PrePared by buck HarrisTeacher and co-author of derek’s Gift
Teacher’s Guide
Derek’s Gift
Derek’s Gift
A True Story of Love, Courage and Lessons Learned
Derek Sheckman’s Journal
Michael J. Tougias bestselling author of A Storm Too Soon
and co-author of The Finest Hours
and Buck Harris featuring
www.NortiaPress.com2321 E. 4th St., C-219Santa Ana, CA 92705
This teacher’s guide is © 2014 by Buck Harris
Derek’s Gift is © 2014 by Michael J. Tougias, Buck Harris and Derek Sheckman
All rights reserved, including the right to copy this work or portions thereof not covered under Fair Use. For permissions information please contact the publisher.
Cover design by Roslyn Crowell.
Teacher’s Guide ISBN: 978-1-940503-02-8Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-940503-08-0
E-book ISN: 978-1-940503-09-7Library of Congress Control Number (Derek’s Gift): 2014936215
For author speaking engagements please contact:[email protected]
For all other information please contact the publisher at: [email protected]
in tHis Guide
Derek’s Gift in the Curriculum1
About the Authors2
Introductionby Buck Harris
3
Book Overview5
Derek’s Gift in the Classroom: My Experienceby Buck Harris
7
Reflective Writing and Discussion Questionsby Buck Harris
9
Additional Ways to Use the Journal by Buck Harris
12
Derek’s Journal as a Socratic Seminar Courseby Buck Harris
13
Watch Derek’s video and more at:
www.DereksGift.com
1
Derek’s Gift in tHe curriculum
With a 22-minute video and complete lesson plan accompanying the book, Derek’s Gift serves as a unique learning tool for high school students in English or Health Ed classes.
Derek’s Gift, a non-fiction book about a cancer-stricken teenager, works well as a non-fiction pairing with the bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars. Derek’s father (a doctor unable to save his son), his mother (the primary caretaker during his final month), his brother (a young adult caught in his own battle with mental illness), his best friend Alex (an outstanding example of true friendship), and his girlfriend Valerie (someone who stays by Derek through thick and thin, and then is also diagnosed with cancer) are all key people in Derek’s life that demonstrate the complexity of life and the many lessons learned from it.
Bestselling author Michael J. Tougias and teacher Buck Harris share Derek’s journal in a way that students can relate, and ultimately acquire necessary skills to help them become college and career ready.
In a Health class setting, key skills that can be taught to students in an enriching way are:
• DecisionMaking: understanding the personal benefits of having healthy relationships like the kind Derek strove to have with his family and friends,
• Injury, Prevention and Safety: recognizing abusive relationships and depression,
• Analyzing Influences: comprehending external vs. internal influences on oneself, family, and friends, and
• Wellness: focusing on the importance of balancing the many aspects of a person’s life and accepting the difficulty to do so, which is clearly a common struggle amongst all the characters in this gritty story.
In an English class setting, key skills that can be taught to students in a creative and interactive manner are:
2
• Communication: Analyzing Derek’s thoughts and the lessons learned clearly and effectively,
• Collaboration: Exercising willingness and flexibility by putting together a group project/activity,
• InformationLiteracy: Grasping ethical issues present in Derek’s situation by creating a power point presentation or short documentary,
• Media Literacy: Understanding how media can influence beliefs and behaviors by comparing the lessons learned from The Fault in Our Stars and Derek’s Gift, and
• StrategicallyUnderstandingPerspectivesandCultures: Empathizing with others and becoming flexible to the changing environment as seen in Derek’s struggle with acceptance.
about tHe autHors
MichaelJ.Tougiasis the author of 19 books, including Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do, Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea, and co-author of The Finest Hours: The Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue (soon to be a major motion picture by Disney)
BuckHarrisis the High School Health Teacher that brought the journal into school systems and uses its insights to improve the lives of students. Tougias and Harris now want to bring the message of the journal to a wider audience, and surprise the reader with the journeys of the five key people in Derek’s life.
3
introductionby Buck Harris
Derek’s journal is a sad but inspirational work from a bright young man who contracted cancer during his senior year of high school and died one year later. Excerpts from his journal were read at his funeral. Later, his parents gave a copy of the journal to me. I was very moved by Derek’s words, but could not have predicted that years later his journal would become the catalyst for some of the most powerful teaching and learning that I’ve ever experienced.
