Around the world and across human history, the same questions have challenged us: What should we hope for? How should we live? How do we respond to suffering? How do we flourish?

Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz have gathered responses to these and other questions and reflected on the different answers that have informed various faiths and cultures. They have led students through these findings in one of Yale University’s most popular courses. They have written Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most to help students of all ages—lifelong learners—respond to these questions in the context of their own lives.

Now it’s your turn to help your students integrate the best of their intellectual energies with their most profound existential questions. Because your students’ lives are too important to be guided by anything less than what matters most.

Secondary school educators are invited to submit a curricular plan designed around the book Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz. The first prize winners—one in each division (religiously-affiliated and religiously-unaffiliated schools)—will receive $1,500, as well as an additional $3,500 stipend to complete their Life Worth Living curriculum design. Honorable mentions (multiple in each division) will also receive prizes.

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Submit your curricular plan by Friday, August 30, 2024.

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Requirements for Your Curricular Plan

1. Course Description (100-200 words)
2. Syllabus (template here and available for download below)
3. Assignment Designs (rubrics not required)
4. Unit Lesson Plans: A detailed outline and description of 2-3 units in your syllabus, including…
   1. Objective
   2. Resources that you're choosing to help you get to that objective
   3. Essential questions you're exploring in the unit

Important Dates

• Curricular Plan submission due Friday, August 30, 2024
• Winners announced Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Criteria for Your Curricular Plan

• Engaging for students
• Centered on life’s big questions
• Helps students engage the big questions of life for themselves in dialogue with voices from a diverse set of cultural, religious, and philosophical traditions
• Involves creative and engaging assignments that invite students to ask what makes life most worth living and to reply with their lives
• Involves assignments that help students hear from one another and learn from each other’s life experiences

Prizes

• First Prize—one in each division (religiously-affiliated and religiously-unaffiliated schools)
  • $1,500
  • Additional $3,500 stipend to complete a full build-out of the curriculum, including unit-level lesson plans
  • Curriculum promoted and shared on the Yale Center for Faith & Culture website
  • NB: Award of First Prize is contingent upon educator’s agreement to complete the full build-out of the curriculum and have it shared through the YCFC site
• ‍Honorable Mentions—multiple in each division

FAQs

• Who is eligible to submit a curricular plan?
  • Any public or independent secondary school teacher or administrator worldwide.
• What if constraints of my context vary significantly from the assumptions made in some of the application materials?
  • Do your best to make changes to our template as needed. Most of all, stick to the thought: if I were to design a course around this book to be taught in my context, how would I best do that? If you still have questions, feel free to email lifeworthliving@yale.edu.
• What if I want to work as a team?
  • This is allowable, and prizes will be shared!
• Do I have to be able to teach this Life Worth Living class?
  • We hope for your sake that you have the opportunity to teach this class, but it’s not a requirement for submission. We know that each school has its own process for developing and adopting new courses.

Email lifeworthliving@yale.edu with any questions.

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‍Submit your curricular plan by Friday, August 30, 2024.