The Life Guard Teacher Fellowship Program supports the creation of classroom materials and teacher resources about the life, legacy, and leadership of George Washington. Fellows live and study at the Washington Library on the grounds of Mount Vernon as they work to create educational resources that meet 21st-century classroom needs.
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Stacia Smith Bystrowski
Paxton Center School in Paxton, Massachusetts
Stacia will create materials that ask middle school students to conduct research using primary sources to consider questions relating to George Washington and sports. Students will use evidence to support questions such as “Would Washington support my favorite sports team based on his travels and relationships to the area where I live?” and “Which modern sports might Washington participate in as either athlete or spectator?”
Dr. Ted Green
Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Teacher Education Department, School of Education at Webster University
Ted will meet pre-service teacher needs through the creation of resources that will help to hone research skills through more intentional use of primary source materials, create awareness of pedagogical practices centered around Living History, and explore the application of social media and other technology platforms to engage learners on the “man and the myth” that surround George Washington.
Julie Alice Huson
Sun Valley Elementary School in Mill Valley, California
Julie created a read-aloud play, suitable for elementary school production, featuring the diverse personalities of George Washington’s world at Mount Vernon. Included in these personalities will be indentured servants, journeyman craftsmen, and people from other nations who came under the influence of the president within the early years of his ownership of the property and into the Revolutionary War years.
Dr. Eric Langhorst
Discovery Middle School in Liberty, Missouri.
Eric will work with Mount Vernon's archaeology staff and use their current project at the slave cemetery to create a lesson plan that can be used in middle school classrooms. The lesson will teach students basic fundamentals of archaeology using real world examples, giving students the opportunity to think like historians while investigating archaeology conducted at Mount Vernon.
Marcia Motter
Archie Clayton Pre-AP Academy in Reno, Nevada
Marcia used existing primary and secondary sources to create Common Core aligned materials about different aspects of George Washington’s life. She focused on Close Reads and One-Pagers. Both of these strategies use complex texts, vocabulary analysis, and questioning strategies to help get students to a deeper understanding of a topic.
Click the links below to see Marcia's projects:
Kelsey Snyder
Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Kelsey produced classroom resources to help high school students examine and analyze George Washington’s perceptions of himself in the context of major events in his life such as the French and Indian War, the Revolution, and the Presidency. A platform to continue the discussion of self-perception and leadership throughout the study of American History were also included in her resources.
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