Teaching+of+Mice+and+Men

** Of Mice and Men ** ** Teaching Ideas ** 1. Issues of Race 2. Gender issues 3. Participatory Culture 4. Popular Culture 5. Personal Writing Opportunities 6. Contemporary Issues 7. Useful quotes 8. Inquiry Unit Ideas

**Issues of Race in Of Mice and Men** = Gender issues in Of Mice and Men =

=Participatory Media and Of Mice and Men=

=Useful Quotes=

"I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head."
 * This would work well with an inquiry into The American Dream

"Crooks had reduced himself to nothing." p. 81
 * What would this be like if it read "She reduced him to nothing." p. 81

= ** 8. Looking at Of Mice and Men from a critical perspective ** =
 * 1) ** Using the book to engage in personal writing **


 * 1) ** Connecting the novel to popular culture **

Looking at Of Mice and Men from a critical perspective
 * 1) ** Creating media alongside Of Mice and Men **

** Tim Meinzer and Danielle Porter **
 * Main Focus: Giving Characters a Voice **
 * Crooks **
 * Focus on: **
 * • types of possessions he owns: what does they reveal about him? **
 * • Crooks is described as not a typical black man as he is clean and keeps to himself: what stereotypes does this reflect pertaining to African Americans? **
 * • Studying Crooks as the “defensive” black man: what actions of other characters contribute to his attitude and emotions? Evaluate the negative “typical black man” image presented in the media (i.e. rap videos). **


 * Potential activities: **
 * Have students write from Crooks’ perspective about what experiences he has had in his life. Possibly write scripts or film movies where students must recreate the interaction between Crooks and Lennie, or Curley’s wife. Students could also write journal entries from Crooks’ perspective about his life on the farm. **


 * Curley’s Wife **
 * Focus on: **
 * • What she says vs. what others say about her (the detrimental effect of gossip—show news clips about Phoebe Prince http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6344846n ) **
 * • What are women attracted to: power, attention or physical stature? (watch scenes from The Bachelorette or What Women Want). **
 * • Social values---women just sit around and wait for husband all day (examine current roles of wives—The Real Housewives or Desperate Housewives) **
 * • How attractive women are perceived in culture: immediately viewed as promiscuous if they are somewhat attractive or “sexy” **

What opportunities are there for personal writing in the unit?
 * Potential activities: **
 * Have students write from Curley’s wife perspective about how she feels about being married to Curley, the other options for her life that she missed out on, diary entries about how she feels about the men on the farm. Students could also evaluate the clip about the attractive woman who was fired from her job, as she was deemed “too sexy.” Clip located at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/too_S00LEBs0JUIl9OhB6xTBVIStudents **
 * Students could watch this clip and determine what happens when women are judged by their appearance---relate to Curley’s wife. **

** Robert Julian & Kevin Kirkwood **
 * The novella, Of Mice and Men, presents readers with several opportunities to explore their personal lives. This reader-response offers students the occasion to gain perspective on their own life and simultaneously exercise their critical literacy. George and Lennie’s relationship is an excellent starting point: Steinbecks’ characterizations implore readers to consider the nature of friendship and responsibility of care for the mentally ill. Furthermore, the social pyramid at work in the novella opens up a plethora of dynamics, including topics such as poverty, entitlement/nepotism, and gender studies. These topics are universal, accessible, and academically viable in an English Language Arts classroom, and allow students to dive deeply into their identity and understanding of the world, while exploring this canonical text. **


 * Question 2: When would you integrate these writing prompts? **


 * Frontloading: These questions would be introduced before students begin reading the novel. **
 * Nature of Friendship – What does it mean to be a true friend? **
 * -What are the qualities of a best friend? **
 * -Describe your best friend, or a friend who means a great deal to you? **
 * -Write about a time when a friend truly helped you OR you lost someone very important to you (Friends can include family members and pets). **
 * -Have you and a close friend ever had a goal you tried to accomplish as a team? What were your roles in this scenario? How did you work together? **
 * -Have you ever had a friend become terminally or seriously ill? How would you take care of a friend if this happened? What would be most difficult about dealing with a friend who has a handicap? Who is responsible to take care of the mentally handicapped in society? **


 * Text to Self: These questions would be interwoven throughout the beginning of the novel, they will act as reflective journals that periodically connect the experiences of George, Lennie and the workers to their own lives. Specifically, we’d ask students to write about these questions halfway through the book (pg 66-67), after they have met Curley, Crooks, and The Boss. **


