Invite a Veteran to School


If you are a middle or high school history teacher and your curriculum focuses on one of the wars from the past half century, you might want to consider inviting a local veteran of that war to your class. Giving your students the ability to hear more detail about the war experience directly from someone who was there is one of the best ways to truly get some concepts across to them.

Here are some tips on how to implement this and make it successful for everyone:

  • Contact a local veterans group in your community to see if you can set up such a meeting with a vet about coming to your school.
  • Send a note to your students’ parents asking if they know anyone who is a veteran of the war that you are studying.
  • Prior to the veteran’s visit, you may wish to have your students prepare certain questions and review them ahead of time. This will make sure that your guest’s time is well utilized. You can even supply the questions to your speaker before the day if you like.
  • You can have one or more vets come together to talk about different aspects of the war or different job functions. For example, one person may have been a military nurse and another person could have been on the front lines.
  • Let the vet know that you will work with them on a presentation that supports your overall unit’s emphasis.
  • Encourage the veterans to include videos or photos or even bring various items with them that they still have from their time in active duty. These may include uniforms, dog tags, helmets and more.
  • Collect a few dollars from each student to purchase a thank-you gift for your guest speaker. A commemorative military gift item such as a sculpture, coaster set, watch or more is a great way to recognize his or her time and input.

Making learning more dynamic can be a challenge sometimes but drawing on resources like a veteran is a great way to do that. The vividness with which an actual vet can describe a war situation will always be more realistic to your students than what they can read in a book or online.

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