Today, Derek’s journal is featured in the book Derek’s Gift (Nortia Press, 2014), which I co-authored with bestselling author Michael J. Tougias. Derek’s Gift not only features Derek’s journal, but it also includes updates on the five key people in Derek’s life, as well as insights gleaned from Derek’s own experiences.
Derek’s Gift motivates my students to carefully examine their lives and make changes based on their own reflections. This publication will give teachers, parents and adolescents access to Derek’s story, insight and wisdom.
Derek Sheckman was an amazing person. He was kind, thoughtful and funny; he was simultaneously a school leader and a regular guy. He was also a talented writer who kept this journal from virtually the day of his diagnosis to just a few days before his death. No one was allowed to read the journal until after his passing. The journal began as an intimate chronicling of his struggle to survive the horrific tumor growing in his jaw, and continued through moments of despair and moments of hope. Most important, the journal captured the remarkable way in which Derek came to terms with his own mortality.
Several years later I reread the journal and began to think about how I might possibly use it in my classes. The journal is the central work I employ in an adolescent issues unit for juniors and seniors that explores the meaning of life, death, dying, grieving and the myth of adolescent invincibility. The initial motivation to publish this came from my students. They have often said that other teenagers, not just those in my classes, should have the opportunity to read the journal.
In terms of the lesson, I decided that my students would read the journal aloud.
4
With chairs in a circle and lights lowered, we proceeded to read and discuss Derek’s words. The four-hour experience was profound, with students offering thougthful responses, the kind of which I had rarely gotten prior to introducing the journal. Derek’s words move them deeply and inspire them to carefully examine their own lives. In their reflective writing, almost every student tells me that reading the journal has changed his or her life in some way. Here is an example:
One paragraph in Derek’s journal really stuck out to me. He said that we need to be thankful everyday. We need to hold on to the people we love. We need to live everyday in the present, and do that to the fullest. He said we should never hold back our feelings, and not be afraid to say what we want to others because who knows when you will ever get the chance to say it again. I never thought of this before I read Derek’s journal. I know that I have held things back because I was afraid to say them; I never want to regret not saying something to someone. I never want to look back on my life and regret anything. I want to know that I did everything I could possibly do to live the best life I could. We only get one chance to be here, and that is something that is not thought about enough. The feeling of regret is not something I want to have to go through. I want to say all I want to say, and do all that I want to do. I do not want to dwell on things that have happened in the past, and start living in the present. I want to know that I have always tried my best. We need to appreciate the time we have, and how we are now because things change. We cannot wait until late its too late!
Igor, age 18 Derek’s Gift presents the journal exactly as Derek wrote it. This teacher’s guide
describes how I have taught the journal, together with several suggestions on other ways the book might be used in class.
On our website (www.DereksGift.com) is a fifteen minute companion film that documents Derek’s life, as made by Derek’s best friend as a memorial, and as mentioned in the book. This lets the reader see and hear Derek the way he was before he got cancer, which is how he said he wanted to be remembered.
If you choose to use Derek’s Gift in your teaching, please be kind enough to share with me how it goes. I am curious as to whether teenagers from other communities will find it as meaningful as my students do. To contact me, please e-mail: [email protected].
Buck HarrisTeacher, Swampscott High SchoolCo-author, Derek’s Gift
5
book overview
When Derek Sheckman was a senior in high school he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. From that day to his death (12 months later) he kept a journal of this difficult experience. The journal is an amazing piece of writing from someone so young. It is filled with Derek’s innermost thoughts, observations and the life lessons he wished to share with others. One notable aspect of the journal is the five key people in Derek’s life, whom he writes about at great length. These five people are his father (a doctor unable to save his own son), his mother (the primary caretaker during Derek’s final month), his brother (in his own battle for survival against mental illness), his best friend Alex (who demonstrates time and again the true meaning of friendship), and his girlfriend Valerie (who stays by Derek through thick and thin and later is also diagnosed with cancer).
In the first part of the book co-authors Michael J. Tougias and Buck Harris begin with an introduction, followed by Derek’s poignant and insightful journal. Starting with Chapter 2, the book follows the lives of the five key people in Derek’s life from the day of Derek’s death through the present. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 chronicle how Derek’s journal was “re-discovered” by high school teacher Buck Harris and became an incredibly powerful teaching tool that also has had a life-altering impact on students. And finally, in Chapters 6 we examine Derek’s messages for how the rest of us should live our lives.