 * Social Pyramid- -Are teenagers discriminated against in society? **
 * -Have you ever been discriminated against due to your race, gender, or age? Describe what happened, and how did this discrimination impede upon your opportunity for success? **
 * -What would be your ideal job when you reach adulthood? **


 * These questions would be introduced after Lennie inadvertently kills Curley’s wife (pgs 90-91). **

What popular cultural texts will be of use in this unit?
 * Gender Studies: -Have you ever felt like you were limited or looked upon differently because of your gender? **
 * -What would it be like to be a different gender? **
 * -Who has it easier, boys or girls? Which gender has more fun? **
 * -Does one gender have greater opportunities than the other? Explain. **
 * -What is the best thing about being a boy or girl? List several strengths of each gender. Explain what it is like to be in a group of all boys or all girls. **

**Necole Williams and Christina McGee **


 *  Extreme Makeover: Home Edition “The Powell Family”- http://bit.ly/aaGWae (extended preview)http://www.hulu.com/watch/122379/extreme-makeover-home-edition-powell-family-house-tour (final overview)“Reality Check” WSJ article on Extreme Makeover home foreclosures - http://bit.ly/9FLwnZ“Girl” by Jamaica KincaidExcerpts from No Choirboy by Susan Kuklin“The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander- http://huff.to/c1VZcQ“Jonah Hill Crosses Creepy Characters with Comedy” NPR- http://bit.ly/bNFMXl **
 *  Question 2: How will you present and investigate these issues with the class? Exploring the American Dream through Extreme Makeover Home Edition will create a shared text. That text will allow us to consider the characters in Of Mice and Men, while being able to refer back to a shared experience. Through both, students can explore what it means to be happy and to search for the American dream. This will lead to further discussions on social justice, power, class, gender and the media’s influence on our perceptions of all those things. **
 *  Questions to be explored:What is happiness? What does it mean to have power in society? Who has power at school? Who influences your life the most? What is the American Dream? **
 *  We’ll look at Extreme Makeover Home Edition, specifically “The Powell Family” episode and explore what the American Dream meant to the Powell family in order to create a shared text to refer back to throughout reading Of Mice and Men. We’ll look at what home ownership means and try to make connections to George and Lenny’s dream of owning a piece of land. In doing this we can look at race, class, gender and how the media shapes our perceptions of people in society. What were the reactions that the family was from Jamaica? How does the media shape the perception of the family? How do socioeconomics shape the family’s experience? How does being a single mother shape their experience? **
 *  Question 3: How will this connect and extend into other aspects of the unit?In order to explore socioeconomics, we’ll look at the Powell family experience through the eyes of Dolores Powell. We’ll also the article from the WSJ that talks about multiple home foreclosures because of the way the show remodels the homes, often making them too grand for the owners to maintain and too ostentatious to sell. We’ll talk about George and Lenny and their experience as migrant workers. We’ll explore what it means to own land and why it’s so important to them. **
 *  When we look at gender, we’ll read Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” and consider Dolores Powell’s experience as a single mother. We can also look at stereotypes in society and explore the role of Curley’s Wife. We can bring this back to socioeconomics reading “Girl” through a Marxist lens as well. **
 *  Looking at race, we can bring up current events in the news like the recent Shirley Sherrod case, look at laws in society like the Arizona immigration law sb1070, read excerpts from No Choirboy and also read “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander. **
 *  Another aspect of the unit would be listening to an excerpt from NPR where Jonah Hill talks about getting into character. Following that, students will create character confessions or journals throughout the reading of the text as well as create playlists that the characters in Of Mice and Men would listen to. **
 *  After thoroughly exploring various aspects of social justice as mentioned above, we’ll use the journals and the character confessionals to inform the next exploration where small groups will create mini-plays rewritten from the point of view of “the weak ones”–Crooks, Curley’s wife, Lenny or Candy. Alternatively, if technology is available, we can create character videos from the point of view of the one of “the weak” characters using the playlists. **

What opportunities for creating and participating with media exist in this unit?  Tricia Rich and Thomas Goergen

Planning questions discussed by class as a whole 1. What does it mean to have power in society? -Who has the power in your life? What does this mean for your “choices,” possibilities, careers, futures, etc.? 2. What is the American Dream? -Does it exist? Is it used to hold people in place? -What are your personal dreams? How do they relate to societal expectations?

Media Creation!

