Title: Character Education in Of Mice and Men
Author's Name: Susen Douglass
Grade Level: Eleventh
Subject: English Language Arts
Interdisciplinary Links: Arts Education, Healthful Living, Mathematics, Social Studies

Time Required: 2-3 weeks, including thorough discussion of the novel

Materials Needed: copies of Of Mice and Men, Yellow Page listings for social service agencies

Featured Character Trait(s): caring, kindness, fairness and justice, citizenship

This unit focuses on the exploration and analysis of character education traits caring/kindness, fairness/justice, and citizenship/civic virtue found in the novel Of Mice and Men. This focus complements the more general academic study of characterization, theme, symbolism, vocabulary, and point of view.

• Lesson Objectives:

Students will analyze the effect of caring relationships in their own lives and the lives of the characters in the novel.

Students will examine the purpose and value of important relationships in their personal lives.

Students will analyze the purpose and value of the relationship between George and Lennie.

Students will analyze the fairness/justice of characters' actions in the novel.

Students will analyze whether it is fair/just to blame Lennie for the death of Curley's wife.

Students will decide whether George is right to kill Lennie.

Students will analyze social issues and problems confronting modern American citizens.

Students will investigate social issues and problems introduced in the novel.

Students will take a position on one of the social issues or problems introduced in the novel.

Communication Skills (9-12):

Goal 1.3Reflect upon the experiences and information. Interpret the meaning of, or draw conclusions from, the selection or activity.

Goal 2.1 Identify the way words and concepts are developed. Observe and mentally note or record important information.

Goal 2.2 Select, reject, and reconcile information and ideas. Condense, combine, and order information. Form generalizations based on new information. Compare information and ideas.

Goal 2.3 Use information from text to clarify or to refine understanding of historical or contemporary issues or events. Solve problems, make decisions and inferences, or draw conclusions based on interpretation of information. Follow or produce directions to create a product or develop an idea based on interpretation of information.

Goal 3.2 Assess scope, comprehensiveness, and significance of information and ideas. Determine practicality and usefulness of information or ideas in light of purposes.

Goal 3.3 Determine the merit of a selection in terms of its timeliness and timelessness.

Goal 4.1 Express emotional reactions and personal opinions and relate personal values to a selection or experience. Relate story structure, plot, setting, theme, characters to own experiences, feelings, and behaviors.

Goal 4.2 Recognize a selection or experience as a reflection of its social, cultural, and historical context. Associate personal values and beliefs with the content of a selection. Consider a selection or experience in the light of situations, conflicts, and themes common to human experience.

Goal 4.3 Participate effectively in creative interpretations of a selection or experience. Make relevant, logical, coherent contributions to a discussion. Create a product that effectively demonstrates a personal response to a selection or experience.

11. Activities:

• Students will identify the most important relationship in their lives.
• Students will list what makes this relationship important to them.
• Students will predict how their lives would be different if the relationship had not occurred and how they would be affected if the relationship ended.
• Students will examine how the relationship affects their decisions and actions and whether it interferes with their freedom.

• Students will contrast the way George speaks when he disciplines Lennie and the reasons that George disciplines him.
• Students will compare the relationship between George and Lennie with the relationship between Candy and his dog.
• Students will identify the dream that George and Lennie share, specifically what tangible and intangible things they wanted.
• Students will explain why they think George and Lennie wanted these things.
• Students will identify the obstacles in the way of their dream.
• Students will decide whether or not the dream dies and the reasons for their decision.
• Students will predict how Lennie's death will affect George's life.

• Students will describe Lennie's mind and body.
• Students will compare Lennie's view of Curley's wife with others' view of her.
• Students will compare Crooks's situation in life to that of Curley's wife and identify how their situations affect their actions.
• Students will contrast Curley's size and treatment of others to Lennie's size and treatment of others.
• Students will compare Slim's reaction to Lennie's death to the reactions of Curley and Carlson to Lennie's death.

• Students will identify the reasons George kills Lennie.
• Students will predict what might have happened to Lennie if George had not killed him.
• Students will discuss whether killing someone as an act of mercy or for some other "good" reason is ever justified.

• Students will identify specific social problems introduced in the novel, such as poverty, homelessness, mental disability, and discrimination.
• Students will describe the people in photos taken by Depression era photographers.
• Students will find books, newspapers, or magazines containing more recent photos of the homeless, the poverty-stricken, or migrant workers.
• Students will compare the older and more recent photos to determine if the people look healthier, better off, or happier.
• Students will describe a personal experience with discrimination.
• Students will research the history of the mentally disabled to control their own lives.
• Students will research the ongoing efforts to improve working conditions for migrant workers.

• Students will select the issue most important to them.
• Students will research services available to help those who experience this social problem.

Ideas for Integration with Other Content Areas

• Create a new book jacket for the novel.
• Take black and white photographs that reflect the social issues in the novel.

• Dramatize scenes from the novel using the published play version or the text of the novel.

• Research what Americans had to eat during this era.
• Create a menu for a family for a week.

• Research Depression-era income and expenses. Create a monthly budget for a family of four based on the research.

• Find a song to represent one of the characters. Make a copy of the lyrics. Write a paragraph to explain how the character and the song fit together. Refer to the song lyrics often in order to develop this paragraph fully.

• Research and report on biographies of famous people from this era.
• Research and discuss significant court cases involving social issues such as segregation, the mentally disabled, etc.
• Create a map of northern California at the time of the novel. Include references mentioned in the text such as towns, rivers, mountains, products, etc.

• Assessment:

• Students will write a response to explain what an important personal relationship means to them.
• Students will complete a graphic organizer to show the dream George and Lennie share, obstacles in the way of the dream, and the outcome of the dream.
• Students will write an epilogue to the book to suggest what happens to George after Lennie dies: How is George's life different? Is he alone? Does he need/care for others?
• Students will file materials in their portfolios/writing folders.

• Activities may take the form of individual or group effort.

• Students will write a personal response to each death to place in their portfolios/writing folders.
• Students will have either a debate or a seminar on the questions in each objective for this goal.

• Students will design and produce a flier listing legal, medical, educational, social, and/or religious services available to the people who suffer homelessness, poverty, mental disability, discrimination, or who work as migrants. (Activity may take the form of individual or group effort.)
• Students will write an editorial concerning the plight of one group of the underprivileged in the United States today.