Upon first reading the journal, one’s reaction is not that of sadness, but love. Love for this incredibly brave and gifted individual who sets out to write a journal with the hope that someday it will help others going through difficult times, as well as giving perspective to the rest of us. In a sense, Derek is writing to us from beyond the grave, telling us what he would do differently if he had his life to live over again, while prodding the reader to take bold action in their life. Coming from an 18 year old, these observations are particularly powerful.
Rather than having the story end with Derek’s death, the book enters a whole new phase. We see how Alex (who dropped out of college to be with Derek) throws himself into making a video that celebrates his friend’s life, and how Alex’s own life goes in a new direction, how Derek’s parents, crushed by grief, learn techniques to carry on and grow, and how brother Bryan, institutionalized with severe depression, begins a jagged
6
journey toward recovery. Perhaps the most compelling character is Valerie. She is totally devastated after
Derek’s death. At first she goes into “hermit” mode, spending countless hours in her art studio, and next tries a variety of jobs. She also enters into new relationships, but after Derek none of them feel right. Derek is never out of her thoughts, she reads his journal everyday, has “conversations” with him, and wonders why things happen the way they did. Eventually she relocates to New Orleans, and begins to carve out a new path, where no one knows her background and she can reinvent herself. Just as she is hitting her stride, Hurricane Katrina hits and takes it all away. Once again she starts over, this time in Aspen and later in Minneapolis. Then her own health deteriorates and she is diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) also known as “pre-lukemia.” Doctors are not sure she will survive, but if she is to have any hope, she must undergo a bone marrow transplant. (Ironically, the boyfriend she is seeing at the time cannot handle the stress and change in the relationship, and he moves on.)
In Derek’s Gift we follow Valerie’s courageous battle to regain her health and independence, and how she eventually comes full circle, assisting Buck Harris’ teach the message of the journal at the very high school she and Derek attended.
The final parts of the book showshow the journal takes on new life in a classroom and continues to impact and alter people’s lives. The most compelling essays from students are included, detailing how the journal caused them to make changes in their lives and goals. The final chapter illustrates and summarizes the key messages both in the journal and from Derek’s loved ones on how we can all lead more rewarding lives.
7
Derek’s Gift in tHe classroom: my exPerienceby Buck Harris
There are many different ways to teach Derek’s journal. I have used it only with juniors and seniors, as I do not think my freshmen or sophomores are mature enough. I have only experimented with one method: reading the journal aloud with discussions and assigning reflective homework writing assignments. This combination works well for me, especially since I use the journal after spending several months working with a class and getting to know my students. I only use it if I have been able to establish an honest, open, reflective and respectful classroom culture.
Please don’t underestimate the power of the initial classroom experience when the adolescent voices bring Derek’s words to life! The experience is as powerful as the guided reflections. As you read my suggested questions for discussion and writing, remember that I use them only after the class reads the entire journal aloud.
I am comfortable facilitating emotionally charged classroom discussions with a room full of adolescents, perhaps you will not be. If you are uncomfortable but still want your students to experience the journal, you might want to consider co-facilitating the class with another professional, perhaps another teacher, school counselor, psychologist or social worker. Consider trying this approach first with a group of adults. I have successfully done this with several groups of teachers. It has been helpful for me to process my own reaction to the journal with adults before reading it with teenagers.
I begin this unit by introducing the journal and giving a quick background to the story. I explain that we will take turns reading the journal aloud in class. Together with discussions this will take about four hours. Reflective writing assignments will be completed for homework.
Because the journal is emotionally difficult, I offer my students the option to not participate if they feel it will be too much for them. Very few choose not to participate. Those who opt out are generally kids who have had cancer or have lost loved ones to cancer or other illnesses. Others who choose to opt out might suffer from anxiety or depression.
I teach in an affluent suburban community that fortunately has not lost any
8
teenagers in recent years. Thus, most of my students have no experience with the sudden tragic loss of a classmate, family member or friend. Students, who have experienced sudden loss, especially to violence, seem to find less meaning in Derek’s experience. Their comments and writing are more likely to address their personal experiences than Derek’s.
My classroom is arranged with chairs in a circle and low lights for atmosphere. We take turns reading the journal aloud. I love to hear their different voices (students may choose to pass if they don’t want to read aloud, but few do). We pause so I can teach the biology of cancer, causes, treatment and prevention. I also teach about death, dying and grieving. Students are encouraged to ask questions or share thoughts and feelings. When we are finished reading the journal and selected readings from his funeral, I show a twenty minute video (now on YouTube and on www.DereksGift.com) that Derek’s best friend Alex made about Derek’s life.
