students learn the various elements of an obituary and how an obituary
differs from a news story, feature story or biography. The students will also think about their own future as
they try to envision their lives 75 years from now and determine what goals they would like to have
achieved by then.
III. Essential Questions
Why does this person merit an obituary in the news section versus a paid obituary?
What does the length of an obituary tell us about the person who died?
In which part of the newspaper (front page of the main section, front page of the local section,
inside pages) would your obituary appear and why?
IV. Critical Engagement Questions
What is the purpose of an obituary?
What are the various features of an obituary?
Who is quoted in the obituary?
V. Overviews and Timeline
Activity 1 (One 20-minute lesson)
Students read an obituary, preferably a well-known celebrity teens are familiar with. I have enclosed
Whitney Houston’ s obituary, which can be cut down in length. Students label the obituary (lead,
biographical info, quotes)
Name, age (preferably in the first graph)
Occupation, achievements or reason for notoriety
Time, place and cause of death.
Birthdate, birthplace, current residence.
Survivors. (Only immediate family.)
Memberships in organizations, military service.
Funeral and burial arrangements, donations
Activity 2 (One 20-minute session)
brainstorm ideas/details for obituary
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Begin draft. They can model the organization of their obituary after the one they read in class.
Finish for homework
Activity 3 (One 30-minute session)
Peer Review – handout provided
In groups of three, students share their drafts and provide written feedback.
VI. Assessment
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The obituary contains all the pertinent information, such as age, place of
death, cause of death, education, occupation, accomplishments, place of
residence, surviving relatives, and quotes from either yourself (previously
published) or people who know you. The tone of the obituary is consistent.
There are few, if any grammatical or spelling errors. The obituary adheres to
A.P. Style.
The obituary contains most of the pertinent information, such as age, place
of death, cause of death, education, occupation, accomplishments, place of
residence, surviving relatives, and quotes from either yourself or people who
know you. The tone of the obituary is mostly consistent. There are some, if
any grammatical or spelling errors that do not get in the way of
comprehension. The obituary follows A.P. Style.
The obituary contains some of the pertinent information, such as age, place
of death, cause of death, education, occupation, accomplishments, place of
residence, surviving relatives, and quotes from either yourself or people who
know you. The tone of the obituary is not very consistent. There are several,
if any grammatical or spelling errors that get in the way of comprehension.
Include all worksheets or handouts required to do the lesson.
References:
Write Your Own Obituary – handout
Blankstein, Andrew; Gold, Scott; Lee, Chris; Ryan, Harriet. Los Angeles Times. June 26, 2009.
“King of Pop is dead at 50.” http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-michael-jackson-dead262009jun26,0,2152435.story
Peer Review – handout
If your lesson plan is posted on www.highschooljournalism.org, we will show our appreciation by
awarding you a gift certificate to the JEA Library.
Adriana Chavira, Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, Van Nuys, CA 91406
Write Your Obituary
GOAL: For this next writing assignment, you will have more creative license as you write your
own obituary. You are going to look into a crystal ball and predict your own future and your own
death. Write your obit in the same format as the news obituary articles we have read. Be sure to
include a lead, quotes, and other pertinent information that obituaries contain.
Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories:
a.
Relate a sequence of events and communicate the significance of the events to the
audience.
b.
Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
c.
Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene
and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use
interior monologue to depict the characters’ feelings.
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The obituary contains all the pertinent information, such as age, place of
death, cause of death, education, occupation, accomplishments, place of
residence, surviving relatives, and quotes from either yourself (previously
published) or people who know you. The tone of the obituary is consistent.
There are few, if any grammatical or spelling errors. The obituary adheres to
A.P. Style.
The obituary contains most of the pertinent information, such as age, place
of death, cause of death, education, occupation, accomplishments, place of
residence, surviving relatives, and quotes from either yourself (from previous
interviews) or people who know you. The tone of the obituary is mostly
consistent. There are some, if any grammatical or spelling errors that do not
get in the way of comprehension. The obituary follows A.P. Style.
The obituary contains some of the pertinent information, such as age, place
of death, cause of death, education, occupation, accomplishments, place of
residence, surviving relatives, and quotes from either yourself or people who
know you. The tone of the obituary is not very consistent. There are several,
if any grammatical or spelling errors that get in the way of comprehension.
Submit the final obituary to turnitin.com
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Obituary Peer Review Sheet
During Peer Review, the Writer and Reviewers sit in groups of three.
 The Writer reads his or her writing aloud.
 The Reviewers listen to the tone of the obituary and pay attention to its content.
 Each Reviewer completes the Peer Review worksheet and returns it to the Writer
once they are done giving feedback.
 The partners switch roles and another Writer reads his or her obituary.
 After reading aloud is done, each Reviewer can read the Writer’s article in
silence.
What type of lead does the writer use to begin the story? How do you know? Does it
include when the person died, how he died and how old the person was?
What descriptive phrases or words does the writer use to describe the deceased
person?
Who is quoted and are any previously published quotes used?
How many direct quotes are used? How many indirect quotes are used?
In which paragraph does the author begin to write about the deceased person’s
background (year born, place of birth, education, career, etc.)?
What do you like about this obituary?
What do you think the writer should add to make the story better or more interesting?
What questions do you have about this story? Or what is not clear or confusing?