When most teachers are planning their “American Dream” unit, they turn to one of two novels – The Great Gatsby or Of Mice and Men. Both novels are relatively short; Gatsby has around 180 pages, OMAM has just over 100. Both contain beautiful language that’s perfect for author’s craft analysis. I love both. However, since Gatsby is now a 10th grade novel in my state, I’ve had to be content with just teaching Of Mice and Men. Which, again, I love. Very little brings out the emotions like the last scene between George and Lennie.
Over the last few years of teaching both Of Mice and Men and other novels in general, I’ve tried to move away from basic recall questions and move up the Bloom’s Taxonomy pyramid. Rather than focusing on the who and what, I try to focus on the why and how and so what? And as a result, I had to craft activities that centered on those types of questions.
If you’re looking to change up your novel study, keep reading for some Of Mice and Men activities for each chapter.
INTRO STATIONS
In the last few years, I have moved from traditional, “sit and get” introduction presentations complete with guided notes to intro stations for basically every novel or long text I teach (The Crucible, Beowulf, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men).
I love stations for a variety of reasons. In the case of something like a novel study, they allow students to receive the same information you have in your intro material but in shorter, more accessible bites. Plus, you can add in multimedia such as songs and photos.
Some ideas for intro stations for Of Mice and Men:
- author biography
- photos from the Great Depression/Dust Bowl/migrant workers
- informational articles about the historical context
- songs (either popular during the time OR ones with similar themes)
- pre-reading questions
In a nutshell – take anything you had in you original introduction, split it up, post it around the room, and set the students free.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
I’m also a huge proponent of character analysis activities (you can read more those activities here and here). Of Mice and Men is a great novel to practice character analysis while also leaning into the ideas of gender, race, and social standing.
You can go about this in several different ways:
- Have students track all characters throughout the novel/as they read.
- Have students complete character analysis for all characters after they read.
- Have students chose one character to focus on and track throughout the novel.
I tend to go with option 3. Allowing students to chose a character gives them agency and helps narrow down their focus. This is especially helpful in a text with a large number of characters.
Students can track as much, or as little, as you want. Some examples include:
- indirect characterization
- theme development
- conflict
- biographical information
- motivations & desires
- growth (antagonist? protagonist? a mixture of both?)
For students who struggle to engage with a text, character analysis graphic organizers are a great, low-stakes way to interact with the story.
CHAPTER 1
Chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men has some of the most descriptive writing I have ever seen. Does Steinbeck spend a little too much time describing the woods and the stream? Probably. Are those descriptions the epitome of vivid verbs and adjectives. Also yes.
If your students struggle with making their writing come alive, the first few pages of Of Mice and Men are an excellent excerpt for a mentor text.
Have students read the first few paragraphs, highlighting the different parts of speech.
- Mark the verbs as “helping”, “linking”, or “action”.
- Draw lines from adjectives or adverbs to the words they describe.
- Put parenthesis around prepositional phrases.
Not only does this grammar in context exercise help students identify parts of speech, but it provides a visual of how many descriptive words and phrases Steinbeck uses as well as how to structure them.
CHAPTER 2
By chapter 2, students have met all the main players in the novel. This is a great place to start talking about the power dynamics that exist between the people on the ranch – not only the bosses and the ranch hands, but among the workers themselves.
Creating power dynamics pie charts allow students to determine who holds the most power on the ranch. Keeping in mind what students know about the characters, as well as race and gender norms and expectations of the time period (activate that prior knowledge), students divide the “pie”, with larger “slices” going to the characters with the most power.
Have students justify their placement and provide textual evidence to support their reasoning. Gotta hit those writing standards too.
CHAPTER 3
Chapter 3 is where we start to really see the thread of the American Dream. We have Candy getting on board with George and Lennie’s dream to “live off the fatta the land” and get more insight into George and Lennie’s plan.
For a chapter 3 activity, have students create a dream vision board for one of these three characters. Boards can include images and quotes (there’s that textual evidence piece) as well as a ranking of how realistic/achievable that dream is (critical thinking anyone?). And of course – they have to justify their response.
CHAPTER 4
Chapter 4 finally introduces us to Crooks, the Negro stable buck who has been mentioned but who has, up to this point, been in the background.
This chapter also has another interaction between the men and Curley’s wife. As a result, chapter 4 is perfect for some topic/theme analysis. The topics I focus on are: loneliness; the need from friendship/companionship (often go hand-in-hand); dreams (general); broken dreams; and the search for the American Dream.
Students are given eight excerpts from chapter 4 and have to determine which topic(s) are being portrayed in each excerpt. Provide textual evidence (seeing a pattern here?)
Chapter 4 is also a great place to revisit the idea of the American Dream and its attainability for each of these characters: George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife.
CHAPTER 5
In addition to the primary/anchor text, I try to include supplemental texts, whether that be podcast episodes, poetry, TED Talks, etc. For chapter 5, my pick is Langston Hughes’ “Harlem”, aka “Dream Deferred”. Each character’s dream comes crashing down after Curley’s wife’s death.
The poem is super short – only 11 lines – but packed with powerful imagery, making it perfect for a quick poetry analysis mini lesson. Students read and annotate the poem, focusing on Hughes’ appeals to the five senses as well as use of figurative language.
With any supplemental, it’s important that students understand why they’re reading/watching/listening to it and how it ties back into the anchor text (hello, essential questions). After reading the poem, students can compare/contrast it to the characters in Of Mice and Men.
CHAPTER 6
With chapter 6, the novel comes full circle. By this point in the unit, I’ve done stations, close readings, vocabulary, and paired poems. To close out the chapter, I wanted to include another activity that I use in my classroom – question trails. The premise of a question trail is this: students are given a series of multiple choice questions. Each answer sends them to a different question. If they answer all questions correctly, they end up at the question where they started. If they answer a question incorrectly, they will be directed back to a question they already answered.
There are a couple of benefits to this activity:
- It involves movement. Since questions are placed around the room, students are constantly moving from question to question.
- It allows you to get a quick gauge of who understood the material and who didn’t.
- It can allow for collaboration and justification. I have my students work in teams, and the team must come to a consensus on the correct answer. There’s that justification piece again.
Chapter 6 is also a great place for another paired poem, Robert Burns’ “To a Mouse”, which inspired the novel’s title.
So there you have it. Ideas for teaching Of Mice and Men. Want all the activities mentioned above, as well as additional activities for each chapter? Check out this Of Mice and Men Novel Study Unit Plan – Introduction Character Activities bundle.
What are your favorite Of Mice and Men activities? Comment below and let me know.
And as always, happy teaching 😀
Heidi