Introduction
John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in order to express his social conscience about America in the 1930s. Of Mice and Men is a novel about dreams, friendship, loneliness, and hope. Through the memorable characters of George and Lennie, Steinbeck paints a portrait of enduring friendship.
In order to help you understand the context of the novel and how it still has meaning today, you are about to embark on a WebQuest that will lay the foundation for deeper understanding of the text, the time period, and the author.
Task
Everyone in the class will become a sociologist, a historian, a psychologist, or a biographer and will make a presentation to the class about their subject. Your group will create a brochure to present this information. You will then present the brochure to the class.
Process
1. In your assigned group, you should divide responsibility for researching equally amongst each other.
- You must research the author John Steinbeck. This research needs to be done by everyone.
- Each of you needs to pick one of the other four topics to focus on for your brochure.
2. Take the notes on your topic. Make sure you focus on information that is relevant to your topic. Answer the questions provided to you. DO NOT GO TO WIKIPEDIA!
3. Either open a word document and use a brochure template or at the following website. http://www.brother.com/creativecenter/en_us/business/brochure/ or other free brochure cite.
4. Work together to develop an easy to follow brochure. Decide who will present which part of the brochure. Everyone will have to do some talking in the presentation.
5. Create a biblography for the sources you and your group used to find your information.
TOPICS
Topic: John Steinbeck
Find creditable sources to answer the following questions. Please avoid Wikipedia. Use history.com, PBS or other cites. Avoid youtube but you may use videos(if you have headphones).
- 1. Present major facts about Steinbeck's life (birth, death, family life, children, wives, etc.)
- 2. What life experiences and jobs did he have that influenced his novels?
- 3. What social issues did Steinbeck frequently write about?
- 4. What philosophy of life is revealed in Steinbeck's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech?
- 5. What was John Steinbeck's relationship to the Salinas Valley?
- 6. What are the main industries of the Salinas Valley? What type of produce is grown there?
- 7. Where are Weed, Salinas, and the Salinas River located?
Topic #1: Migrant Workers and Tenant Farmers
Find creditable sources to answer the following questions. Please avoid Wikipedia. Use history.com, PBS or other cites. Avoid youtube but you may use videos(if you have headphones).
- 1. What are migrant workers and Tenant Farmers?
- 2. Are there migrant workers or tenant farmers today? Describe the types of people they are and what kinds of lives they lead.
- 3. During the 1930's, why did workers want to come to California?
- 4. What were the living conditions of migrant workers in California in the 1930s?
- 5. How were migrant workers affected by the Great Depression?
- 6. What was the Dust Bowl? How did it effect migrant workers and tenant farmers?
Topic #2: The Great Depression
Find creditable sources to answer the following questions. Please avoid Wikipedia. Use history.com, PBS or other cites. Avoid youtube but you may use videos(if you have headphones).
- 1. What was the Great Depression? When did it occur? What events caused it? When did it end?
- 2. What was Black Thursday?
- 3. What problems did the Great Depression create?
- 4. How did people manage during this time?
- 5. What is the New Deal? Who created it and why is it significant?
- 6. Look at the Oral Histories and share one or two stories to give us a feel for life during the 1930s.
Find creditable sources to answer the following questions. Please avoid Wikipedia. Use history.com, PBS or other cites. Avoid youtube but you may use videos(if you have headphones).
1.What is a mental disability?
2. How does a mental disability affect a person's everyday life?
3. What is a caregiver and what difficulties do they face?
4. How were mentally disabled people seen in the 1930s? How are they seen today?
5. What is the role of friendship in caring for the mentally disabled?
6. What do mentally disabled people add to our society?
7. What is the American Disabilities Act and IDEA?
8. What can I do if I want to become a friend for a person with a mental disability?
Topic #4: African Americans, Women and the Elderly in the 1930s
Find creditable sources to answer the following questions. Please avoid Wikipedia. Use history.com, PBS or other cites. Avoid youtube but you may use videos(if you have headphones).
1. What were Jim Crow Laws and how did they affect African Americans?
2. Listen to some narratives of African Americans during this time. Summarize the stories told in two of them.
3. What jobs were open to women during The Great Depression?
4. How were marriages impacted by The Great Depression?
5. How were elderly people affected by The Great Depression?
6. What government support was available to the elderly during The Great Depression?
Evaluation
You will be evaluated on the accuracy and completeness of your project. You will also be evaluated on the organization and presentation of your brochure.
A rubric will be provided to you by teacher.
Conclusion
On the day of presentations, you will need to take notes while your classmates present. As always, you will complete a reflection, discussing what you learned, what went well, what didn't go well, how your group worked and what you will do differently next time.
Credits
The idea for this webquest came from the link below.