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Unit Plan

Rationale

The purpose of this unit is for students to be able to understand challenging

literary material while incorporating United States history. “Of Mice and Men” has

literary merit that goes above and beyond. This novel provides excellent opportunities for

students to discuss literary terms such as characterization, setting, irony, allegory,

symbolism, foreshadowing, plot, conflict, theme, tone, and many more. It is a rather short

novel, but it is filled with many lessons that are key for understanding literature. This

novel also contains many subjects that are worth discussing. The setting of the story is

during The Great Depression and focuses on the Dust Bowl in the United States. It also

contains aspects of Determinism vs. Free Will, Societal Victims, The Effect of

Environment, Racism, Sexism, The Treatment of the Mentally Handicapped, Sin and

Vice, Capitalism and Socialism, Good vs. Evil, and several others.

There are several standards that will be included in the reading of this novel.

These standards include RL. 11-12.1, RL. 11-12.3, RL. 11-12.9, and RL. 11-12.2. The

outcomes of this unit that are expected from the students include: Lesson 1: Students will

understand some background information on John Steinbeck before we begin to read his

novel “Of Mice and Men,” Students will understand John Steinbeck’s purpose of writing

“Of Mice and Men,” and students will learn how to efficiently research information in

books and online. Lesson 2-5: Students will have a clear understanding of each individual

chapter of “Of Mice and Men” including character details, setting, conflict, plot, theme,

etc. Lesson 6: Students will have a clear understanding of the novel, and they will also

understand how to use their creativity to create a project of their choosing to represent
what they have learned. The pre-requisite knowledge that the students must need is an

understanding of the terms setting, plot, theme, conflict, etc.

Student Introduction

Students, this week we will be reading a novel called, “Of Mice and Men” by

John Steinbeck. We will start by doing a fun little scavenger hunt about the life of the

author, and on Tuesday we will begin the novel. We will read the novel together as a

class. We will listen to a recording and follow along in our books. Each of you will be

expected to fill out a character sheet, which is simply a description of each character.

There will also be a list of questions that you will be required to fill out after each

chapter. After chapters 3 and 6 we will take a quiz to see how much you really

understand. Don’t worry. We will have discussions each day, so the quizzes should be

rather simple if you have been paying attention.

After we finish the reading, you will each be expected to create a project of your

choosing to show your understanding of the novel. The book will touch on different

aspects of history such as The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl, which you should

have talked about in your history classes. You will see first hand how people with mental

disabilities were treated during this time period, there will be clear examples of racism,

which you may still see today, and there will also be instances of sexism. There is quite a

bit of foul language in the novel, so if any of you feel uncomfortable reading it then you

can let me know and I will choose a different novel for you to read independently.

Content Areas

Lesson Reading & Technology Other Standards


Writing
One X X X RL. 11-12.2
RL. 11-12.9

Two X X RL. 11-12.1


RL. 11-12.3
Three X X RL. 11-12.1
RL. 11-12.3
Four X X RL. 11-12.1
RL. 11-12.3
Five X X RL. 11-12.1
RL. 11-12.3
Six X X X RL. 11-12.1
RL. 11-12.3

Statement of Technology

Technology will be used throughout this unit plan. The first lesson is mostly

based off of the use of technology. The students are required to use the Internet to gather

information independently about the life of John Steinbeck. They will learn how to use

technology to do accurate research, and they will learn which websites are credible and

which ones are not. Lessons two through five also use technology, but not as much as the

first. We will use a voice recording to listen to “Of Mice and Men” aloud. This way the

students have to listen to the story whether they are actually following along or not. The

final lesson incorporates more technology. The students get to create a project of their

choosing whether it is a PowerPoint, movie, song, etc. to represent their knowledge of the

novel. They will run their ideas past me, and I will be sure to provide them with the

technology that they need.

Statement of the Arts

The Arts are included in the culminating activity. The students are able to create

just about any project that they would like to in order to show their understanding of the

novel. They can perform a song (Music), they can create a piece of art, make a collage,
create a cartoon strip, etc. (Art), and they could even do a skit or make up a dance routine

(PE) as long as it somehow represents the novel. I am open to just about anything as long

as they can explain their reasoning for their project choice. I encourage the students to be

as creative as possible. The goal of this project is to see their ideas flow and eventually

come to life.

Audience Identification

The students in my first hour classroom are all 12th grade students. There are 22

students in this class. They are all at their appropriate readiness levels except for three of

them. These three are all special education students. They spend a portion of their day

with the special education teacher, and if they need extra help they are allowed to leave

my classroom and go see her for a more individual experience. These three students all

have IEPs. They often need extra attention, and that is why they also have their special

education teacher for extra help. I don’t give them less work, but they often receive extra

time on their assignments. One of the special education students is also autistic. He has

his own paraprofessional who keeps him on task. I do monitor his assignments more

closely. There are some concepts that I know he will not understand, so on assignments,

tests, and quizzes I choose the questions that he will have to answer.

Ninety percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The

socioeconomic status of my students is very low. This often causes problems at home,

and I am aware of this. Many of my students work part-time jobs after school and get

home late at night. I am aware of this, and this is why I try to allow them enough time in

class to do their work so they don’t have to take it home. I used to assign more

homework, but I had a lot of students with missing assignments. I began allowing them
class time to get the work done, and the number of missing assignments has decreased

drastically. Gender wise, my classrooms are evenly mixed. About ninety percent of my

students fall under the category of Caucasian. The school is located in a very rural area. I

don’t have any ELL students. The school isn’t very diverse. It is very white and very

impoverished. The testing scores are at an average level in the state of Michigan.

Classroom Environment

The students sit in groups of fours. I have chosen their seats randomly because I

have found that when they sit next to their friends they don’t seem to pay attention as

well. The tables are turned to the side so that nobody is facing away from the white

board. The projector screen is on the white board as well. There are cabinets along one

side of the classroom and windows on the other. My desk is in the front corner so I can

keep an eye on what is going on in the classroom. There are classroom supplies in the

back of the classroom such as paper, pencils, pencil sharpener, rulers, tissues, hand

sanitizer, scissors, etc. The daily routine consists of turning in assignments from the

previous day, and getting out their materials to start the day. They have a few minutes to

get situated. I have the daily schedule written on the board along with the standards that

are going to be used. I also have classroom expectations posted on the walls so the

students know how they should behave. The expectations are: 1. Arrive on time. 2. Raise

your hand before speaking. 3. Listen to others and participate in class discussions. 4. Stay

on task. 5. Come to class prepared to learn. 6. Treat others with respect. 7. Keep your

hands and feet to yourself. 8. Always ask before you leave the classroom. 9. Respect all

property. 10. Wait to be dismissed.


Distribution of Assessments

Lesson Formative Summative

One Steinbeck scavenger hunt

Two Character sheets & chpt. 1


questions
Three Character sheets, chpt. 2-3
questions, & chpt. 1-3 quiz
Four Character sheets, chpt. 4
questions
Five Character sheets, chpt. 5-6
questions, chpt. 4-6 quiz
Six Project of their choice

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