Some resources from the National History Clearinghouse on the Subject of Veterans Day:
Please review and determine if these would be appropriate for your classroom.
1 ) History in Multimedia
The Story of Veterans Day
Description
This short, accessible presentation, created in connection with the History Channel and the Library of Congress's Take a Veteran to School Day, looks at what a veteran is, which wars American veterans have fought in, the history of Veterans Day, and the experiences of veterans alive today. Though not a critical look at American history, it provides an introduction to the U.S.'s participation in wars and the concepts of service to the country and memorialization of service. It might also be contrasted with more critical looks at wartime service in U.S. history, or analyzed for its use of patriotic imagery.
Website
Date Published
Sep 30 2009
Duration
00:21:05
Media Format
Video
# 2
NHEC Blog
Oct 27 2009
Veterans, Oral History, and the Library of Congress
An oral history project with veterans is a great way to involve students in family, community, national, and global history. And it's a useful methodology for teaching how to work with historical evidence.
Far more than simple question and answer sessions, oral history is actually a systematized, disciplined effort to record, preserve, and interpret memories of historical significance. It helps students find out about the past, and encourages them to ask critical questions about who tells the story and how it's told. Good oral history projects require research into primary and secondary sources; they exercise planning and interpretive skills; and they ask students to unite mega and micro narratives. Kindergarten pupils can do it, and so can AP history students with learner-appropriate requirements for exercising historical thinking skills—it's an activity adaptable across the curriculum and across grade levels.
Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress helps bring oral history into the curriculum through the Veterans History Project (VHP), a massive and accessible example of the power of personal narrative. Created in 2000, the VHP collects and preserves the remembrances of American war veterans and civilian workers who supported them from World War I through today's Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. These collections of firsthand accounts are archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress Veteran's History Project is a powerful instructional tool.
#3
National Resource Centers
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Website:
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, the Department of Veteran Affairs exists "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan."
Primarily intended for veterans, the Department of Veteran Affairs does, nonetheless, provide a number of fascinating statistical offerings. Direct linking is largely restricted. Therefore, navigation selections are described below.
The National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics presents demographic data on veteran ethnicity, branch of service, officer or enlisted status, and more within the nation and individual states; veteran data from the 2000 census; Veteran Affairs expenditure data and medical program information; studies on topics such as veteran employability; and special reports covering women, Alaskan, and Native American veterans, among other topics. Access these resources by selecting "Veteran Data" from the navigation bar on the left.
Perhaps most immediately relevant to classroom research is a chart table displaying war statistics, from the American Revolution through Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Data includes the total number of servicemembers, battle fatalities, non-mortal wounds, non-battle fatalities, and living veterans per war and in combination. The page also offers a list of the date of death; age; and name of the last remaining veteran, widow, and dependent (if known) of the American Revolution, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Civil War, and Spanish-American War. Go to the navigation bar on the left, choose Public Affairs, then choose fact sheets, scroll down to "Miscellaneous," and select a version of "War Statistics (America's Wars)."
The Department of Veteran's Affairs also makes several children's sites available. VA Kids, K-5th provides department information—the motto, history, seal, Veterans Health Administration, technology, research, and Veteran Benefits Administration; veteran facts; the history and display of the U.S. flag; and online games. Games require Flash 6. VA Kids, 6th-12th Grades offers similar materials, designed for a more mature student.
The Teacher's Page (under "Kids' Page") offers a Veterans Day teaching guide, stories of U.S. customs and symbols, and three other suggested resources.
Finally, the site contains a gallery of past Veterans Day posters, useful for examining iconography and changing print design trends and technology.