Name:______Date:______
Tuesdays with Morrie
Using context clues, write what you think the word means; using a dictionary, or a reference source, write the actual definition of the term and the meaning of the stem(s). The stems are identified for you; they are underlined or italicized.
Target Goals: I can determine and clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases using context.
I can verify the meaning of a word using a dictionary.
Common Core State Standards: L. 10. 4a and L.10.4d
1. “Since everyone was going to die, he could be of great value, right? He could be research. A human textbook. Study me in my slow and patient demise” (Albom 10).
de- dictionary definition of demise-
mis-
demise (context clues)-
2. “The sports appetite in that city was insatiable-they had professional teams in football, basketball, baseball, and hockey-and it matched my ambition” (Albom 16).
3. “They spoke about Morrie’s increasing dependency on other people. He already needed help eating and sitting and moving from place to place. What, Koppel asked, did Morrie dread the most about his slow, insidious decay?” (Albom 22).
4. “I had not seen him in sixteen years. His hair was thinner, nearly white, and his face was gaunt” (Albom 27).
5. “I watched him now, his hands working gingerly, as if he were learning to use them for the very first time. He could not press down hard with a knife. His fingers shook” (Albom 35).
6. “Morrie was in his wheelchair by the kitchen table, wearing a loose cotton shirt and even looser black sweatpants. They were loose because his legs had atrophied beyond normal clothing size--you could get two hands around his thighs and have your fingers touch” (Albom 48).
7. “He studied my face, and perhaps he saw an ambivalence about my own choices…I shook my head and said nothing. But Morrie picked up on my hesitation” (Albom 64).
8. “After their mother’s death, the two boys were sent off to a small hotel in the Connecticut woods where several families shared a large cabin and a communal kitchen” (Albom 74).
9. “He made another vow that he kept to the end of his life: he would never do any work that exploited someone else, and he would never allow himself to make money off the sweat of others” (Albom 78).
10. “Morrie borrowed freely from all religions. He was born Jewish, but became agnostic when he was a teenager, partly because of all that had happened to him as a child” (Albom 81).
11. “He was a religious mutt, which made him even more open to the students he taught over the years. And the things he was saying in his final months on earth seemed to transcend all religious differences” (Albom 82).
12. “He moved to Europe not long after high school, preferring the more casual lifestyle he found there…When he visited home, in his wild and funny presence, I often felt stiff and conservative” (Albom 95).