This learning module is designed to meet the needs of Freshman English students in an REI classroom. Since many of the student’s IEPs require access to audiobooks as an accommodation each section will include a link to an audio version of the novel. Make sure you review all IEPs to ensure that other accommodations and modifications are made which may include extended time, oral responses, talk-to-text software, small group instruction, and graphic organizers.

This class and module incorporate the Reading Apprenticeship framework in which metacognition or “thinking about thinking” is a key component to understanding the novel. Students “dialogue” with the book through the use of their annotations, then dialogue with peers through the use of their comments and updates. Students are also provided with opportunities for the whole class and smaller group discussions to occur.

The anticipated time to complete this learning module is up to 6 weeks depending on how much reading is completed outside of the classroom and how quickly students are able to understand the concepts addressed.

This unit is based on the assumption that you have already discussed literary terms/elements and will be applying them to the reading of the novel. Check the results of the Literary Elements Review to see if there are any specific terms that need to be retaught

The learning management system used for this specific class was Canvas. All comments were posted as a discussion, which students were then prompted to comment on. Updates by students were completed in various formats including Padlet and Canvas discussions. Based on the LMS that you are using make adjustments as necessary. If using Scholar, you should be able to complete comments and updates in one location.

Materials Needed:

• Copy of the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck.
• If students are unable to obtain a paperback copy, they have the ability to download a PDF version. For those using a PDF copy, it is recommended they use Kami in order to be successful with their annotations,

This learning module will address the following Illinois Priority Learning Standards for 2020-2021.

RI.9- 10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RI.9- 10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

ELA 57 RI.9- 10.5 Analyze in detail how an author's ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).

RI.9- 10.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

RL.9- 10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.9- 10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

W.9- 10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

W.9- 10.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

W.9- 10.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

W.9- 10.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

SL.9- 10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9—10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

SL.9- 10.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

It is important to set up the novel with a brief history lesson. Students should have been introduced to the 1930s including the Great Depression, segregation, and migrant farming during their eighth-grade social studies course. The information provided should just be a quick review.

In addition, you will want to have a discussion about the treatment of those with mental or physical disabilities during the 1930s.

If you have never used the comment and update format in your class you will want to model this for your students. Don’t forget to set your specific guidelines for the expected length of the comment and updates. This may vary from class to class depending on your students. For some classes, you may want to set the expectation based on word count. For others, you may want to have them write a certain number of sentences. You will also want to model what a good peer response will look like for your students.

For this first section, students responded to the comment that was posted in Canvas. Then they posted an update of their own in Canvas discussion. Students were required to respond to one peer update. This allowed time to quickly review how students responded and provide feedback to improve future responses. A recommendation would be to pull some great, good, and poor responses to share with students. Have them identify the different aspects of each for example: “what made this response good?” or “what could be done to make this a stronger response?”

Additional Resources for pre-reading activities: Steinbeck in Schools created by San Jose State University has a number of small mini-lessons including additional articles to learn more about the background of the novel, as well as activities that can be completed while reading the novel.

You will want to develop a plan for the actual reading of the novel. Which approach will you use? Whole class, small group, individual, or a combination. Due to the REI structure of our class in a hybrid setting, we used a combination for reading. One teacher worked with the students in the classroom while the other teacher worked with the students who were remote. As small groups, we listened to the audio version with periodic stopping to discuss what was being read.

Students in this class have been using annotations while reading short stories, as part of the transition to annotating a novel, it would be a good idea to review how to make good annotations. Included on the student side is a sample annotation that I created. As students continue through the learning module each chapter will include some tips for things to focus on when making annotations. You will want to remind them that annotations are a great way to show their thinking.

Prior to reading, you will want to discuss the use of strong language throughout the novel as this may be disturbing to some students.  This is also where the audio versions of the story are helpful since students will not have to read those words out loud.  You will know your audience and how they will best handle the language.

In section one, students are first introduced to George and Lennie. Make sure students know which character is which. 

Stress expectations for comments to discussion questions.  For our purposes, we have been focusing on the use of textual evidence to support responses. Students are to make sure that they introduce the evidence, type the text evidence and cite it correctly. All responses must use at least two sentences that explain why the quote selected enhances their response to the prompt.

Set the requirement for how many peer comments and updates to respond to. This could vary depending on your students or classes, two is a typically good number for students in an REI class to handle.

If you have never had students comment on peer’s work in an online discussion, you will want to make sure to model what this should look like.

Create a class Padlet for students to post their responses to the update. You can create one Padlet to be used for the entire book or create a new one for each chapter. If you have never used Padlet you can view a quick tutorial below.  