9
reflective writinG and discussion Questionsby Buck Harris
Students are encouraged to write reflections anytime during the experience. The reflection options are varied and may include:
• Questions I assign (examples follow later in this section)• A free write (these stimulate some remarkable work)• A letter to Derek, his girlfriend Valerie or his parents (an example follows)• A poem, song or artwork
I read each of these carefully and make extensive comments. Because of the impact of the journal, these reflections often begin important conversations. At times I have needed to refer a student to our school counselor for follow-up conversations.
Derek’s Journal stimulates interesting student responses. Below are some of the questions I use to guide discussions, along with samples of my students’ responses. I have used the questions as both writing and discussion prompts.
Dear Derek’s Parents,
I want to make sure you both realize how much I have grown from your son’s writing. His messages of not taking life for granted and showing true heart and soul really helps young teenagers to grow. I know personally after reading this, I was not only inspired to be a better person but became endowed with new dreams and ambitions to do right. I owe this to your son. You had and still have a beautiful son and his spirit and dreams live on through his writing and the people he impacted. The journal should be published. He truly is a gift that should be shared.
Hannah, age 16
10
WhatdidDerekfindmostimportantinhislife?Whattrulyisimportantinyourlife?
I would really want to thank Derek Sheckman for really opening my eyes. Occasionally I have thought of things like this before, but that is all it would be, just a thought. Derek’s words have really inspired me. ... He really made me think. I almost feel like a new person. I almost feel ashamed I’ve ever stressing about the insignificant things in life. I will try and not fret over a bad hair day, small argument, not having anything to wear, or other things like that. All of these seem so unimportant now that I have read this. They do not matter. What matters are the people in your life, education, love, and happiness. There are so many more important things to worry about.
Sally, age 16
HowdidlovehelpDerekcopewithhisillness?Whatroledoesloveplayinyourlife?
Your experience with death and your illness has helped me realize that love is the key to life and happiness. Loving yourself, loving others, and being loved is what truly makes people happy ... hearing your story helped me see how much love I have for my own family. I know that I sometimes don’t show it, but I’m starting to realize I should. I see that it’s not hard to tell your parents and siblings that you love them, and you showed me that. This makes me appreciate my family a lot more.
Shannon, age 17
I learned that true love can last through anything. I think if I were in Val’s position I would have been horrified and not sure if I could continue on with my life. Their true love for each other was amazing. I now realize that life is not a gift but a journey. Some journeys are longer and smoother than others.
Brittani, age 17
WhatdidDerekdeterminewasthemeaningofhislife?Whatdoyouthinkisthemeaningofyourlife?
I think I have discovered the reason we are put on earth. This reason is love. Throughout my entire life I have always looked at love as something magical that happens when a boy meets the right girl. But this is only a small part of the meaning of love. Love is the core of every person. Love is the connection between family, friends, soul mates, team mates ... the most important thing I have learned from Derek’s journal is the meaning of my life ... and it is love.
Wesley, age 17
11
Derekwroteabout the importanceof showingappreciationandnottakingthingsforgranted.Whatdidhesayaboutthis?
Whyisitimportanttoshowappreciation?Whatdoyouappreciateinyourlife?
Derek also displayed the importance of appreciation. He showed us to appreciate the fact that you are a healthy person, a young person, with so many opportunities in life still waiting around the corner. He showed us to appreciate all the people that care about you. To appreciate all the things you have in life, all the things you are capable of doing on your own. He taught readers to appreciate their independence, freedom and opportunities.
Tom, age 16
HowdidDerekdealwithhisillness?Put yourself inDerek’s position, how do you believe youwould
dealwithit?
The most important thing that Derek did was realize the fact that he did not have long to live. Derek was told that he was going to die, and that must have been the hardest thing in the world, to hear that you haven’t even turned twenty years old, but you only have one year to live (or possibly less). Derek fought long and hard and never gave up. He kept a positive attitude for a majority of the time and kept trying to make the best out of things. He put others before himself and wanted to make sure that when his life ended, everybody he loved would be okay, everybody would have somebody to lean on. From what I read, I think Derek is absolutely incredible. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to go through what Derek went through. He had a hard battle, and he still managed to make it a point to write in this journal so that others could learn from him. He wanted to leave a piece of him behind for everybody to remember him by.