Video Quilt—(beginning) This project will be done together as a class as an introduction to the dream of George and Lenny and it’s relation to our students’ individual dreams.

--Students and instructor will together come up with images that reflect the dreams and desires of George and Lenny. They will create a digital video quilt (1.5 minutes max) that represents the dreams and aspirations of these characters (after reading the first 30 pages or so of Of Mice and Men.

After creating this quilt, students will be asked to create an independent quilt over the next several days that will represent their own dreams and aspirations. These will of course be shared with the class and discussed. A list will be generated of common dreams within our classroom.

We will then take this further and allow it to lead us into a confrontation of what informs our dreams. When do we decide that these are the things we want? Where do we learn that these are the things that should matter to us?

Podcast Project (will be taking place throughout the reading of the novel, and be a final project production) --Because we have been examining issues of the American Dream and its association with our own personal desires, we need to take a look at our personal existence within the world. How do we relate to our neighborhoods? Are we indoctrinated into a way of viewing the world by what we see as we walk out our door every morning? Who do we depend on to get through our day?

--Students should interview people that matter to them within their lives and neighborhood. This should include places that they originally hadn’t thought of, such as the local grocer that they stop to buy an Amp from every morning, and the garbage collectors that collect their trash weekly. This should also include peers from their neighborhood, family members, etc. Our work with this text should allow students to critically engage with the material they receive from this exchange with their neighbors and families, and to formulate new opinions about culture within communities. -Connections to George and Lennythey are able to rely only on one another. Does this affect their desire for a piece of property of their own to live off the fat of the land? They have a community of workers when they arrive at their job. How do these men react to the dreams of George and Lenny? How do they react to their companionship? Do the expectations and judgments of these men affect George and Lenny in any way?

--We will then look at the possibility that our neighborhoods and families all have similar ideas of our possibilities

Media Engagement!

Here are some pieces from the media that will explore some themes and ideas that we will be discussing

--Kid Cudi – The Pursuit of Happiness - for use with dreams and the American dream, the dreams of your neighborhood, etc. (music video) (lyrics)

--Chicago Sun Times – "There is no ‘free’ lemonade" –expectations of society, interdependence, humanity (“News” article/opinion piece)

  <span style="display: inline !important; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; padding: 0px;">What current events might be of use in this unit? Barry Weiss, <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> Jason Tracy,

<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #555533; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">**<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> Nick Tiedeman **

-Tent cities in Sacramento (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EcDVhMSss) - Banks paying bonuses after bailout (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/24/business/la-fi-executive-comp-20100724)

<span style="display: inline !important; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;">**<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; padding: 0px;"> - Morgan Spurlock 30 days episode: coal miner. (http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70135463&trkid=1211018) **

How will you present and investigate these issues with the class?

<span style="display: inline !important; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;">**<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; padding: 0px;"> I think we’d frontload the lesson with the tent cities clip. This would be to get a discussion going about the similarities between the current recession and the Great Depression. How life differs when you don’t have a home, comforts, any idea what tomorrow holds. **

The 30 days episode would be played in its entirety in the class after the first few chapters (once the students have been introduced to the laborers, and to Curley, as well as the idea of George and Lennie’s American Dream).

Key Topics:

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> pursuit of American Dream and money.

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> limited choices of working class

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> dangers that come with working class jobs (candy's hand / black lung)

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> being "stuck" in a certain class/job

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> false beliefs that working class is "uneducated" or stupid

<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #555533; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">**<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> belief of working class that education will allow their children to achieve "american dream" aka "wealth" **

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> LA Times Article

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;">**<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"> Introduced after or during the discussion about 30 days / working class **

This gives a contrast between the almost fruitless efforts of the working class vs. the privilege and favoritism of the upper/capitalist class (Curley and Boss) How will this connect and extend into other aspects of the unit?


 * <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; padding: 0px;"> These discussions about working class vs. ruling class would lead ultimately to some form of compositions done by the students. Whatever the project, students would be asked to make other connections between current events and the themes/characters in Of Mice and Men. **

<span style="display: inline !important; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;">**<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; display: inline !important; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; padding: 0px;"> Video project: Place one of the characters in the book in today’s world. Do an expose or news report on some aspect of how this character fits (or doesn’t) in modern society. **

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="border-bottom-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 55px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; width: 758px;">**Task: Looking at Of Mice and Men from a critical perspective**


