Life in 150 seconds
Life, sped up | Suitable for 9-16 year olds
LIFE IN 150 SECONDS
In this video you will see 100 different people, each at a different stage in their life. One of these people is the same age as you. Some are younger and most are older than you. How does this make you feel about your life now?
After watching the video, imagine these people’s lives and experiences. How are they the same as you? How are they different from you? Think about who these people remind you of. Do you see yourself in any of them, in the past, the present, or the future?
Video by Filmersblog – embedded & hosted by Vimeo
Thinking idea
If your life was 150 seconds long – the length of the video – how many seconds old would you be now? What fraction of your lifespan have you lived? How much more life to you have left to live as a percentage? What proportion of your life will be taken up by school, or work, sport, recreation, gaming or just doing exactly what you want to do?
Discussion idea
Do you feel old or young? Do you feel older than last year? Do you think you will feel much older next year? Is there a particular age that’s the start of being ‘old’? If you asked someone who was that age if they thought they were old, what would they say? If you asked a retired person what the differences are between being old and young, how do you think they would respond?
Writing idea
Try to explore the ideas you’ve just discussed. Write bullet points or short sentences about your own life. See if you can ask the same questions to an adult who is 20 years older than you, and to an adult who is more than 40 years older than you. Compare the answers. Can you write three short autobiographies – one as yourself, one as a person 20 years older and one as a person 40 years older? At the end, what advice would you give to the reader?
Teaching idea
Model first person present tense autobiographical statements and paragraphs. Ask students their thoughts and write these up as quotes and verbatim sentences. Explore how you can put these together to create a narrative. What is interesting? What is not? Which aspects does the reader want to learn more about?
Resources
Some great time-themed songs, music and resources
- The Waiting by Tom Petty.
- The Time’s They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan.
- Good Times by Chic, Stressed Out by twenty one pilots.
- We Have All The Time In The World by Louis Armstrong.
- Time by Hans Zimmer.
- Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers.
- A moving fantasy clock face for your wall panel screen or whiteboard.
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Life in 150 seconds
Seeing things differently
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
Do you think time speeds up as we get older? This writer at Harvard University does. If that is true, is it also true that life moves more slowly for children and teens? What do you think? Write about a situation that seemed to go on forever for you, but seemed to be over in a instant for someone older.
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