Lesson Activity Plan #1: Getting to Know the Dust Bowl
In this two-day lesson, students explored the era of the Dust Bowl and other cultural/socioeconomic factors influencing migrant life and work. We conducted stations where students previewed the text, thought about the migrant life, and considered what the meaning of family and friendship is in the face of adversity.
Students became active participants in thinking about the lives of George and Lennie throughout the unit in order to build understanding for how they lived their lives. Students may not have experienced the same life as George and Lennie, but they were able to connect to our big ideas about friendship and loneliness.
Lesson Activity Plan #2: Responding to Key Themes
“Students will use their reading of the homework article ‘Excerpt from ‘Friendship in an Age of Economics’ to inform a one page personal response entry (a draft of one piece of their final portfolios) in their journals. Students will also complete their first personal participation assessment of the unit. With time, we will engage in a dialogue circle to begin thinking about dynamics of power within friendship.”
Lesson Activity Plan #3: Death with Dignity
Students were put in charge of debating whether or not they thought that killing Candy’s dog was the right move. They took up key questions as to whether or not Carlson should have shot the dog, or Candy himself, if at all.
To start the lesson, we read Massachusetts Question #2 from a few years ago where the Commonwealth asked voters to think about the death with dignity issue. Students were split on how to feel about it and we even had a very fervent Socratic seminar on the themes.
At the end of the unit, we talked about how these events foreshadowed Lennie’s death and we re-engaged with questions over friendship. Did George do what was right for Lennie, or was it more motivated by selfishness?
Lesson Activity Plan #4: A Key Reversal
In this plan, we discussed as a class the key reversal in Lenny killing Curley’s wife. I even held an impromptu acting session in class so that students could better visualize the scene and think about changes in power. This lesson also represented my first CAP meeting, which is explained more in depth in the Standards tab.
Lesson Activity Plan #5: Portfolio Party
On the last day of the unit, we shared out our final portfolios. All students were required to share. To see some results, visit Let Us See with 9C, and/or check out other folders in this tab!