Culminating Project Ideas for OF MICE AND MEN with RUBRIC

Of Mice and Men: Culminating Project Choices

Each project should be neat and organized. Effort must be visible--use the skills we learned from last month's project in this project as well. Choose a project that appeals to your own personal talents and interests.

Choose ONE of the following:

• Poem—write one long poem (at least 30 lines) or at least three short poems (totaling at least 30 lines) in the form of your choosing about the story, a theme from the story, or one or more of the characters. The poem can be from your own perspective or it can be from the perspective of one of the characters—for example, Lennie is writing the poem or George, etc. (I don’t want elementary school rhyming “roses are red/violets are blue/Lennie is sweet/and George is, too.” —I want thought and insight.)
• Create a five-frame cartoon strip or, if you are more motivated, a cartoon motion flipbook that captures what happens in the scene from the novel that is most memorable to you.
• Create a mobile or collage (at least 11 x 14) that captures one important aspect of the story—it can be about one character or one theme or one symbol, etc. (When making a collage, the poster board should be filled). On a separate, typed piece, write an explanation for each item you chose to include. Explain: why did you include it, what does it represent?
• Capture your impressions of George or Lennie in any form you choose (drawing, collage, paper mache, essay, etc.) Write a brief description of your image similar to a character analysis.
• Write/perform a song/rap characterizing an aspect of the story. (Make sure when you write it, it looks like a song written in stanzas with a chorus.)
• Create an online literary scrapbook. Using PowerPoint, gather images, backgrounds, text, video, clipart and sound that support a theme or big idea from the novel. Limit the amount of text you use, just like a personal scrapbook. Include a Works Cited slide at the end with citations of sources you used. The “scraps” you include must be justified – you’ll explain why they are important to the understanding of the theme or big idea you chose.

• Write an eulogy (a speech usually given at a funeral) during Lennie's funeral given by George. Write about their relationship and what they have gone through together. Maybe even explaining how events unfolded.  

• Take on the persona of two characters from the novel--for example, Curley and Slim. These two characters will have chosen to keep in touch after the death of Lennie.  You must write 1 letters each (2 total) that are exchanges that pen pals might have.  

• You may choose to do something else that is creative and that represents the story in some way, but you must get the project approved first. (Think something with computers.)

You're project will be graded based on the rubric below!

Homework: Please look through the different choices/options and come back to class ready to explain  and expand on the ideas above.