Friendship and Dreams: Of Mice and Men
Week 1, PLAN 1: Frontloading using “To a Mouse,” 10/25/10 [90 mins.]
Lesson Objectives SWBAT (bullet points under Unit Objectives
COGNITIVE (know/understand)
 Students know the common assessment vocabulary
 Students will know what themes will be present in Of Mice and Men (frontloading)
 Students will understand that many interpretations of poems exist
AFFECTIVE (feel/value)
PERFORMANCE (do):
 Students will engage personally
 Students will use creativity for
with the poem, “To a Mouse”
interpretive purposes
 Students will create their own
poem
 Students will analyze the poem,
“To a Mouse”
SOL Objectives: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]
10.3
The student will read, comprehend, and critique literary works.
10.10
The student will use writing to interpret, analyze, and evaluate ideas.
Procedures/Instructional Strategies
[Explanatory Note: Words appearing in italics represent what I would actually say to students.]
1) Bridge [15 mins.]
a) [15 mins.] Silent Sustained Reading (SSR)
2) Steps [55 mins.]
a) [20 mins.] Review for common assessment
Use smartboard plan to help students review vocabulary for the common assessment.
b) [35 mins.] Poetry
i) [10 min.] Write 12-line Poems
In this activity, students will create their own poems using teacher-selected words
from the first and seventh stanzas of “To a Mouse.” The directions: The teacher will
give the students one word. The students will then use that word to create one line
of poetry. The students CANNOT write more than one line. The word MUST be
included in the line. It can be a variation of the run (i.e., run, running, ran). The
topic is up to the student.
The teacher will then give an example. Next, the teacher will slowly call out the
words for the students to use and put them on the powerpoint. Make sure to ask if
there are questions.
ii) [10 min.] Share
(1) Partner share
(2) Optional Class share—students who share must read their poem from the front
of the room.
iii) [25 min.] Read Poem, Analyze Poem, Predict
(1) Pass out the poem
(2) See what they notice about their poems compared to the other poems
(3) Read the poem outloud
(4) Have students read it silently to themselves and annotate it under the
observations side. Show students an example of an annotated poem and how
they might mark it.
(5) Partner share: What did you notice about the poem?
(6) Whole Class share: What’s going on in this poem? Why are we reading this
poem? Do you recognize any lines (“The best laid plan of mice and men”)
(7) Predict what they think
3) Closure [5 mins.] Trailer
i) Show the trailer for the movie version for Of Mice and Men. Ask what they notice
after. This will help students visualize Lennie and George. Some might not pick up
that Lennie has mental disabilities.
ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7pyXEfRArE
Materials Needed
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Formative:
“To a Mouse” handouts
Trailer
Powerpoint with words for students to use
Methods of Assessment
Summative:
Common assessment matching
Poems
Poetry analysis
Reflections (completed after lesson is taught)
Students seemed to really enjoy this lesson because they got a chance to be creative. Although some
were reluctant at first, (“awww but I can’t write poems!”), once they got into the activity, they all
were working on creating their own poems. They each got a chance to share with their table or a
partner, and then several students chose to read their poems to the entire class. It was hilarious and
wonderful what they came up with!
I like the connection that they made between their own poems and the poem itself. Students
seemed to have little experience annotating poetry, but they do have experience annotating thanks to
our work annotating parts of To Kill a Mockingbird.
I’m glad that I showed the trailer to Of Mice and Men to help with the frontloading. Students already
knew that one of the characters had a mental disability going into their reading.
Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, overheads, powerpoints, handouts, etc. for this
lesson):
To a Mouse
Robert Burns (written in 1785)
Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast,
O, what a panic is in your little breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With argumentative chatter!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.
I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!
I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor little beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is a small request;
I will get a blessing with what is left,
And never miss it.
Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse grass green!
And bleak December's winds coming,
Both bitter and keen!
You saw the fields laid bare and wasted,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel plough passed
Out through your cell.
That small bit heap of leaves and stubble,
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter's sleety dribble,
And hoar-frost cold.
But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Observations
Still you are blest, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!