Obituary Lesson Plan
An obituary lesson plan for journalism, ELA, media writing, and family-history classes, with source-backed visual obituary examples and assessment prompts.
Lesson Purpose
This obituary lesson plan helps students understand the difference between a death notice, eulogy, reported obituary article, and visual obituary. It works for journalism, ELA, media writing, creative nonfiction, and family-history classes.
The classroom goal is accuracy before polish. Students gather facts, check sources, choose one concrete life detail, and decide what should stay public, what should be cut, and what belongs in a private family note.
Classroom Sequence
Warm-up: notice, article, or eulogy
10 minutes
Ask students to compare a death notice, a feature obituary, and a short visual obituary. Identify which facts are verified, which details create story, and which parts belong in a private tribute instead of a public article.
Mini lesson: what an obituary article does
15 minutes
Define the obituary article as reported life-story writing. It announces a death, but it also explains why the person mattered through record checks, interviews, scenes, chronology, and editorial judgment.
Source check: evidence before style
15 minutes
Have students mark names, dates, places, public claims, family relationships, awards, work history, service details, and source uncertainty before drafting any emotional language.
Draft: lead, life, scene, legacy
25 minutes
Students write a 350-500 word obituary article for a historical figure, public figure, fictional character, or approved family-history subject using one concrete scene or object as the story anchor.
Peer review: sensitivity and verification
15 minutes
Pairs check whether the draft is accurate, specific, respectful, and clear to readers who did not know the subject. They also mark any details that should be removed or moved private.
Use It In Four Course Types
Journalism
Treat it as a feature obituary assignment: reporting, source attribution, AP-style restraint, and a lead that makes the subject's significance clear.
ELA
Use the assignment to teach structure, tone, point of view, summary, and concrete detail in nonfiction writing.
Family history
Ask students to turn records, clippings, photographs, or oral-history notes into a sourced life-story paragraph.
Visual storytelling
Have students storyboard four panels: verified fact, pressure point, subject in action, and what remains.
Assessment Checklist
- Lead names the subject, death context, and significance without turning the article into a list.
- Draft includes verified names, dates, places, relationships, and at least two source notes.
- One concrete scene, object, quote, route, room, photograph, or action makes the life specific.
- Tone is respectful, readable, and appropriate for a public classroom or journalism audience.
- Student can explain what was kept public, cut, or moved private.
Source-Backed Visual Obituary Examples
- Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn: The Man Who Wrote the Camps
Russian novelist and historian who exposed the Soviet Gulag.
2026-06-04 - Sources: Britannica, Nobel Prize, The Guardian - Primo Levi: The Chemist Who Witnessed
Italian Jewish chemist, Auschwitz survivor, and writer who turned survival into literature
2026-06-03 - Sources: Wikipedia, NYT Archive Obituary, Boston Review - Henri Matisse: Henri Matisse: The Second Life
French modernist painter who turned illness into a final language of color and scissors.
2026-06-02 - Sources: Musée Matisse Nice, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Centre Pompidou - Harriet Tubman: Harriet Tubman: The Road Back
Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, Union scout, and suffragist.
2026-06-01 - Sources: National Park Service, Encyclopaedia Britannica, National Women’s History Museum
Teaching And Journalism Resources
Best Link Target For Lesson Plans
Use this page for journalism curriculum lists, ELA writing lessons, media-writing resources, lesson-plan repositories, and classroom resource pages about obituary writing. For newsroom and media-writing context, use the obituary articles page. For handouts, use the obituary story worksheet.