We viewed the first five minutes of Janine di Giovanni’s TedTALK, in which she shares glimpses of her experiences as a war journalist. She was in fact the journalist who discovered Zlata. Although she doesn’t make references to the young girl, she relates a narrative from the life of her Bosnian friend, having to take refuge behind a trash container during the siege of Sarajevo with the sudden appearance of tanks and soldiers.
We used the clip from di Giovanni’s talk to identify themes related to war. Exploring the themes and their relationship to each other provided an enriching discussion as we contemplated the meaning of human survival in the midst of an attack on humanity. We grouped the themes and documented them on butcher paper.
Themes That Emerged:
Loss, Destruction, Chaos
Death, Suffering
Love, Helping, Sharing, Compassion
Courage, Heroism
Absurdity, Desperation
Students were asked to connect passages from Zlata’s Diary to the themes and document them on the butcher paper. We will continue our close textual analysis and thematic connections.
We used the clip from di Giovanni’s talk to identify themes related to war. Exploring the themes and their relationship to each other provided an enriching discussion as we contemplated the meaning of human survival in the midst of an attack on humanity. We grouped the themes and documented them on butcher paper.
Themes That Emerged:
Loss, Destruction, Chaos
Death, Suffering
Love, Helping, Sharing, Compassion
Courage, Heroism
Absurdity, Desperation
Students were asked to connect passages from Zlata’s Diary to the themes and document them on the butcher paper. We will continue our close textual analysis and thematic connections.
Homework
ACTIVE READING: Students have been asked to complete the novel Zlata's Diary over the holidays. Five different colored post-its with the themes have been pasted into their novel. They have been asked to use their active reading skills and make connections documenting the page number on the corresponding thematic post-it.
ACTIVE READING: Students have been asked to complete the novel Zlata's Diary over the holidays. Five different colored post-its with the themes have been pasted into their novel. They have been asked to use their active reading skills and make connections documenting the page number on the corresponding thematic post-it.