A psychology teacher in Florida was fired after he asked students to write their obituaries ahead of an active shooter drill on campus

• A psychology teacher made students write their obituaries before an active shooter drill, say reports.
• He said he felt the assignment would help students reflect on their lives.

A high school psychology teacher in Florida was fired after he asked students to write their obituaries ahead of an active shooter drill on campus, reports say.

Jeffrey Keene said he decided to tie the upcoming drill to a psychology lesson on Tuesday as he felt it would help students reflect on their lives, NBC reported.

"'This isn't a way to upset you or anything like that,'" Keene said he told the class, which included high school students from different grades at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando.

"It wasn't to scare them or make them feel like they were going to die, but just to help them understand what's important in their lives and how they want to move forward with their lives and how they want to pursue things in their journey," he told NBC.

"If you can't talk real to them, then what's happening in this environment?" he said. "In my mind, I've done nothing wrong."

The lesson plan, a photo of which Keene shared on Facebook, asked students to write their obituaries as if it was their "last day alive" and to reflect on the active shooter drill and, more generally, on the "mass shooting epidemic" in the country. The message ended with a disclaimer that the assignments were not intended to upset anyone.

Keene wrote on Facebook that some students were upset after the first-period class and went to their counselors.

He told Fox 35 Orlando that he was given the option to resign without violating his contract, which he said he refused because he didn't believe he had done anything wrong. He said that he was terminated and that he plans to appeal the decision.

However, NBC reported that Keene, who started working at the school in January, said he was not a member of the union and had no recourse to appeal the decision.

He told Fox 35 Orlando that he did not regret the assignment and said he would "absolutely" do it again, even knowing the consequences.

A school district spokesperson said in a statement reported by Fox 35: "Dr. Phillips High School families were informed that a teacher gave an inappropriate assignment about school violence. The administration immediately investigated, and the probationary employee has been terminated."