Guest Speakers Can Be a Perfect Way to End the Year

As teachers, we are always looking for meaningful experiences for our students. The demands of standardized testing, however, often limit our ability to provide as many diverse experiences as we’d like.

After all the standardized exams, though, whether state tests or AP exams, there are usually a few weeks remaining, and a perfect way to end the school year is to invite guest speakers into your classroom. Guest speakers offer students exposure to research interests from college professors, solving community problems from local leaders, and wisdom from former students about expectations for college and career.

College Professors

College professors are often researching unique and interesting topics that students appreciate. I am in Knoxville, and after a quick search of the University of Tennessee (UT) faculty directory, I discovered two professors who are researching extremely fascinating topics related to the courses that I teach.

For my AP U.S. History class, I found a UT history professor, Tore C. Olsson, who wrote Red Dead’s History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America’s Violent Past, about the intersection of the historical developments of Manifest Destiny/westward expansion and the video game Red Dead Redemption. I contacted him using an email address I found in the campus directory, and he agreed to come speak to my AP U.S. History classes. He even shared a chapter from the Red Dead book with the students before his visit.

For my AP European History class, I contacted a UT history professor who specializes in European history and is currently doing research for a book about why some cultures in Europe embrace unexplained phenomena while others do not. The unexplained phenomena include unidentified flying objects (UFOs), aliens, and poltergeists. While that topic would pique student interest, it also helped to reinforce standards from the AP Euro curriculum because this professor framed the cultures’ embracing unexplained phenomena as part of the bigger picture of Eastern European cultures experiencing democracy for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Even though this research would not necessarily appear on an AP exam, it does beckon students to consider how historical research can be fascinating and surprising. Having college professors share their research interests with high school students will hopefully broaden their perspective about what academia looks like as well as challenge them to ask meaningful questions to find surprising answers.

Local Government

Inviting leaders from the local government helps students to understand the complexities of community problems. The local government could be a town, city, county, or even, at a larger level, state, and these people are often very accessible.

Additionally, students are familiar with many of the problems facing local communities, such as affordable housing, homelessness, and lack of walkability. Just because students are familiar with those problems, though, doesn’t mean they understand how complicated they can be. Teachers inviting leaders from their local government can help students understand just how complex those issues are and why those problems persist.

In my grade-level U.S. History class, following the students’ state test, every year I invite local government officials to discuss the lack of walkability in Knoxville. City of Knoxville engineers share about the local budget, a map of the current sidewalk system, and the long process of constructing a new sidewalk. That long process includes, but is not limited to, acquiring right-of-way and coordinating with utility companies.

By inviting a guest speaker from local government, students not only engage with multifaceted problems, but also are exposed to new career fields they might not have considered.

Beyond just tackling problems, students can become aware of internship opportunities with local governments or various businesses across their county. Guest speakers can help connect students with internships, especially over the summer, that allow them to develop job skills, provide networking opportunities, and boost their confidence that they can make a difference in the real world. Through those internships, students can see why education is important, and it could help build positive momentum into the next school year.

Former Students

Another source of experience, one that students may relate to well, are former students. Following high school graduation, many students keep in contact with their former teachers.

One of my former students is majoring in prelaw at UT. I happened to run into them during an event in downtown Knoxville, and they were willing to come speak to my classes about how to be successful in college and how skills developed from history class, such as reading critically and writing clearly, can help with finding an appropriate career. High school students appreciated listening to someone closer to their age, and the relevance of the speaker currently being in college contributed to their attentiveness.

By the end of the school year, we’re all tired. The last few weeks of school should be more relaxing and at a different pace from before standardized testing. However, that does not mean this time can’t also be meaningful, be authentic, and spark curiosity among the student body. Inviting guest speakers can accomplish all of this and more, during those last weeks before the summer break.