Travels with
Charley
In Travels with Charley In Search of America, John Steinbeck sets out to personally discover the defining features of America with his French gentlemen poodle Charley. Steinbeck loaded up his beloved truck "Rocinante" and left his home and family behind for nearly three months to search out an answer to his question: What are Americans like today?
Peruse the complete Travels with Charley in-depth curriculum. Click each Lesson Plan to view or choose Download to download the Lesson Plan as a Word document. All resources are free and customizable to your needs.
Steinbeck gets a glimpse of life in many areas of the country and in every region encounters people working to achieve their version of the "American Dream."
This is a light exercise to help get students into the journeying mindset by asking them to consider what kinds of preparations they would make.
Challenge students to create and act out their own skits that demonstrate the differences between plot and theme.
Short answer questions test student understanding and reading comprehension for Travels with Charley.
The Final-Final requires students to take action on writing assignment feedback and to resubmit their work for a last round of teacher feedback.
Analyze the styles Steinbeck used in writing dialogue and emulate one or more in the form of an interview or dialogue "with" Steinbeck.
Students can improve their sentence fluency by emulating the sentence structure of Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and those of their classmates.
Challenge students to think critically about history and events, even when those “facts” are being presented by someone of authority, such as Steinbeck.
Provide historical context for Steinbeck’s references to the Cold War and his impressions of how the United States was affected.
Examine the history behind Ruby Bridges and school integration, an event that Steinbeck witnessed and detailed in Part Four of Travels with Charley.
Through the use of primary sources, students can examine the old pioneer story from the perspectives of peoples who have been traditionally left out.
Create an internal monologue for two of Steinbeck's passengers to examine attitudes of race from different perspectives.
Students will analyze Steinbeck’s thoughts on America and Americans and determine what it is that Steinbeck discovered in Travels with Charley.
An in-depth, section-by-section breakdown of short writing prompts for use in journal assignments, assessments, and discussion starters.
Breakdown the major events, themes, and discussion topics. This is a rich source of information to help frame an entire unit plan for Travels with Charley.
Students work in small groups to analyze and dissect a reading, then report back to the class. This activity aids students in understanding complex material.
Provide a structure that students of all abilities can utilize to build their analytical skills.
Students work collaboratively to create an in-depth study guide to understanding key scenes, quotations, and themes in Travels with Charley.
Create a “message board” where students can post and comment upon important, entertaining, and interesting passages from Travels with Charley.
Students show their position on a specific statement by standing in a particular corner of the room or answering a question with a choice.
Students creatively interpret the Cold War and Cold War propaganda by scripting and performing their own “educational video” (or skit).
Challenge students to create and act out their own skits that demonstrate the differences between plot and theme.
The theme of lynching appears several times during Travels with Charley and is an important part to understanding Steinbeck’s experiences in Louisiana.
Steinbeck gets a glimpse of life in many areas of the country and in every region encounters people working to achieve their version of the "American Dream."
Help students distinguish between literal and figurative concepts and track the use and meaning of symbols throughout Travels with Charley.
Understand what led up to lingering racist attitudes since the Civil War especially given the treatment of Ruby Bridges and the attitudes Steinbeck encountered.
This is a light exercise to help get students into the journeying mindset by asking them to consider what kinds of preparations they would make.
An in-depth, section-by-section breakdown of short writing prompts for use in journal assignments, assessments, and discussion starters.
Breakdown the major events, themes, and discussion topics. This is a rich source of information to help frame an entire unit plan for Travels with Charley.
Examine the history behind Ruby Bridges and school integration, an event that Steinbeck witnessed and detailed in Part Four of Travels with Charley.
Challenge students to think critically about history and events, even when those “facts” are being presented by someone of authority, such as Steinbeck.
Students creatively interpret the Cold War and Cold War propaganda by scripting and performing their own “educational video” (or skit).
Provide historical context for Steinbeck’s references to the Cold War and his impressions of how the United States was affected.
Examine Steinbeck’s feelings during his return visit to the land of his origin, the Salinas Valley, and ask the question: Can you ever go home again?
Through the use of primary sources, students can examine the old pioneer story from the perspectives of peoples who have been traditionally left out.
Students create a performance that reveals a message, theme, or conflict represented by the text to help them understand problems the characters experience.
Students work collaboratively to create an in-depth study guide to understanding key scenes, quotations, and themes in Travels with Charley.
Students can learn the art of adaptation of genres, a valuable lesson, by selecting scenes from Travels with Charley to adapt into short one-act plays.
Students will learn a bit of someone else’s life story through interviewing a family member, or close friend of the family.
Spontaneous poetry is a creative and fun activity during any time of the year, but teachers can apply this specifically to Travels with Charley.
Analyze the styles Steinbeck used in writing dialogue and emulate one or more in the form of an interview or dialogue "with" Steinbeck.
Students can improve their sentence fluency by emulating the sentence structure of Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and those of their classmates.
Provides a list of slang terms as well as an interactive, student driven, "word wall" to help students understand the new words encountered in their readings.
This guide includes a comprehensive list of literary terms, their definitions, and examples of their usage as found in the book.
Students use what they know about the United States' history/culture to script and perform interviews with the characters encountered in Travels with Charley.
Create a “message board” where students can post and comment upon important, entertaining, and interesting passages from Travels with Charley.
Understanding the difference between "showing" and "telling" not only enhances students' enjoyment of literature but also improves their own writing.
Short answer questions test student understanding and reading comprehension for Travels with Charley.
Create radio play adaptations of scenes as live, unseen performances or recorded and edited podcasts.
The Final-Final requires students to take action on writing assignment feedback and to resubmit their work for a last round of teacher feedback.
Students show their position on a specific statement by standing in a particular corner of the room or answering a question with a choice.
Students work in small groups to analyze and dissect a reading, then report back to the class. This activity aids students in understanding complex material.
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