The Bosnian War and Life Under Siege in Sarajevo

Format and Suggested Sequencing

The unit is primarily designed for English Language Arts, but there is a great deal of crossover with Social Studies, as well. Many of the lessons are perfectly suitable for Social Studies classes and may be paired with English Language Arts as an interdisciplinary two-week unit. For example, Lessons One, Two, and Three provide historical understanding of the events and can easily fit within a Social Studies curriculum to support subsequent lessons that are more specifically structured to address Language Arts skills. Lessons Four, Five, Six, and Seven are shared in content but utilize excerpts from the novel The Cellist of Sarajevo. Lesson Eight provides students with practice in close reading of non-fiction while Lesson Nine fosters creative writing through poetry. The lessons are designed to accommodate classes of 45-50 minutes in length, but time suggestions are included with each activity and can easily be modified to work within myriad schedules.