Death on a Smaller but Equal Scale.

Abstract

In 2007, I "retired" from teaching in New Zealand and moved back to the United States. Within a year, I found myself back in the classroom again, this time teaching a course entitled "Perspectives on Death and Dying" at the local community college. This article begins with an exploration of some of my own grief that I brought to the new task, and my challenges to engage an unfamiliar culture (Mexican Americans making up about 80% of the students in the class). It then surveys the topics the students chose to write about in their final summative essays over the three semesters that I have taught this course so far, as a glimpse into what troubles tertiary-age American college students about dying, grief, and death. The paper concludes with a description of how remaining aware of my own personal grief, processes, and the grief of others, outside of, but simultaneously with, the classroom experience better equipped me to teach the course and to be more sensitive to the encompassing grief that these socially marginalised students bring with them into the academic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)