 * Main Focus: Giving Characters a Voice**


 * Crooks**
 * Focus on:**
 * • types of possessions he owns: what does they reveal about him?**
 * • Crooks is described as not a typical black man as he is clean and keeps to himself: what stereotypes does this reflect pertaining to African Americans?**
 * • Studying Crooks as the “defensive” black man: what actions of other characters contribute to his attitude and emotions? Evaluate the negative “typical black man” image presented in the media (i.e. rap videos).**


 * Potential activities:**
 * Have students write from Crooks’ perspective about what experiences he has had in his life. Possibly write scripts or film movies where students must recreate the interaction between Crooks and Lennie, or Curley’s wife. Students could also write journal entries from Crooks’ perspective about his life on the farm.**


 * Curley’s Wife**
 * Focus on:**
 * • What she says vs. what others say about her (the detrimental effect of gossip—show news clips about Phoebe Prince http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6344846n )**
 * • What are women attracted to: power, attention or physical stature? (watch scenes from The Bachelorette or What Women Want).**
 * • Social values---women just sit around and wait for husband all day (examine current roles of wives—The Real Housewives or Desperate Housewives)**
 * • How attractive women are perceived in culture: immediately viewed as promiscuous if they are somewhat attractive or “sexy”**


 * Potential activities:**
 * Have students write from Curley’s wife perspective about how she feels about being married to Curley, the other options for her life that she missed out on, diary entries about how she feels about the men on the farm. Students could also evaluate the clip about the attractive woman who was fired from her job, as she was deemed “too sexy.” Clip located at: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/too_S00LEBs0JUIl9OhB6xTBVIStudents**
 * Students could watch this clip and determine what happens when women are judged by their appearance---relate to Curley’s wife.**

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="border-bottom-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 55px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; width: 758px;">Robert Julian & Kevin Kirkwood LAI 517 Of Mice and Men Personal Writing

Question 1: What opportunities are there for personal writing in the unit?

The novella, Of Mice and Men, presents readers with several opportunities to explore their personal lives. This reader-response offers students the occasion to gain perspective on their own life and simultaneously exercise their critical literacy. George and Lennie’s relationship is an excellent starting point: Steinbecks’ characterizations implore readers to consider the nature of friendship and responsibility of care for the mentally ill. Furthermore, the social pyramid at work in the novella opens up a plethora of dynamics, including topics such as poverty, entitlement/nepotism, and gender studies. These topics are universal, accessible, and academically viable in an English Language Arts classroom, and allow students to dive deeply into their identity and understanding of the world, while exploring this canonical text.

Question 2: When would you integrate these writing prompts?

Frontloading: These questions would be introduced before students begin reading the novel. Nature of Friendship – What does it mean to be a true friend? -What are the qualities of a best friend? -Describe your best friend, or a friend who means a great deal to you? -Write about a time when a friend truly helped you OR you lost someone very important to you (Friends can include family members and pets). -Have you and a close friend ever had a goal you tried to accomplish as a team? What were your roles in this scenario? How did you work together? -Have you ever had a friend become terminally or seriously ill? How would you take care of a friend if this happened? What would be most difficult about dealing with a friend who has a handicap? Who is responsible to take care of the mentally handicapped in society?

Text to Self: These questions would be interwoven throughout the beginning of the novel, they will act as reflective journals that periodically connect the experiences of George, Lennie and the workers to their own lives. Specifically, we’d ask students to write about these questions halfway through the book (pg 66-67), after they have met Curley, Crooks, and The Boss.

Social Pyramid- -Are teenagers discriminated against in society? -Have you ever been discriminated against due to your race, gender, or age? Describe what happened, and how did this discrimination impede upon your opportunity for success? -What would be your ideal job when you reach adulthood?

These questions would be introduced after Lennie inadvertently kills Curley’s wife (pgs 90-91).

Gender Studies: -Have you ever felt like you were limited or looked upon differently because of your gender? -What would it be like to be a different gender? -Who has it easier, boys or girls? Which gender has more fun? -Does one gender have greater opportunities than the other? Explain. -What is the best thing about being a boy or girl? List several strengths of each gender. Explain what it is like to be in a group of all boys or all girls.

