Of Mice and Men

Grade Focus
Grade 10, Grade 12
Age Level
15, 17
Subject
History, Literature
Technology Integration Activity
Digital Ethics, Discovering the Internet, PowerPoint Presentations, Video Productions
Estimated Time of Completion
2 weeks
Author: Kelly Singer Last modified: 05/01/2010

Of Mice and Men

Downloads for this lesson plan

Rubric (PDF, 29K)

Rubric2 (PDF, 29K)

Introduction

While reading Night, students will be exposed to the harsh injustices people throughout history were exposed to. Students will study the gross prejudices that still exist today that threaten to create similar situations again. Students will have approached the autobiographical memoir from the perspective of the Holocaust while reading as a class.  Students will then look at the types of hatred and prejudices that still exist it the world, globally and locally, even today. Students will study old German children’s storybooks, then look at the way propaganda and hate literature is circulated today. They will then share their findings, looking for relationships between issues. The focus will be on ways to overcome the message these types of groups are trying to spread.

Prerequisite Experience

Complete reading of Night, use of Flip cameras, video editing programs like moviemaker or Animoto, use of interest search engines, copies of The Poisonous Mushroom (a children’s storybook from the early 1930’s) , use of class wiki or web page. Students may also use Audacity to create a voice recording.

Teacher Prep Time

Blogs have already been set up using pbwiki. Copies will need to be made of the children’s story book and the Propaganda posters and pamphlets being distributed at the time.

Project

Students will investigate prejudicial issues that exist today by doing research, communicating within their groups. The focus in only minorly on summarizing the prejudices found in modern day. The groups want to focus on ways to spread a more peaceful message that will outweigh the ones their group would be spreading.

Assessment/Grading

Rubric that will be distributed to groups early on.

Time Management Tips

Students will work in groups of three or four to complete this project. The time limit will be over a two week period, with 2 in class meetings being provided for research time and questions for me. The wiki will provide asynchronous meeting time for all other work.

Lesson Plan Details

Engage

The Instructor will read the Poisonous Mushroom, The Terrible Things , show a clip from the movie Paper Clips about a small town Tennessee town that found a way to memorialize survivors and speak out against future hates in a simple yet profound way.

Explore

Divide the students into small groups. Each group will examine modern hate groups and ways of peaceful protest.

http://chalk.richmond.edu/education/projects/webquests/civildisobedience/A website called Stand and Be Heard: A Lesson in Civil Disobedience Protests and Sit-insPeaceful rallies- Peaceful rallies are a key technique used in civil disobedience movements. Below are four moments in history when different tactics of peaceful rallies were used.
  • Identify the difference between the three tactics.
  • Determine if each tactic was successful in accomplishing its goal.
  • What is your general definition of a peaceful rally?
Resources: Speeches, Essays, Poems, and SongsSpeeches, essays, poems, and songs are all ways people can voice their opinions and beliefs. As you look at the following examples, consider what argument the speaker or songwriter is trying to make, and why the use of speech or song is appropriate to their mission. Why might songs and speeches be effective in civil disobedience? What are the limitations of songs and speeches?Resources:  Boycotts Throughout the history of the United States, activists have incorporated the boycott into their methods of protest. Your job is to examine the boycott as a protest technique by reviewing the web sites below. As you view each site, bear in mind the following questions:
  • What is the historical context of each boycott? What is each group boycotting and why?
  • Were these boycotts successful? If they were, why were they successful? If not, why were they unsuccessful?
  • How effective were these boycotts in conveying the message of the protesters? Would you consider the boycott to be an effective means of resistance? Why or why not?
Resources:  

Explain

Students will demonstrate knowledge of the modern day groups they are researching. Students will blog for other groups to see and respond to each of the other groups. This will give each group a general reference to each hate group and type of peaceful protest.

Elaborate

Students will create a public service announcement promoting their new message of peace. They will use Moviemaker or Animoto. Their message will not be directed at the hate group they researched, but made as a general PSA. It will however, allude to, directly or metaphorically, the group which their hate group targets. The teacher will have gingerly chosen the hate groups-groups that have experienced prejudice so as to be within the boundaries of school appropriate. Groups can also choose to modify the PSA and video ways of peaceful protest. If a group chooses for their PSA to be strictly audio, which can be powerful too, or to create a song, they can use Audacity.

Evaluate

Students will show one another their PSA. Possible, they can be played on the school network also. Students will evaluate one another as well as receiving a grade from me- per the rubric.  

See attached rubric

Extend

Students can seek ways to make their announcements available to an audience broader than our class via PSA contests, news channels, podcasts, etc.. Students could study current PSAs that run on television for their emotional appeals and effectiveness.