Overview
In this lesson students will meet Melina, a university student in Sarajevo, Bosnia. They will watch a video interview with Melina conducted by youth where she discusses what she perceives as pressures upon her generation because they were born after the war. Although they didn’t experience the war directly, Melina feels they carry the burden of it. Students will then break into groups to investigate their generation. They will explore if they carry any burdens or inspiration from the previous generation and if their generation carries a specific responsibility.
Grade Level
8th - 12th Grades
Essential question the lesson will address:
● What does it mean for conflict to continue without bombs?
● Do the older generations have the power to pass on burdens to the generations that follow?
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to....
● Contemplate and discuss the issues Melina has identified that her generation must grapple with every day.
● Analyze the four themes that Melina addresses in her video interview: A perfect state of peace, Burdens passed on to the next generation, etc.
● Create a word poem around the themes Melina has identified.
● Explore and identify any burdens that were passed down to the students’ generation.
Common Core State Standards (11th grade)
● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.D Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when possible; and determine what additional information or research is required to deepen the investigation or complete the task.
● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
Glossary and Concept
● Generation: all the people who were born at about the same time
the younger/older generation (Oxford: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/generation)
● Burden: a duty, responsibility, etc. that causes worry, difficulty or hard work
to bear/carry/ease/reduce/share the burden (Oxford: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/burden_1?q=burden)
● Responsibility: a duty to deal with or take care of somebody/something, so that you may be blamed if something goes wrong (Oxford: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/responsibility?q=responsibility)
Formative Assessment Strategies
The teacher can make a note of…
● Class engagement with Melina’s video and reflection questions
● Student participation in whole-class poem activity and small group work about burdens and responsibilities on generations after war
Materials for Instructor
● Imagine Melina Video by the VII Foundation
Materials for Students
● Imagine Journal
Lesson Plan
I. Introduction (5 min.)
Note to Teacher: Remind students of the first lesson which covered some of the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and most importantly the Stari Most Bridge as a symbol of peace.
Introduce Melina:
If you led lesson one in the classroom, you can remind students about the interview with Melina where she shared her her view of Stari Most Bridge as a symbol of peace. Remind students that Melina was born after the war and genocides in Bosnia and Herzegovina which took place from 1992-to 1995. She is now twenty years old and a student at the University of Sarajevo. She is a member of the generation born after the war which ended in 1995. Though the war ended 26 years ago, Melina talks about how it still affects the current youth of BiH.
II. Video and Discussion (10 minutes, timing at the discretion of the teacher.)
Note to Teacher:
The video interview with Melina is under three minutes and covers four topics. The video can be played through with no pauses. However, if you would like to pause and check for student understanding, below are the titles of the four questions Melina is asked and optional prompt questions for students. The questions can also be part of a discussion after the video if it is played through with no pauses.
What would a perfect state of peace look like?
● Why does Melina feel that youth remaining in BiH can support a peaceful community?
2. Do you feel that you are living in a state of peace?
● What does Melina mean when she says the war ended but there is a mindset of the people that has not changed?
3. What do you think your generation can do to build a better or stronger peace?
● What examples does Melina give to support why she feels her generation is forced to live with the legacy of the war
● Why does Melina feel that her generation was born with a burden of the war on their shoulders? Are you hopeful for a better future?
4. Are you hopeful for a better future?
● Melina says she is hopeful that people will work and stay “and fight for it”. What does Melina mean when she says, “Fight for it”
III. Classroom Word Poem (10 min)
To support student understanding and connection to the themes Melina discusses in the video, create a class word poem. Ask students to popcorn share aloud words or phrases in response to the following prompts:
What adjectives can help describe what it means to carry a burden? (Popcorn answers from students. Examples may include: heaviness, sadness, trapped, exhaustion, hopelessness, etc.)
What adjectives can describe a war with no actual physical violence? (Popcorn answers from students. Examples may include: secrecy, helplessness, dark, confusion, surreal, etc.)
When completed, the words on the board become the poem itself! Have one to three students read the class word poem out loud. When they are done, ask students for potential titles for the class word poem. Choose one and write it above the words.
IV. Our Generation Activity (25 min.)
Step One
Break the class into groups of three to four students. Have each group choose one student to be the scribe and to take notes during their discussion. (The scribe should also take part in the discussion.) Ask the students to discuss the following:
Identify a burden that may have been passed down to your generation by the previous generation(s).
Identify an inspiration that may have been passed down to your generation by the previous generation(s).
Does your group feel that your generation carries a specific responsibility? If so, What is it?
Step Two: A Second Word Poem.
Have a member of each group share 1 to 2 responses they created. Pull out strong words shared by students and write them on the board (or projector). Have a student read the word poem when it is completed. Remind students that the first poem carries their adjectives around Melina’s life situation, and the second poem carries adjectives about their life situation. Ask students what differences they see in the first and second poem?
Step Three
In the remaining time ask students to create a title for the second poem. (Popcorn ideas from the students.) When the second title is written, ask them if there is a significant difference between the two titles. If so, why? If not, why?
End the class by asking students to think about the similarities and differences between the obstacles Melina’s generation faces and those that your generation has identified.