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="border-bottom-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 55px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; width: 758px;">Necole Williams and Christina McGee

Question 1 : What popular cultural texts will be of use in this unit? Extreme Makeover: Home Edition “The Powell Family”- http://bit.ly/aaGWae (extended preview) http://www.hulu.com/watch/122379/extreme-makeover-home-edition-powell-family-house-tour (final overview) “Reality Check” WSJ article on Extreme Makeover home foreclosures - http://bit.ly/9FLwnZ “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid Excerpts from No Choirboy by Susan Kuklin “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander- http://huff.to/c1VZcQ “Jonah Hill Crosses Creepy Characters with Comedy” NPR- http://bit.ly/bNFMXl

Question 2: How will you present and investigate these issues with the class? Exploring the American Dream through Extreme Makeover Home Edition will create a shared text. That text will allow us to consider the characters in Of Mice and Men, while being able to refer back to a shared experience. Through both, students can explore what it means to be happy and to search for the American dream. This will lead to further discussions on social justice, power, class, gender and the media’s influence on our perceptions of all those things.

Questions to be explored: What is happiness? What does it mean to have power in society? Who has power at school? Who influences your life the most? What is the American Dream?

We’ll look at Extreme Makeover Home Edition, specifically “The Powell Family” episode and explore what the American Dream meant to the Powell family in order to create a shared text to refer back to throughout reading Of Mice and Men. We’ll look at what home ownership means and try to make connections to George and Lenny’s dream of owning a piece of land. In doing this we can look at race, class, gender and how the media shapes our perceptions of people in society. What were the reactions that the family was from Jamaica? How does the media shape the perception of the family? How do socioeconomics shape the family’s experience? How does being a single mother shape their experience?

Question 3: How will this connect and extend into other aspects of the unit? In order to explore socioeconomics, we’ll look at the Powell family experience through the eyes of Dolores Powell. We’ll also the article from the WSJ that talks about multiple home foreclosures because of the way the show remodels the homes, often making them too grand for the owners to maintain and too ostentatious to sell. We’ll talk about George and Lenny and their experience as migrant workers. We’ll explore what it means to own land and why it’s so important to them.

When we look at gender, we’ll read Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” and consider Dolores Powell’s experience as a single mother. We can also look at stereotypes in society and explore the role of Curley’s Wife. We can bring this back to socioeconomics reading “Girl” through a Marxist lens as well.

Looking at race, we can bring up current events in the news like the recent Shirley Sherrod case, look at laws in society like the Arizona immigration law sb1070, read excerpts from No Choirboy and also read “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander.

Another aspect of the unit would be listening to an excerpt from NPR where Jonah Hill talks about getting into character. Following that, students will create character confessions or journals throughout the reading of the text as well as create playlists that the characters in Of Mice and Men would listen to.

After thoroughly exploring various aspects of social justice as mentioned above, we’ll use the journals and the character confessionals to inform the next exploration where small groups will create mini-plays rewritten from the point of view of “the weak ones”–Crooks, Curley’s wife, Lenny or Candy. Alternatively, if technology is available, we can create character videos from the point of view of the one of “the weak” characters using the playlists.

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="border-bottom-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 55px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; width: 758px;">Tom and Tricia:

Planning questions discussed by class as a whole 1. What does it mean to have power in society? -Who has the power in your life? What does this mean for your “choices,” possibilities, careers, futures, etc.? 2. What is the American Dream? -Does it exist? Is it used to hold people in place? -What are your personal dreams? How do they relate to societal expectations?

Questions Given by instructor:

1. What opportunities for creating and participating with media exist in this unit? 2. How will you present and investigate these projects with the class? 3. How will these projects connect and extend into future inquiry?

Media Creation!

Video Quilt—(beginning) This project will be done together as a class as an introduction to the dream of George and Lenny and it’s relation to our students’ individual dreams.

--Students and instructor will together come up with images that reflect the dreams and desires of George and Lenny. They will create a digital video quilt (1.5 minutes max) that represents the dreams and aspirations of these characters (after reading the first 30 pages or so of Of Mice and Men.

After creating this quilt, students will be asked to create an independent quilt over the next several days that will represent their own dreams and aspirations. These will of course be shared with the class and discussed. A list will be generated of common dreams within our classroom.

We will then take this further and allow it to lead us into a confrontation of what informs our dreams. When do we decide that these are the things we want? Where do we learn that these are the things that should matter to us?

Podcast Project (will be taking place throughout the reading of the novel, and be a final project production) --Because we have been examining issues of the American Dream and its association with our own personal desires, we need to take a look at our personal existence within the world. How do we relate to our neighborhoods? Are we indoctrinated into a way of viewing the world by what we see as we walk out our door every morning? Who do we depend on to get through our day?

