7 Activities To Add To Your Of Mice and Men Unit

Teaching a novel or a novella requires careful planning and a variety of resources to keep student engagement high. Throughout a unit students should be engaging in close readings, reflecting on the text through text dependent writing prompts, applying literary terms and grammar skills, and showing their learning through activities that require creativity. Read on for 7 activities I use throughout my Of Mice and Men unit and how to add them to yours!

Teaching Of Mice & Men: Literary Elements To Focus On In Each Chapter

Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck is a classic text still alive in high school classrooms today. The novella’s short length makes it accessible, it is packed with literary elements to analyze, and its characters and themes lead to rich discussions. Below is a roadmap of how I maximize my time teaching Of Mice and Men and make this unit one that my students will remember as a favorite.

On My Bookshelf: Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

The basic plot from Amazon: They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.

Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.

Why I liked it: The classic novel Of Mice and Men is one I first read in high school, but I forgot how tragic the ending is. The plot is simple, but it is impossible not to connect with the characters' plights.

George and Lennie are migrant workers roaming the country side during the Great Depression, trying to stay one step away from the trouble that seems to plague them. Lennie struggles intellectually and has a fixation for powering soft things, whether it's mice, puppies, or girls' dresses. George, who promised Lennie's aunt he would look after him, struggles with this burden.

The two have a dream of eventually having land of their own and with the help of Candy, an older worker at their newest ranch, that dream seems almost possible. Unfortunately, Curley, the boss's son seems to have it out for Lennie and Curley's wife is looking for attention any where she can get it. Lennie puts he and George in danger once again, and George has to make a terrible decision about their friendship.

Classroom application: The novel could be used to focus on any and all literary terms: conflict, setting, characterization, theme, symbolism, foreshadowing, mood, etc.

Because it is short, it is a great choice if you have to do all of your reading in class or if you are trying to build up independent reading stamina with your students. There are several film versions, one old, two newer ones, and even a film of the play version of the novel. Watching one is the perfect opportunity to practice Common Core standard #7.

Again, because it is short, the novel is perfect for using nonfiction pairings. I used some articles about migrants, like this one and this one, and this one on homelessness. I also used articles about the history of mental health treatment like this one, this one, this one, and this one. We read about Joe Louis here, here, and here. Students often find Steinbeck's letter to the actress who played Curley's wife interesting and I often also share Steinbeck's speech at the banquet for the Nobel Prize which still inspires writers today.

You can find all of my resources for teaching Of Mice and Men here.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Of Mice and Men for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Collaborative Poetry: Bring Students' Voices Together Through Group Writing

This April marks the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month, which was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. However, April isn't the only time to celebrate poetry in your classroom. One of my favorite poetry activities to use any time of year are collaborative poems.

Successful Socratic Seminars: Help Students Prepare, Participate & Reflect on Classroom Discussions

For years I shied away from holding whole class discussions. Looking back, I'm not really sure why. Was I worried about releasing control of the classroom? Did I think my students wouldn't be able to sustain the dialogue? Whatever the reason, it just wasn't something I did in my classroom. Sure we discussed texts, but I posed all of the questions and called on students to respond.

When I started a long term substitute position last year, my co-teacher shared with me that students had particularly enjoyed a socratic seminar held earlier in the year and were hoping to have another. We planned to hold one at the end of our unit on Of Mice and Men.

As our unit drew to a close, we began to prepare for our classroom discussion. We wanted the discussion to be student led so we knew having students prepare meaningful questions ahead of time would be key to having a successful discussion. I created a simple graphic organizer to help students generate questions focusing on characters and literary elements from the novel. We gave students time in class the day before the discussion to begin working on their questions and allowed them to finish them for homework.

We decided to use a "fishbowl" format with an inside and outside circle to allow more participation
and prevent one or two students dominating the whole discussion time. This format also makes it easier to track the conversation because there are less students involved at one time. You can also include an empty "hot seat" that someone from the outside circle can jump into if he/she really wants to join the conversation. Make sure seats are arranged in a circle so that all students can see and hear each other equally. I made the mistake of leaving my desks in a rectangular shape and students at the ends couldn't hear each other.

Before the discussion began I discussed with students what they could do if someone asked "their" question. I also projected prompting questions on the board during the discussion to help keep the conversation going. You may want to review student names before beginning discussion, especially if its the beginning of the year. This will help with making sure students direct questions and responses toward each other and allow them to encourage silent students to participate.

I also set an expectation of students asking at least one of the two questions they prepared and making at least three comments in response to other students' questions. This expectation was to strongly encourage my quieter students to participate. My class sizes ranged from 20-30 students with 10-15 in the inner circle at a time, and each circle had 15 minutes of talk time. Depending on your class size and length, you may want to set different expectations. However, I find that it is definitely more helpful to set a specific expectation rather than just generally telling students they must participate. 

To get the conversation going, I asked for a volunteer to ask the opening question. For students who are nervous about participation, this is also a great chance to get "their" question asked and out of the way. Then I set the timer and sat back and listened. It is definitely tempting to jump in when conversation lags, but I managed to keep quiet until the two minutes warning, which is a final chance for any students who haven't participated yet to do so.

While the inside circle was holding their discussion, the students in the outside were responsible for tracking the discussion. This ensured that students were quiet, engaged, and actively listening to their peers. Before the discussion began, I gave examples of the types of comments students should be tracking; saying "I agree" without any explanation doesn't cut it. Having students track their peers helps me as the teacher. Even though using a fishbowl format cuts the number of students participating at one time in half, having extra ears means I don't have to worry about catching every single thing said.

