11
1 Intro / 12
2 Context and Setting / 13
3 Chapter 1: Friendship and Loneliness / 14
4 Chapter 1: Continued / 15
PRO D DAY / 16
17 / 18
5 Chapter 2: Power and Powerlessness / 19
6 Chapter 2: Continued / 20
7 Chapter 3: The American Dream / 21
8
Off The Grid / 22
Good Friday / 23
24 / 25
Easter Monday / 26
9 Chapter 4: Handicap and Insecurity / 27
10 Chapter 4: Continued / 28
11 Facebook Profile workday / 29
12 Facebook Profile Presentations / 30
1 / 2
13 Chapter 5: Justice vs Morality / 3
14 Chapter 5: Continued / 4
15 Chapter 6: Loyalty / 5
16 Chapter 6: Continued / 6
17 The Kit Kat essay (planning sheet for a major theme) / 7
8 / 9
18 Allusion and a Movie / 10
19 Movie Continued / 11
20 Jeopardy Exam Review / 12
21 Of Mice and Men Quiz / 13
22 Wrap Up
Assessment:
Journal
Venn diagram
Socio Gram
Facebook assignment & presentation
Essay planning sheet
Exam
Lesson 1: Introductions (40 Mins) Monday April 11
Standards and Expectations
- Students and I will be introduced to each other
o 9 Truths and a Lie (15 mins)
§ I once road a dirt bike from Victoria to Halifax and Back
§ I once went scuba diving in the middle of a school of Hammer Head Sharks
§ I once played the lead role in a film
§ I once watched a Shakespearian play in London England
§ I have visited all of the major Hawaiian islands
§ There is a worldwide party on my birthday every year
§ I once drag raced a Toyota Supra with over 500 horsepower
§ I never liked olives until I had them in Greece, and now I love them
§ The first time I had Alaskan King Crab was in Alaska
§ I race a Honda S2000 locally and have competed at the Canadian Autocross National Championships
o Intro to Novel Assessment
§ Class Rules (5 mins)
§ Assignments – Journal, “Character Sketch,” Class Presentation (5 Mins)
- Students will be introduced to the assignments that they will be working on over the course of the unit so that they can begin planning as they cover the material
§ Exam (5 mins)
- Multiple Choice, Quotes, Short Answer, Essay. We will prepare and study for this in class
o Personal Info Sheet / 2 Truths and a Lie (10 Mins)
Lesson 2: Context and Setting (80 mins) Tuesday April 12
Standards and Expectations:
- Students will be introduced to the context in Of Mice and Men and will be able to briefly describe aspects regarding:
o The Great Depression
o Seasonal / Migrant Farm Workers / “Okies”
o Dust Bowl / The Dirty Thirties
- Students will be introduced to the main themes of the novel that will be focused on in subsequent classes which will allow them to focus their analyses
o Friendship / Loneliness
o Loyalty
o Power / Powerlessness
o The American Dream
o Handicap
o Justice
Silent Reading (15 minutes)
Anticipatory Set: (20 minutes)
- Students will be shown various images from The Great Depression and The Dirty Thirties (5 Minutes)
- Students will asked to write down everything they know about The Great Depression and then Think / Pair / Share (15 Minutes)
Guided Instruction: (30 mintues)
- For reference and images visit: http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/farminginthe1930s.html
- Discuss the causes and effects of The Great Depression (10 Minutes)
o 25% Unemployment (Canadian Unemployment Rate currently at 7.8% with BC at 8.8%)
o No Welfare
o World Wide
o Took WW2 for the world to recover
- Discuss seasonal migrant workers (5 Minutes)
o Still employed today for harvest seasons
o In the 1930s many migrants moved from Oklahoma
- Discuss the dust bowl (5 Minutes)
o Caused by drought and excessive farming without proper crop rotation, fallow fields and cover crops to prevent erosion
o Giant dust storms which away the top soil
o Schools were closed on account of the dust storms
- Introduce Of Mice and Men (15 Minutes)
o John Steinbeck
o Novella
o Discuss the relationship of George and Lennie
o Introduce themes to be covered
§ Friendship / Loneliness
· Soledad: Spanish for Solitude or Loneliness
§ Loyalty / Betrayal
§ Power / Powerlessness
§ The American Dream
§ Handicap and Insecurity
· Mention Lennie’s condition
§ Justice / Morality
Journal Response: (15 Minutes)
- What is a dream, hope, goal, or aspiration that you and your best friend share? How would this be change if you were living during the great depression? Would it be more or less likely that you could achieve it? Why or why not?
Assessment:
- Students should understand the context and setting for Of Mice and Men in regards to The Great Depression, migrant labour, and The Dust Bowl
- Students should be prepared to search for and readily identify instances friendship, loneliness, power, powerlessness, loyalty, betrayal, The American Dream, handicap, justice, and morality while reading Of Mice and Men
- Students should begin looking for key ideas, themes, and important elements that will likely show up on the exam
Lesson 3: Friendship and Loneliness (80 Minutes) Wednesday April 13
Standards and Expectations: Lesson 3-4
- Students will be introduced to the Salinas River setting
- Students will explore the themes of friendship and loneliness
- Students will be introduced to the characters of George and Lennie
- Students will explore how the two characters contrast and complement each other
- Students will explore the nature of George and Lennie’s relationship
Silent Reading: (15 minutes)
Anticipatory Set: (20 Minutes)
- Four Corners Activity: Label the corners of the room: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. Students will be asked a series of questions and for each question they have to go to a corner of the room. Once there, they will discuss their position with their group and finally they will be asked to defend their position to the class.
