ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE SCHOOL
Students
Brady, Patricia. Martha Washington: An
American Life. New York: Viking/Penguin
Group, 2005.
Bobrick, Benson. Fight for Freedom: The
American Revolutionary War. New York:
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004.
Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. USA:
Penguin Press HC, 2010.
Boyd, Bentley. George Washington Leads the
Way. Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon, 2010.
Ellis, Joseph H. His Excellency: George
Washington. New York: Random House, 2005.
Cheney, Lynne. We the People: The Story of Our
Constitution. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008.
Flexner, James Thomas. Washington: The
Indispensible Man. New York: Hachette Book
Group, 1969.
Gedacht, Daniel C. George Washington: Leader
of a New Nation. New York: Rosen Publishing
Group, 2004.
“George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Estate & Gardens”. 2010. Mount Vernon.
http://www.mountvernon.org/.
George Washington: Lessons in Leadership.
Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon, 2010.
Henriques, Peter R. Realistic Visionary: A
Portrait of George Washington. Charlottesville,
VA: University of Virginia, 2006.
“Martha Washington: A Life”. 2009. Center
for History and New Media/Mount Vernon.
http://marthawashington.us/.
Rees, James C. George Washington’s
Leadership Lessons. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
John & Sons, Incorporated, 2009.
“The Papers of George Washington”.
Edward G. Lengel. 2010. University of Virginia.
http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/.
MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL
Students
Clark, Ellen McCallister. Martha Washington:
A Brief Biography. Mount Vernon, VA: The
Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, 2002.
“Discover the Real George Washington: New
Views from Mount Vernon”. 2010. Mount Vernon.
http://discovergeorgewashington.org/.
“George Washington’s World for Kids”.
2009. Mount Vernon. http://www.
washingtonsworld.org/
Gore, Laura, and Camelia Sims. George
Washington: A Timeless Hero. Los Angeles:
ZANA International, 2000.
Harness, Cheryl. George Washington.
Washington, D.C.: National Geographic
Society, 2000.
Schanzer, Rosalyn. George vs. George: The
American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides.
Washington, D.C.: National Geographic,
2004.
Thomas, Peggy. Farmer George Plants a Nation.
Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2008.
Brave soldier…wise statesman…ardent patriot and citizen. George
Washington’s leadership and example have stood the test of time. Yet
what do your students know – or think they know – about him? While
they may recognize his portrait on the dollar bill and recall a fact or two,
chances are they still have much to discover.
The Many Faces of George Washington , a traveling panel exhibition made possible
by the generous support of the F.M. Kirby Foundation , will introduce your students
to the multi-dimensional, real-life man behind the myth. This teaching guide and
poster are companions to the exhibition.
The exhibition presents an overview of Washington’s life and accomplishments in
seven colorful sections. Each section highlights a different aspect of Washington’s
leadership and character. Vivid images of painted portraits and historic scenes, as
well as color photographs of objects belonging to Washington help to tell the story.
We recommend that before visiting the exhibition, you explore the following Mount
Vernon web sites with your students:
Through an animated interactive timeline, discovergeorgewashington.org , students
can experience the unfolding of events of Washington’s life in chronological order.
Through washingtonsworld.org , students can discover the real Washington at home
and at war. They can explore a 3D Mount Vernon, searching for artifacts that reveal
the many facets of the man; play a harpsichord so that he can dance with his beloved
Martha; and serve as gun captain at his moment of greatest military achievement, the
siege of Yorktown.
Through the main Mount Vernon website, mountvernon.org , you can find a wealth of
biographical information about Washington and his times, as well as lesson plans and
other teaching materials. A special feature of the site, georgewashingtonwired.org ,
is a blog exclusively for educators, bringing you the latest news on professional
development events, research, lesson plans, and other resources that Mount Vernon’s
Education Department has to offer.
George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent
Behaviour in Company and Conversation. New
York: Cico Books, 2007.
Marrin, Albert. George Washington and the
Founding of a Nation. New York: Dutton
Children’s Books, 2001.
[email protected]
The Many Faces of
TEACHERS/HIGH SCHOOL
Students
GEORGE
WASHINGTON
RESOURCE GuiDE
A traveling panel exhibition made
possible by the generous support
of the F.M. Kirby Foundation.
