This is the first and introductory part of the War and Home lesson. It is recommended that “War and Home - Part II” be taught following this lesson.

Step 1: Introducing the Themes

• Primary Source: “Where is home? Where do you belong?” TEDx talk by Vama Sherif (4:58 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mVa7d08tg.
• Primary Source Activity: 

1. Before watching the TEDx talk, have students do a quick write on the following questions:
   1. How do you define ‘home’?
   2. How do you know where you ‘belong’?
      1. What are the signs, signals, or affirmations that let you know you belong in specific places? 
      2. Are there things you can do to construct or facilitate a sense of belonging in places that might not be welcoming at first?
2. Watch the TEDx talk, and have the students (in pairs or groups of three or four) write down on post-it paper the different ways in which Vamba Sherif talked about ‘home.’ Each post-it should represent one idea.
   1. Encourage them to think about home in the following ways:
      1. People
      2. Place
      3. Memories
      4. Feelings 
      5. Words/writing 
3. Community Assessment Reflection: 
   1. After they have recorded their ideas, instruct them to share ideas on digital or hardcopy poster. Students will have five minutes to wander the room and review other peers' ideas. Encourage them to look for commonalities and overlapping ideas/themes.
   2. Finally, have students debrief in a whole group discussion using these prompts: 
      1. Does Sherif offer a definition of ‘home’ or ‘belonging’? What are the different homes Sherif talks about?
      2. What are the similarities and differences between how people in our classroom community think about home and belonging? 
      3. What might be the significance of how and why people think about home and belonging differently?

Step 2: Historical background 

1. Students will learn about the historical context of Hmong involvement and experience during the US’s Secret War in Laos to explore how war affects people’s concept of home. 
2. Primary Source: Minnesota Experience: America’s Secret War https://www.pbs.org/video/americas-secret-war-f55rln/ (PBS documentary 57:57 minutes) 
3. Primary Source Activity: Students will watch the documentary over two class periods (or watch half the documentary depending on time). Provide students with a Video Guide that contains the following questions for them to take notes on (see Handout https://ucdavis.box.com/s/kupeol6gq43t6yx4g99ok69tmllvxq5z):
   1. Content Questions: 
      1. Why did the US make war in Southeast Asia and Laos?
      2. How did Hmong people get involved? 
      3. Why is the war called a secret war?
      4. What information is provided about Hmong history before the secret war?
      5. How did the war change Laos, the country, and Hmong people’s lives?
      6. How did the war disrupt Hmong people’s idea of home?
   2. Perspective Questions:
      1. Who are the storytellers in this documentary? Are they soldiers? Teachers? Children of refugees? Take note of who is part of telling the story.
      2. Why does that matter? 
      3. Are there other people who aren’t in the documentary that you would have liked to hear from?
      4. Community Assessment Activity: After watching the documentary, have students share with each other the notes they took. Then, have a larger discussion with the class about what they learned, specifically what they learned about US history and Hmong history that they didn’t know before. 

Step 3: Closure / Assessment: 

1. If time permits, teachers can move onto the “War & Home - Part II” lesson.
   1. Before moving on to Part II of the lesson, introduce the Cumulative Project and have students start thinking about what kind of product they would like to create and possible materials that might be needed for the final project.
2. Students will choose from a variety of creative options to create a final product. The options include, but are not limited to the following: 
   • Photo (Hand Drawn) or Digital art
   • Comic strip
   • Spoken word or Poem
   • Other (discuss with teacher first for approval)

Students will present or record their final product to the class in a two to three-minute presentation where they explain their piece and their process addressing the lesson questions:

• What is a home?
• How did war affect Hmong people’s sense of home?  

3. If teacher is unable to move onto “War & Home - Part II,” teachers can have students reflect on the video with the following closure activity:
   1. 3-2-1 Reflection: What are three facts you learned from today’s lesson? What are two words to describe the content from today’s lesson? What is one unanswered question you still have?