Why I Still Teach Of Mice and Men in 2025

I don’t care how many times it’s been taught, Of Mice and Men still lands every single time. There’s something about the final chapter that silences even the rowdiest class. You can hear a pin drop. I’m emotional, some of them get emotional, and suddenly they’re asking, “Wait… why didn’t I see that coming?”

That moment alone makes it worth it. But beyond the ending, it’s short enough to keep students engaged, and packed with enough talking points to carry weeks of discussion: power, loneliness, race, disability, masculinity, dreams, morality - all wrapped up in about 100 pages.

“It’s Been Done to Death!” And?

Who cares? Honestly. There’s a reason Of Mice and Men has been “done to death”; it doesn’t stop being powerful. It doesn’t stop being engaging. It’s a masterclass in symbolism, theme, and foreshadowing, and it always gets students talking.

I usually teach it in Year 9, and for many of them, it’s the first text that opens the door to bigger, more important conversations: feminism, racism, ableism, ageism, prejudice, and discrimination. Every class I’ve taught it to (which is one class a year for the last ten years) has been drawn in. Fully invested.

And I have one rule that year after year is followed to the letter: Do not Google the end. And if you do, do not spoil it for anybody else.

How I Teach Of Mice and Men (and Keep Students Engaged from Start to Finish)

My goal with this unit is always the same: get them thinking, feeling, and arguing (respectfully). I don’t just want them to know what happens - I want them to care. That means a mix of creative tasks, structured debates, discussion games, and quiet reflection.

After each chapter, we do quick post-reading creative prompts. It might be a diary entry, a letter, a short story, or a dramatic monologue. The idea is to stay in the world of the text, but shift perspective - it deepens empathy fast, especially when we write from Curley’s Wife or Crooks’ point of view.

We also use a lot of active strategies:

◆ Silent debates for the big questions (Should George have done it? Was Lennie dangerous? Is Curley’s Wife a villain or victim?)
◆ Roll the Dice discussion boards for small group work, unpredictable, quick-fire, and weirdly effective
◆ Creative tasks that tie theme and symbolism together, things like designing a set and costumes for a stage version of the novella or retelling a scene with a modern twist
◆ Picture prompts and conscience alley when we hit key emotional moments (like the barn or the river)

If you want a shortcut to everything I use, I’ve put it all together in a growing bundle on my TpT store, which is full of creative writing prompts, tasks, games, quizzes, essay questions, and more. It’s basically everything I wish I had when I first started teaching this. If you want to grab the bundle, you can get it here.

Talking About the Tough Stuff

One of the best things about Of Mice and Men is how naturally it opens up big conversations, and my students always have something to say. We don’t shy away from the hard topics. We talk about racism, disability, gender, loneliness, and power. And the text doesn’t give us easy answers, which is exactly the point.

Instead of giving them an interpretation, I let them debate it out. Activities like silent debates, thought tunnels, and character hot-seating let students step into the complexity, and you can feel the shift when someone suddenly gets why Crooks shuts down, or why Curley’s Wife lashes out.

It’s not about forcing conclusions. It’s about giving them space to question, reflect, and disagree safely.

What Sticks With Them

What I really love about Of Mice and Men is that different students connect with different moments, and that’s what makes the unit so powerful. Some are devastated by Lennie’s death, especially when they didn’t see it coming. Others feel uncomfortable with how Curley’s Wife is treated, and it leads to some pretty honest conversations about gender, power, and how we judge people too quickly.

Then there’s Candy’s dog. That one always gets them more than they expect, especially when they start seeing the parallels between Candy and Lennie.

And George? His decision at the end starts arguments that go on for days. Was it kindness or betrayal? Did he have a choice? Did Lennie understand what was happening?

They all feel something, and they remember it. That’s the kind of story that stays with them.

Final Thoughts

Of Mice and Men isn’t perfect, and that’s exactly why it works. It sparks questions, discomfort, and debate. It makes students feel something, and more importantly, it makes them think. Every time I teach it, I see new responses, new conversations, new sparks of empathy I didn’t expect. That’s what makes it timeless.

Whether you’re teaching it for the first time or the tenth, it’s a text that still hits hard, and it deserves to be taught with the same complexity it offers.

If you want to save yourself hours of planning, you can grab my full Of Mice and Men bundle on TpT. But however you teach it, just don’t let them Google the ending.