--Students should interview people that matter to them within their lives and neighborhood. This should include places that they originally hadn’t thought of, such as the local grocer that they stop to buy an Amp from every morning, and the garbage collectors that collect their trash weekly. This should also include peers from their neighborhood, family members, etc. Our work with this text should allow students to critically engage with the material they receive from this exchange with their neighbors and families, and to formulate new opinions about culture within communities. -Connections to George and Lennythey are able to rely only on one another. Does this affect their desire for a piece of property of their own to live off the fat of the land? They have a community of workers when they arrive at their job. How do these men react to the dreams of George and Lenny? How do they react to their companionship? Do the expectations and judgments of these men affect George and Lenny in any way?

--We will then look at the possibility that our neighborhoods and families all have similar ideas of our possibilities

Media Engagement!

Here are some pieces from the media that will explore some themes and ideas that we will be discussing

--Kid Cudi – The Pursuit of Happiness - for use with dreams and the American dream, the dreams of your neighborhood, etc. (music video) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z_Ys3BO_4M> (lyrics) <http://www.directlyrics.com/kid-cudi-pursuit-of-happiness-lyrics.html>

--Chicago Sun Times – "There is no ‘free’ lemonade" –expectations of society, interdependence, humanity (“News” article/opinion piece) <http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/2464546,CST-NWS-savage05.savagearticle>

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="border-bottom-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 55px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; width: 758px;">Remix Project

Of Mice and Men

Project Overview:

We have just spent the past three weeks with Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. We have covered topics such as race, structures of power within society, gender roles, economics, and social justice. Now, it is time to bring those issues into the present. Using the following guidelines, in groups of two or three, construct a contemporary narrative for a character of your choice that you find compelling. After you have created this narrative, your final product will be placing that narrative into a medium of your choice. This can be the production of a digital video, the streaming of a podcast, the performance of a play for your classmates, a series of Vlogs, or any other medium that may be applicable and appropriate for this project.

Guidelines:

1. The modernization of your character should reflect the characteristics your group listed in question two regarding Of Mice and Men.

2. Please try to include relevant social issues from the novel as well as those happening around your character “today.”

3. Keep in mind that your project will be published and seen by a variety of viewers, so put in your best work.

Getting Started:

1. Answer the questions on your Character Remix handout with your group.

2. After answering these questions (please think deeply about your responses) write the beginning of a narrative – 1 paragraph – with your group.

3. We will discuss this initial paragraph, to make sure you are moving in the right direction, before you head off to create your masterpiece.

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; clear: both; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 55px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; width: 758px;">Of Mice and Men: What Does Social Justice Really Mean?

What is Social Justice?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Social Justice as:

Social Justice n. chiefly Polit. and Philos. justice at the level of a society or state as regards the possession of wealth, commodities, opportunities, and privileges; cf. distributive justice n. at DISTRIBUTIVE adj. 3b. (OED, Oxford UP. June 2010).

Pay attention to that bolded part, opportunities and privileges. Does social justice follow what Hobbs calls the social proof principle?

The social proof principle is that we “tend to view a behavior as correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it” (Hobbs, p. 64, citing Cialdini, 1988, p. 100).

While watching the clips, consider the following question:

Does Social Justice limit the opportunities and privileges afforded to certain groups of people?

Many of us are familiar with children’s cartoons featuring a Lennie-type character (big, strong, speaks like he is stupid). Often in Looney Tunes cartoons, he is the muscle accomplice of a small, smarter character, whom he often calls George regardless of what his name actually is.

Looney Tunes Re-envisions and reuses a Lennie character:

Abominable Snowman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlVqfC8-UI&videos=rwIQK8DWC9A

1946 cartoon directed by Tex Avery, “Lonesome Lenny”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo8HM77q4Is&videos=ITTlDGn1QGY

Saturday Night Live sketch re-writes the end of the novel: http://www.hulu.com/watch/35498/saturday-night-live-george-and-lenny

Questions to Consider:

1. Do you remember watching these cartoons when you were younger? If so, what did you think about them then? How has your perspective changed over time? What factors do you consider now when watching these cartoons?

2. If we all agree that Lennie is mentally challenged in the novel, what does it mean that culture has re-appropriated his character into a cartoon gag?

3. Do these cartoons encourage children to treat the mentally disabled in a certain way?

4. If you thought it was, what makes the SNL rewrite funny? Consider the average SNL viewing audience, have they read the book? How does being familiar with the source material change how we view and think about the sketch?

5. Do these versions of the character teach us anything?