Session Date
Lesson Topic
the
Lesson Outline
In Depth Character analysis in a Classic Novel
I. The student will identify Lennie Small as the secondary protagonist in Of Mice and Men. He has an unnamed mental disability; according to George, this is the result of an accident as a child, though this is not likely to be true. He has a fascination with stroking and petting soft things. His strong exterior conceals a side of Lennie that many people, were they to witness it, would see as weak and seek to exploit.
II. The two men are only able to survive without one another’s help.
III. Lennie doesn’t grasp his own strength—examples: repeated killings of mice and puppies
IV. Important: The student will learn that Lennie is gentle but fearfully strong, insecure but gregarious, and trusting to a dangerous degree. Lennie is a mess of contradictions whose arc ties in the the novella’s major themes of the strong and the weak, male friendship, and marginalization and scapegoating.
V. The student will learn vocabulary gregarious (fond of company, sociable), marginalization (treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral), and scapegoating (whipping boy is a slang term for scapegoating) and Lennie is Curley’s scapegoat.
VI. The student will conduct an examination of the physical characteristics of each character and free write on why he thinks John Steinbeck did this.
I. The student will identify Lennie Small as the secondary protagonist in Of Mice and Men. He has an unnamed mental disability; according to George, this is the result of an accident as a child, though this is not likely to be true. He has a fascination with stroking and petting soft things. His strong exterior conceals a side of Lennie that many people, were they to witness it, would see as weak and seek to exploit.
II. The two men are only able to survive without one another’s help.
III. Lennie doesn’t grasp his own strength—examples: repeated killings of mice and puppies
IV. Important: The student will learn that Lennie is gentle but fearfully strong, insecure but gregarious, and trusting to a dangerous degree. Lennie is a mess of contradictions whose arc ties in the the novella’s major themes of the strong and the weak, male friendship, and marginalization and scapegoating.
V. The student will learn vocabulary gregarious (fond of company, sociable), marginalization (treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral), and scapegoating (whipping boy is a slang term for scapegoating) and Lennie is Curley’s scapegoat.
VI. The student will conduct an examination of the physical characteristics of each character and free write on why he thinks John Steinbeck did this.
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
45
Lesson Comments
In Depth Character analysis in a Classic Novel
I. The student will identify Lennie Small as the secondary protagonist in Of Mice and Men. He has an unnamed mental disability; according to George, this is the result of an accident as a child, though this is not likely to be true. He has a fascination with stroking and petting soft things. His strong exterior conceals a side of Lennie that many people, were they to witness it, would see as weak and seek to exploit.
II. The two men are only able to survive without one another’s help.
III. Lennie doesn’t grasp his own strength—examples: repeated killings of mice and puppies
IV. Important: The student will learn that Lennie is gentle but fearfully strong, insecure but gregarious, and trusting to a dangerous degree. Lennie is a mess of contradictions whose arc ties in the the novella’s major themes of the strong and the weak, male friendship, and marginalization and scapegoating.
V. The student will learn vocabulary gregarious (fond of company, sociable), marginalization (treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral), and scapegoating (whipping boy is a slang term for scapegoating) and Lennie is Curley’s scapegoat.
VI. The student will conduct an examination of the physical characteristics of each character and free write on why he thinks John Steinbeck did this.
I. The student will identify Lennie Small as the secondary protagonist in Of Mice and Men. He has an unnamed mental disability; according to George, this is the result of an accident as a child, though this is not likely to be true. He has a fascination with stroking and petting soft things. His strong exterior conceals a side of Lennie that many people, were they to witness it, would see as weak and seek to exploit.
II. The two men are only able to survive without one another’s help.
III. Lennie doesn’t grasp his own strength—examples: repeated killings of mice and puppies
IV. Important: The student will learn that Lennie is gentle but fearfully strong, insecure but gregarious, and trusting to a dangerous degree. Lennie is a mess of contradictions whose arc ties in the the novella’s major themes of the strong and the weak, male friendship, and marginalization and scapegoating.
V. The student will learn vocabulary gregarious (fond of company, sociable), marginalization (treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral), and scapegoating (whipping boy is a slang term for scapegoating) and Lennie is Curley’s scapegoat.
VI. The student will conduct an examination of the physical characteristics of each character and free write on why he thinks John Steinbeck did this.
Session Hours
0.75
Hours Attended
0.75
Entry Status
Review Status
Student Name(s)
Subject
School