After each round of discussion ended, the students in the inner circle reflected on their performance as a participant, a reflection that included both questions and a checklist of speaking and listening skills. If you do several discussions over the year, have students compare their participation and confidence in speaking. The students in the outer circle reflected on the conversation as a whole, which was another way to ensure active listening. They commented on points they agreed and disagreed with and noted students they felt gave a star performance.

If students struggle during your first classroom discussion, don't give up. More frequent practice will help build their confidence. Starting with online discussions using a tool like TodaysMeet can also make students more comfortable and incorporate the silent voices. If you want to further extend your class discussion, you could choose the best questions as future writing prompts or as short essay questions on an exam for the novel or unit.

You can find the resources I used to help students prepare, track, and reflect on our class discussion here.

Leave your tips and tricks for running a successful socratic seminar or other type of classroom discussion in the comments below.

For more speaking and listening resources:

You Oughta Know About...Designing a Close Reading

Close reading is not a new strategy, but seems to be a buzz word these days thanks to the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). If you think close readings aren't essential practice in any subject, think again. According to the PARCC, "a significant body of research links the close reading of complex text—whether the student is a struggling reader or advanced—to significant gains in reading proficiency and finds close reading to be a key component of college and career readiness."

So now you are freaking out because the PARCC is endorsing close readings (and they pretty much run the education world these days, along with Charlotte Danielson) and you aren't doing them and you aren't even sure you know how. Relax. All will be well. I will explain everything you oughta know about designing a close reading.

The first step to designing a close read is to pick a short, rich text. It could be a non-fiction article, a short story, a poem, or a page or two from a novel. It could even be a graphic or info graphic. The genre and type of text don't matter as long as the length is manageable, a page or two would be my recommendation, although there is probably a more specific research based length.

Even more important than keeping it short is the depth of the text. How do you know if the text is deep enough? The PARCC tells us students should be "engaging with a text of sufficient complexity directly and examining meaning thoroughly and methodically, reading and rereading deliberately. This attention to the text itself empowers students to understand the central ideas and key supporting details. It also enables students to reflect on the meanings of individual words and sentences; the order in which sentences unfold; and the development of ideas over the course of the text, which ultimately leads students to arrive at an understanding of the text as a whole." 

To break that down, consider the following questions: Would students gain better understanding and greater meaning from reading the text multiple times? Are there multiple possible interpretations of statements made by the author? Is there challenging vocabulary students would have to use context clues to determine the meaning of?  Can students identify a series of causes and effects? Are there enough details for students to determine a theme? Will students be able to make inferences or draw conclusions based on character description? Can the author's word choice be examined for meaning and purpose? For me, it's bonus points if the text sparks conversation or debate among students or leaves them wondering. If you aren't answering yes to many of those questions, then the text you are looking at probably isn't worth a close read.

Once I have selected a text worthy of a close reading, I think about the text-dependent questions I will ask that will require students to dig deeply into the text. Using an excerpt from "The Family of Little Feet," a vignette from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, I will first give some examples of questions that don't require true close reading or critical thinking (some non-examples) and then examples of questions that do.

Excerpt:

Do you want this? And gave us a paper bag with one pair of lemon shoes and one red and one pair of dancing shoes that used to be white but were now pale blue. Here, and we said thank you and waited until she went upstairs.

Hurray! Today we are Cinderella because our feet fit exactly, and we laugh at Rachel's one foot with a girl's grey sock and a lady's high heel. Do you like these shoes? But the truth is it is scary to look down at your foot that is no longer yours and see attached a long long leg.

Everybody wants to trade. The lemon shoes for the red shoes, the red for the pair that were once white but are now pale blue, the pale blue for the lemon, and take them off and put them back on and keep on like this a long time until we are tired.

Then Lucy screams to take our socks off and yes, it's true. We have legs. Skinny and spotted with satin scars where scabs were picked, but legs, all our own, good to look at, and long.

It's Rachel who learns to walk the best all strutted in those magic high heels. She teaches us to cross and uncross our legs, and to run like a double-dutch rope, and how to walk down to the corner so that the shoes talk back to you with every step. Lucy, Rachel, me tee-tottering like so. Down to the corner where the men can't take their eyes off us. We must be Christmas.

Non-example questions:

What caused the shoes that used to be white to now be pale blue?

Why are the girls excited?

How is Rachel different from the other girls?

While these are decent questions, requiring students to use comprehension skills and make inferences, they will not generate real discussion and they all have a "right" answer, even those that don't call for direct "facts" from the story. These questions also only touch upon the first three Common Core standards (#1 citing evidence/making inferences, #2 main idea/theme, #3 character development), all of which fall under the category of "key ideas and details."

Example questions:

What does the narrator mean when she says, "today we are Cinderella?" How would the meaning change if she said, "today we are Snow White" or "today we are Sleeping Beauty?" 

(standard #4 and #9, author's word choice and connecting ideas/themes between texts)

Why does the author decide to include the information that the shoes are a gift from a neighbor? Would the shoes have the same effect on the girls if they were already theirs? 

(standard #5 text structure)

How does the girls' view of themselves change when they put on the "magic high heels?" What evidence in the text supports this change? 

(standard #6 point of view)

These questions will generate discussion and have no one "right" answer as long as students can logically support their response with evidence from the text. These questions hit upon higher level Common Core standards with standards 4 - 6 falling under "craft and structure" and standard 9 falling under "integration of knowledge and ideas."

Want to read more about close reading and see more sample questions? Check out this article.

If you are a secondary teacher, check out my seasonal nonfiction close readings. Many of them could be used in a history class or even science class! My close reading on giving and the holidays is free, so grab it for next year or use the questions as a model for your own nonfiction close reading.

I also just posted these close readings for Of Mice and Men. If you are looking for an example of a literary close reading, click here to download one for Chapter One.

If you are an elementary school teacher, check out this post by Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice. You can see some examples in her post and and follow her directions to download a free sample.