George, age 18
Derekwroteaboutregret.Whatwashisattitudetowardregret?Doyouhaveanyregretsabouthowyouhavelivedyourlifesofar?WhatdidDerekthinkwasthecorrelationbetweenage,knowledge
andwisdom?Whatdoyouthinkisthecorrelationbetweenage,knowledgeand
wisdom?
I strongly agree with Derek’s assessment that, “a person’s age is not determined by the amount of years they have been on this earth, but also by the experiences that they have gone through.” I don’t see any correlation between age and knowledge. Experience forms knowledge, and knowledge forms power, and I think it is safe to say that Derek experienced so much more than most people.
Hunter, age 18
12
additional ways to use tHe Journalby Buck Harris
Both John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie would be useful books to read and discuss alongside Derek’s Gift. In the case of Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie Schwartz offers the insight and wisdom of a retired Sociology professor as he approaches his impending death from ALS. Albom was a former student of Morrie’s who wrote the book following a series of interviews with his mentor. Over a series of Tuesday interviews Schwartz shared his inner-most thoughts and feelings. Albom presents each Tueday’s discussion in separate chapters that include his former professor’s insight on topics such as the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regret, death, family, emotions, the fear of aging, money; about how love goes on, marriage, culture; forgiveness, the perfect da, and saying goodbye. Each short chapter would provide rich material for class discussions and reflective writing. Students would find important connections between Morrie’s and Derek’s writing.
Morrie Schwartz once observed, “the culture doesn’t encourage you to think about such things (meaning of life, the importance of family, love, impending death) until you are about to die. We’re so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks-we’re involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing. ... You need someone to probe you in that direction. It just won’t happen automatically.” (Albom, Tuesday’s With Morrie, pgs. 64-65)
Derek’s illness and pending death, much like Morrie’s, forced him to contemplate what is most important in his life. My teenage readers cannot help but be moved by Derek’s writings; the experience of reading the journal leads them to carefully examine what is most important in their lives. Albom’s book also does this powerfully, but from the perspective of a brilliant educator in his seventies.
13
derek’s Journal as a socratic seminar courseby Buck Harris
I am indebted to Chuck Fisher for providing the following ideas on how to teach the journal in a Socratic seminar format. Chuck was one of the fifteen Boston Athenaeum’s Calderwood Teacher as Writer Fellows I worked with during the summer of 2007 and the 2007-08 school year. This fellowship supported my writing of this teacher’s guide.
Derek’s Gift could support a semester-long Socratic seminar. The journal itself could be used to generate meaningful questions for the students. These questions would then create the curriculum and direction for the class. People like Neil Postman propose curricula base entirely of questions, so the idea is not outlandish.
Socratic seminars are best when they tackle the “Big Ideas” that all people are interested in. Mortimer Adler and colleagues created a list of the 103 big ideas in literature. The following ideas may be addressed using Derek’s Gift:
More could be added, including “forgiveness,” “hope” and “popularity.” These ideas can be used by the facilitator and the students to generate the questions.
Many of the entries in Derek’s journal lend themselves to these topics quite easily. The January 22 entry, for example, lends itself to fear. Derek mentions claustrophobia and at the end the “fear of the unknown.” Questions could include, How is fear good?
BeautyBeingCauseChanceChangeCourageDesireDutyEducationEmotionEternityExperienceFamily
FateGodGood and evilHappinessHistoryHonorImmortalityJusticeKnowledgeLife and deathLoveMedicineMind
NaturePleasure and painProgressPunishmentRelationReligionSame and otherScienceSinSoulTime
What are the different types of fear? What is a phobia? Why is the unknown so scary? Are there ways to reduce fear?
Entries in January 28 and 29 deal with relationships and friendship. Some sample questions could include:
• Whydoesn’thesayanythingtohisfriends?• Aretheretimesinyourlifewhereyoudon’tsharesuchthings?• Whatmakesusnotsayanything?
January 31 deals with pain. Some sample questions could be: • Howispainuseful?• Whywouldpainevolve?
Consider at least 40 class periods for just dialogue (prompted by reading 1-3 entries per class). Other classes could be used for assessment, content supplements, writing, projects, etc. I would probably read 1-3 entries one day and then follow up with specific content the next day. Read another section and the next day follow up with information. This could be an entire semester.
Chuck Fisher is an expert on leading Socratic Seminars, discussion and dialogues. He is writing a text book on these topics. More information can be found at http://charlesamesfischer.webs.com.
15
For rights information, or to get discounted copies, please contact the publisher:
