HOLMDEL – Among the events the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation is offering this fall are tours of the memorial and an interdisciplinary forum on the Vietnam Era.
The free tours of the memorial, led by volunteer Vietnam veteran tour guides, will be held during the first Saturday of every month at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The tours, led by Mike Sapara and Bill McClung on Saturday, Oct. 4, will be at the memorial, located at 1 Memorial Lane, off Exit 116 of the Garden State Parkway Exit 116.
Tours will start in the museum lobby.
The foundation also will hold its 16th Annual Interdisciplinary Forum on the Vietnam Era from 8:30 to 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17 at the museum and educational center. This year’s topic, Vietnam as a Usable Past: New Perspectives on Classroom Resources, presents new perspectives on and sources of historical resources that can strengthen and supplement classroom curriculum.
The forum provides educators with important scholarly and experience-based educational tools for engaging students in comparisons between the past and present.
Sessions include a keynote by Shaun Illingworth, director of the Rutgers Oral History Archives, as well as three presentations by experts on new ways to bring oral histories and veterans’ experiences into the classroom; incorporate historic photographs into classroom curriculum; and use home videos as classroom resources.
Personal resources such as oral histories, photographs and home movies will invigorate lesson plans and engage students with the memories of those who lived through and made history during the Vietnam Era.
This year the forum is directly linked to New Jersey Common Core Standards. Sessions and the educators’ packet will help participants find ways to connect Vietnam Era resources to these standards in their teaching.
The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation is a registered New Jersey Professional Development provider. Attendance at this forum will provide educators with five hours toward their Professional Development requirement (must attend all three sessions).
Additional information is available by visiting www.njvvmf.org.