Elementary
middle school
High School
Teachers
Teachers
Teachers
George Washington filled many roles in his life, including surveyor,
farmer, soldier, family man, military leader, slave owner, and our
nation’s first president. In this lesson, your students will explore
several of Washington’s roles as they are depicted in portraits.
Using the Mount Vernon website, discovergeorgewashington.org,
show the following three portraits, one at a time, to your class:
n Life of George Washington, the Farmer (timeline year 1764)
n George Washington after the Battle of Princeton
(timeline year 1777)
n The Washington Family (timeline year 1784)
For each portrait, have the children describe what Washington is doing, what
he is wearing, and what animals and people appear in the scene. Also have
them describe the scene’s location and any action that is taking place within it.
Record the children’s observations on the chalkboard, along with a list of the
objects that the artist has chosen to include in the portrait. Then ask the children
what they think the artist who painted the picture is trying to tell them about
George Washington. List all of the children’s ideas on the chalkboard. For each
idea, ask the student, “What clue(s) did the artist use to convey this message
about George Washington?” Be sure not to reveal the title of the portrait until
after your students have finished drawing their own conclusions through careful
examination of the picture’s visual clues.
After examining all three portraits, have each student choose a role that
Washington filled in his lifetime and draw a picture that portrays that role.
Students should include in their portraits objects that match each role
(compass and chains for surveying; sword and spyglass for soldier), as
well as a background scene and possibly other people (perhaps a crowd
of people at Federal Hall for president; the 16-sided barn and slaves for
farmer). Have students share their finished drawings with the class,
explaining what role each portrait is portraying and how the objects
and scene help to represent that role.
For this activity, your students will create their own timelines of ten key
events in Washington’s life. The ten events should reflect the different facets
of Washington’s character and leadership and be spaced throughout his life.
Using the Mount Vernon website, mountvernon.org ,
have students review the online “Collections” and
choose images of artifacts and other items that they
think best represent the key events and
accomplishments in Washington’s life. Encourage
students to include images of different types of
items from the Mount Vernon collections, including
paintings, three-dimensional objects, and documents.
Using computer print-outs or their own hand-made
drawings of the selected items, students should
assemble their timelines on construction paper in
chronological order, being sure to include for each image, a caption explaining the
event or accomplishment the image represents, the date or time period when the
event or accomplishment took place, and a description of the item represented by the
image – including what it is made of, when it was created, and how it relates to George
Washington. Have students present their timelines to the rest of the class, explaining
the reasoning behind their choices of events and images. Display the finished timelines
in your classroom, and encourage your students to explore the Mount Vernon timeline,
discovergeorgewashington.org.
When George Washington took office as America’s first president in 1789,
he was filled with trepidation – and for good reason. Many challenges
faced him in a role that had yet to be defined. Through this lesson and its
reference to present day circumstances, your students will learn about
the challenges that Washington confronted when he assumed the role of
president. In addition, they will examine the meaning and function of that
republican institution known as the “presidential inaugural address.”
Begin the lesson by having students explore the years, 1787-1789, on the
discovergeorgewashington.org web site. If possible, project on a large screen
the web site image of Washington’s inaugural at New York City’s Federal Hall –
or pass out copies of the image for students to examine. What visual evidence
suggests that it is portraying a serious and important event?
Now have the class brainstorm a list of the issues that Washington faced when
he was sworn in as president. For example, the country was deeply in debt,
militarily weak, and vulnerable to enemy attack. Moreover, the nation was
deeply divided on a number of major issues, including the institution of slavery.
Considering these and other challenges, have students write down the messages
that they would like to convey to the American people at their first inauguration
if they were George Washington.
Then have students read Washington’s first inaugural address from the website,
gwpapers.virginia.edu. What are the issues that Washington did, in reality,
address? Why do students think he was not more specific in referencing
particular problems? Since there were no electronic media, how was his speech
disseminated to the American people?
Finally, have students read the inaugural speech of the current United States
President, which is available at whitehouse.gov. What problems was the nation
facing when he or she took office? How are these challenges reflected in the
speech? What similarities in terms of style and substance can students find
between the inaugural speeches of our first and current presidents? In what
ways do the two speeches differ from one another? Does the current President’s
speech reference George Washington? How was this speech disseminated to
the nation?