o I have more fun when I am with my friends
o Friends always treat each other with respect
o Friends always have many common interests
Guided Instruction: (30 minutes)
- Introduce chapter 1 reminding students of the setting and context discussed in the previous class (5 minutes)
- Read chapter 1 (16 pages) to students questioning, highlighting key points and predicting while doing so (25 minutes)
Independent Practice: (15 minutes)
- Student will be asked to journal about the nature of George and Lennie’s relationship
o How does their relationship differ from the students relationships with their friends?
o Why are they travelling together? Where are they coming from and where are they going?
o Does George treat Lennie with respect
o These will be discussed tomorrow
Lesson 4: Friendship and Loneliness continued (80 minutes) Thursday April 14
Welcome Mr. Barber he is here from UVIC assessing how we are doing as a class. So let’s make him feel welcome. We are going to start with silent reading today as always. Our theme for today is friendship and loneliness so I am going to task you with finding an example of that in the books that you are reading.
Silent Reading: (15 Minutes)
Attendance question: “in the passage you just read did you notice any examples of friendship or loneliness.. what was it.”
Anticipatory Set: (15 Minutes)
- Revisit journal responses from yesterday. Ask students to reread their responses and Think / Pair / Share
- What interesting aspects did they note about George and Lennie’s Relationship?
- How is their relationship different from students’ relationships with their friends?
- How is it the same?
Steinbeck is brilliant in that this novel is almost too easy to read. But a lot of what he does is very subtle. He writes with awareness which means that we have to read with awareness as well.
Guided Instruction: (20 minutes) (Below is a more detailed example of walking through a chapter)
- Explore subtle aspects in the chapter that students may have missed
o P1 The first thing we start out with is imagery describing the setting. Almost paradise like. So much so that I want to say that Steinbeck is invoking a kind of Garden of Eden in this paragraph. Nature exists in harmony here. But right at the bottom we notice the effects mankind has had on this place. Boys trampling down the place. They use this area as a swimming hole.
o P2 We get some characterization and physical description right away. Lennie and George walk single file, Lennie behind George. The characters have not even said anything and already Steinbeck has introduced the nature of their relationships. They are both wearing a denim tuxedo (implies? Workers) Steinbeck gives us the description of their appearance. George is sharp featured while Lennie is big lumbering and soft.
o P3 We have our first dialogue. It sets the tone between George and Lennie for their relationship. Lennie likened to an animal. He “snorts like a horse,” he is warned for drinking too much like one would warn a dog, his hand is described as a paw. He was called a bear earlier. What kind of animal do we think George would be? Lennie literally dives in where as George is uncertain. What does that tell us about their personalities?
o P4 Lennie copies George and looks for approval drawing up his knees making sure he has it just right. (kind of like a small child. My niece and I are like that. She is turning three this weekend… talk about big steps)
o Where we goin? This is an introduction to Lennie’s bad memory. Not only does he not have the faculty to figure things out but he cant remember orders either. EXCEPT for… rabbits. He loves rabbits. Everyone has their thing right?
o P5 you got to remember so we don’t get in no trouble… why would Steinbeck put this in here… Foreshadowing. George calls Lennie a crazy bastard. Is this abuse? And then we have the exchange with the mouse where Lennie thinks he can fool George. It’s funny because we know it wont work but he is also so innocent about it right.
o Why is George asking Lennie not to say anything… we talked about the great depression… people would be lining up for this job and they would be fired on the spot for any small thing. There is no labour relations at this time
o P7 Bad things you done in weed and George’s description of what life would be like without Lennie. Maybe I could have a girl. Lennie is a burden and he is trouble sometimes right?
o P8 why arent we going to the ranch for supper. George wants to lay there and look up. Savor the freedom. Maybe like that last night of summer holiday. You know you are going to come in to school the next day and have work to do so you just want to sit and enjoy nothing looming over your head
o Lennie tries to get the mouse again
o P9 I aint takin it away for meanness.. you broke it hes not fresh. Geoge does care about Lennie
o P10 Lennies “innocent description” of how he kills the mouse. He really doesn’t know his own strength does he. You feel bad because he feels bad.
o P11 Cat house = brothel. I could live easy, drink booze, get some “companionship” play pool, but instead I have to keep you out of trouble – girls dress. How is the girls dress similar to the dead mouse in Lennie’s pocket
o Wish I could put you in a cage with a million mice
o P12 Lennie’s description of what life would be like without George. Only foolin I can live on my own
o P13 the other day I asked you about your dreams and how they would be different if you lived during the great depression… here we have their dream. The thing that always strikes me is that it’s so simple. Any thoughts as to why? Is it their ritual? I think he likes to tell it because Lennie enjoys it but deep down, while it is possible, he knows it’s a ways off so he’s not super excited. What do you guys think?
o P14 they are different because they look out for each other. Lennie gets rabbits in the dream.. what does George get?
o P15 Emphasize that George tells Lennie to hide in the Brush if he gets into trouble
Independent Practice: (30 minutes)
- Students will create a Venn diagram in their journal comparing George and Lennie. On one side they will list George on the other Lennie. Each side will contain their individual physical attributes, personality traits, interests etc. In the middle students will identify aspects that both George and Lennie share. Students should note quotes and page numbers to support their Venn Diagram. Looking for at least 5 examples in each category(5 minutes to introduce 15 minutes work time)
- Share some examples (5 Minutes)
Male in the middle is not acceptable. In fact I don’t want to see I am female they are male on the pages… otherwise go to town. We want a grade 12 response.. We are both guys is a grade 6 response.. Grade 6 bad. Please label each circle. I am looking for a minimum of 5 3 and 1. I want you to star or highlight at least one answer that you think is really good. Set the timer for 15 minutes.