1.1.1

A Teachers’ Guide to Discovering the Real George Washington:

New V iews from mouNt VerNoN

1.1.1

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.

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.

“the faces of GeorGe

washiNGtoN” for

elemeNtary teachers

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.

“tr aVel iNG

throuGh t ime with

GeorGe washiNGtoN”

for middle school

teachers

While creating the website discovergeorgewashington.org, our staff

reviewed hundreds of paintings, documents, and objects to select items

that we believed best portrayed George Washington’s leadership in

different capacities and at different times in his life. 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.

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 2009 speech of the current United States

President, Barack Hussein Obama, which is available at whitehouse.gov.

What problems was the nation facing when Obama took office? How are

these challenges reflected in Obama’s speech? What similarities in terms of

style and substance can students find between the inaugural speeches of our

first and forty-fourth presidents? In what ways do the two speeches differ

from one another? What reference does President Obama make to George

Washington? How was President Obama’s speech disseminated to the

nation?

“GeorGe washiNGtoN’s

f irst iNauGur al ,” for

hiGh school teachers

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.”

He remains one of the most

fascinating and important figures in

American history, yet he is also one

of the most difficult to get to know.

We instantly recognize his face, yet

his achievements may seem remote

to us. Who was the real

George Washington?

Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon, made

possible by the generous support of the

Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, brings

together history and forensic science to

reveal the man behind the legend. His

character, intellect, courage, and wisdom

can remind us of who we are as a people

and a nation.

This teaching guide and poster, along with

Discover the Real George Washington: Timeline, are companions to the traveling

exhibition, which includes nearly 100

artifacts, 12 video and interactive

programs, and three life-size, forensic

figures of George Washington. These

resources are designed to provide learning

activities that can further discussion

of George Washington once students

return to the classroom. Discover the Real George Washington: Timeline,

discovergeorgewashington.org,

allows teachers to bring the traveling

exhibition experience back to their schools

through artifacts and documents relating

to Washington’s life, videos, behind-the-

scenes features, and playful animations.

The mission of the Mount Vernon Education Department is to engage

children and adults in learning about the life, leadership, character

and legacy of George Washington. The Mount Vernon website,

mountvernon.org, provides a wealth of biographical information about

George Washington and his times, as well as lesson plans and other

teaching materials.

Through our new online interactive experience, George Washington’s

World for Kids, 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 Washington’s moment of greatest military achievement,

the siege of Yorktown.

George Washington Wired, georgewashingtonwired.org, is Mount

Vernon’s “educators-only” blog that brings you the latest news on the

professional development events, research, lesson plans, and other

resources that Mount Vernon’s Education Department has to offer.

education@mountvernon.org