Group Activities for Analyzing Of Mice and Men

Use Collaborative Groups to Introduce Themes in Steinbeck's Novella

Oct 21, 2009

Though a short novel, Of Mice and Men provides ample opportunity for textual analysis. Middle and high school students can explore several literary elements in groups.

Teaching students how to perform a close reading and carefully analyze literary text can be a challenge. Through conscious arrangement and careful planning, however, teachers can incorporate collaborative groups and foster student-directed learning in both middle and high school. The following activity is designed to provide structure for students' group discussion of John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men.

Group 1: Study Literary Elements in Of Mice and Men

Students should identify at least five literary elements in the text. One student in the group will copy down the quotes exemplifying literary elements and document in MLA style. Then, s(he) should summarize group discussion by providing a written explanation of that quote and how it exemplifies the identified literary element. Students must prepare to share their analysis in a brief presentation to the class. Some examples can include the following.

Group 2: Characters’ Speech

Students should analyze five examples of characters’ speech, explain their significance and how they help readers learn about the characters. Students can consider the type of language they use as well as word choice, slang/profanity, and incorrect grammar and usage. One student in the group should copy down the quotes exemplifying dialog that reveals speech patterns. Then, s(he) should write an explanation discussed by the group of what each quote reveals about the character speaking and its overall significance. Prepare to share the analysis in a brief presentation to the class.

Students will draw a character map that contains the names of seven characters introduced in chapters one and two. The important part of this map is the relationships explained between each character. Draw a circle or box around each character’s name and connect all names with a line. On that line, write a brief explanation of each character’s relationship to one another. Relationship lines can travel both ways, indicating how one character feels about another. Each character should be linked to the other in at least one way, so students must plan the map on separate paper before neatly writing it on an overhead transparency to share with the group in a brief presentation.

Group 4: Effective Adjectives in Literature in Of Mice and MeN

Select two pages of text to analyze the effectiveness of adjectives. Make a list of eight adjectives and discuss their connotations, denotations, and effectiveness in the text. Students can consider the following:

Students should select five characters from chapters one and two and write down one quote for each character exemplifying direct characterization. Then, discuss the importance of each description. Consider what associations and assumptions can be made based on a simple two-sentence description. Write about what type of person each character may be like based on Steinbeck’s direct characterization and prepare to give a brief presentation to the class on this character analysis.

Group 6: Indirect Characterization in Of Mice and Men

Students should select five characters from chapters one and two and write down one quote for each character exemplifying indirect characterization; that is, describing a character based on their speech and actions. That’s a total of seven quotes students must locate. Then, write a brief description for each example of indirect characterization and explain what is revealed about the character in each quote. Write down the explanation and prepare to give a brief presentation to the class of the group’s discussion.

As with any student collaboration in class, teachers should continually circulate throughout the class to monitor group discussion, answer questions, and redirect student focus as necessary. Once students have completed their group activities, they should prepare to present their explorations to the class. At that time, teachers can clarify information and include all students in further discussion of these topics.

The copyright of the article Group Activities for Analyzing Of Mice and Men in Curricula/Lesson Plans is owned by Thadra Petkus. Permission to republish Group Activities for Analyzing Of Mice and Men in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.