ELA+Resources+9-12

="The Lady, or the Tiger?" = = = ="The Lady, or the Tiger?" is a much-anthologized short story written by Frank R. Stockton. It was first published in the magazine //The Century// in 1882. "The lady, or the tiger?" has come into the English language as an allegorical expression, which indicates a problem that is unsolvable. = = = = The Lady or the Tiger? (full text) = = = = The Lady or the Tiger? (PPT view only) = = = = Plot Diagram =

//** A Christmas Carol **// = = =//A Christmas Carol// is a novella by English author Charles Dickens. The story was first published in 1843. The story shows the transformation of bitter old miser Ebenezer Scrooge after his supernatural visits from Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. =

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= A Christmas Carol (Google Books link) =



=// Of Mice and Men //=

=//Of Mice and Men// is a novella by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. The book was published in 1937 and tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small. George and Lennie are two displaced migrant ranch workers, who constantly search for new job opportunities during the Great Depression in California. =



Read the full text online - //Of Mice and Men //  by John Steinbeck

Read the full text from a PDF



Teacher's guide to the novel from Penguin



Teacher's guide from eNotes



Active Reading Guide



Of Mice and Men - Teacher Website

Of Mice and Men - Mock Trial

[|Mock Trial Tips]


 * After Reading the Novel **

Students can write about or explore a variety of ways in which to respond to Of Mice and Men. One of the most important response techniques teachers can employ is the dialogue journal. While students are reading the story (or the story is being read to them), periodically have them stop reading and write to you (or to a peer or, perhaps, a local college student) about what they have read. The person to whom they are writing, whether the teacher, peer, or college student, should respond, in letter format in the journal, to what they have written. If you are the person responding, you may want to in writing to five or six students per day, thereby writing to an entire class in the course of a week. If some class time is used to have the students write in their dialogue journals, you can utilize this time to write responses to them. In addition to the dialogue journal technique, students can respond in the following ways:

**1. Personal statements** - these include emotional reactions, expressions of identification or empathy with characters or place, conjecture about characters, and autobiographical associations.

**Suggested Activities** - React in writing to the relationship between George and Lennie. Do you have to know people that have relationships with retarded or handicapped people? Write about the difficulties and the values of these relationships. or, write about a relationship you have or had with a pet. If that pet has died, write about how you felt.

**2. Description** - statements which attempt to classify or describe the form, language, structure content of the work; such responses can range in complexity from the simple recall of explicitly stated information to an analysis of the stylistic properties.

**Suggested Activities** - Orally, in your own words, describe what happens when Candy's old dog is killed. Why do you think Steinbeck includes this scene with the killing of the old dog in the story? If you have not yet finished the story, discuss or write about what you think might occur? If you have finished the book, discuss or write about how the killing of the dog foreshadows what happens in the novel.

What does the mouse in the first chapter tell you about Lennie? What does it tell you about the relationship of George and Lennie? How does George try to keep Lennie from getting in trouble? Does Lennie really believe what he does I wrong? What does he think about what he does? Why does he worry about it? Write or discuss a time when you were more concerned about what someone else thought about what you did rather than whether it was wrong or right.

**3. Interpretation** - responses aimed at identifying the symbolic or thematic meaning of a work; interpretation requires of readers an ability to infer the intentions of Steinbeck.

**Suggested Activities** - Write your own interpretation of what happens between Crooks and Lennie. How does Steinbeck use Crooks' life to help explain the relationship between George and Lennie? How does what Crooks says to Lennie help explain why George will come back?

Discuss in small groups what happens when Lennie is alone in the barn in chapter five. How did he kill the pup? What does this tell you about how Lennie responds to what is right and wrong? What does he think when he kills the pup? What does he do? What does his killing the pup tell you about what is likely to happen when Curley's wife comes in? Why does this change? How does he kill her? Why? What does he think and do after he kills her?

When we see Lennie at the pool in the next chapter, why does Steinbeck have him imagine Aunt Clara and the rabbit? What does this tell us about Lennie? Does he really believe what he has done is wrong? Is George right when he says, "He never done this to be mean"? Why does Lennie do it?

**4. Evaluation** - responses aimed at assessing the construction, meaningfulness, or appropriateness of Of Mice and Men.

**Suggested Activities** - Write about the suspense you found in the novel. How does Steinbeck create that suspense? What is the climax of the book (the place at which the action turns)? What is the resolution? Why does George kill Lennie? Is Slim right when he says, "You hadda, George"?

Many critics consider this one of the greatest short works of fiction of all time. Why do you think they say this? Write about or discuss some of the important themes Steinbeck addresses in this short book: the importance of relationships, responsibility to others, the nature of home, respect for old age, the difference between right and wrong, and the evil of oppression and abuse. Discuss how he uses the story and characters to address the theme. What can we learn about the theme from Steinbeck's book?

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