Permiakov, Evgenii. (2020, March 27). Padlet Tutorial - How to Get Started Guide 2020 [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/OPkq5q8nRbM

This is their first part of the book where blatant racism is shown with the use of the “N” word. It is recommended that you have a discussion with students about race and the context/time frame of when this book was written prior to the reading of this section.

Keeping track of characters can be difficult for many students with learning disabilities, the chart included in this section will help.  This will also meet the needs of students who require graphic organizers.

Another tool that students can use is Quizlet which would allow them to make flashcards of the characters to review. I have included an Of Mice and Men Character Quizlet that I created for my students. You may want to have your students create their own using their own definitions for the characters. 

If you have never used Quizlet, I recommend the following video to help you get started. It also shares how to set up and use Quizlet Live.

Technology for Teachers and Students (2019, December 16) Quizlet Live - Formative Assessment Game. [Video] https://youtu.be/vt8BoEoZDKQ 

Prior to beginning section 3, you may want to start the class with a Gimkit or Quizlet Live check-in to see if they know the characters introduced over the previous two sections.

I used a Quizlet live with the cards that I created, this link was shared during chapter two.  Quizlet Live allows you to have the students complete the game individually or as part of a team. 

This might be a good section to review annotations, or even take a moment to model how you make annotations.

The audio for this section is almost an hour in length. You will need to determine if you want to go through this entire section as a class or have the students complete some of the reading on their own.

You may want to remind the students about your expectations for using textual evidence to support responses. This is something that we have been working on for a while. In particular, we were working on how to properly introduce a piece of textual evidence during this chapter.

Prior to starting chapter four, we had a class discussion about the ending to chapter three. We sparked a conversation by starting the class with a simple poll during our Google Meet asking about their thoughts on the killing of Candy’s dog. The rankings went from strongly agree to strongly disagree. We then opened the discussion to allow students to share their thoughts on what happened. If you are not using Google Meet you can conduct the same type of poll using Mentimeter.

You will also want to discuss the fight that occurred between Curley and Lennie, making sure that the students understand Lennie is not a mean or violent person. The only reason that he fights back against Curley is that George told him to fight.

Prior to students reading chapter four you will want to once again talk about segregation, the racism of the time, and the innocence of Lennie. There is very strong language during this chapter that students need to be made aware of prior to reading.

If you are pressed for time chapters five and six can be combined since they are both rather short.

Before you start this lesson, you may want to review the various themes that students developed for chapter four. Particularly those that involve dreams or loneliness since those topics come up again during chapter five. This chapter will see the dreams of many characters come to an end.

Review the literary element of climax with students prior to reading since it will have been a while since they completed the literary elements review at the start of this module.

Prompt a discussion while reading of Lennie's action and how he does not understand his own strength as well as his fears of disappointing George.

Prior to the start of this lesson, discuss student predictions for this chapter.

You will want to allow the opportunity for students to dialogue and share their feelings about the ending of this story. Some students may be upset by the idea that George killed Lennie. You are in the best position to know how to handle this conversation with your students

Once students have completed reading the novel. You can be more specific about “the event” mentioned in the comment. The event is George killing Lennie by the pool where the novel begins. The irony was the pool was the safe place that Lennie was supposed to run to if he got in trouble. Students should compare this event to the killing of Candy’s dog earlier in the novel. You may want to refer them to the line on page 61 where Candy states he should have been the one to shoot the dog. This could lead to a conversation about why George decided to shoot Lennie as opposed to letting the other men find him.

This infographic from Course Hero is a great visual for students. After they finish reading you can display this for them. The only reason I did not display it sooner was that it gives away a few details to the story including Lennie accidentally killing Curley’s wife and George killing Lennie at the pool.

Have students complete the after reading section in their pre-reading document from the start of the module. After students have an opportunity to complete the questions, you will want to take some time to discuss how their viewpoints may have changed or stayed the same. You could try using a think-pair-share for this to allow more students the opportunity to be able to speak and share their opinions.

Since the start of the year, we have been teaching this essay writing format. We started by teaching this in smaller steps since chunking lessons is ideal with REI students. We started by writing short responses supported by textual evidence. Then we progressed to longer paragraph responses that included a topic sentence, textual evidence, and an explanation of the textual evidence. After teaching all of the components of a well-developed essay we are now putting all of the pieces together for this writing assignment.

For students with  IEPs, the following graphic organizer may be beneficial when working on their rough drafts.

Of Mice and Men Graphic Organizer for Rough Draft

With Canvas, we were able to set up the essays for peer review directly in our LMS. If you have never done that before you can find directions at this link. One feature that I particularly like is the ability for them to be done anonymously. If it has been a while since you have students use peer feedback, you will want to model what that looks like using the annotations from the rubric.

Provide students with due dates for the submission of the rough draft, completion of the peer reviews, and submission of the final draft.