George Washington, the Farewell Address, and National Unity

This learning experience is inquiry-based and built on the 5E model. Students will be engaged by thinking about a group they care about and are involved in. They will then explore Washington’s Farewell Address and create an address of their own. They will explain by partaking in group discussion to evaluate their understanding of the content. Finally, learning can extend as students consider the Senate tradition of annually reading the Farwell Address.

• This learning experience fits into one class session.
• This learning experience integrates reading, writing, speaking, listening, social-emotional, and civics learning skills.

Engage:

• Ask students to think about a group of people; family, friends, team, group, activity or club they are a part of. It should be a group they care about.
  • What role do they play in that group?
  • What hopes or dreams do they have for that group in the future?

Explore:

• Read and analyze excerpts from George Washington’s Farewell Address. Look advice he gave to the US and think about why he may have given it.

Explain/Evaluate:

• Students will then write an “Address” of their own to the community they care about and name the challenges it is facing. Provide guidance of how the community should go forward.
• Students should include a vision for what the community can offer others and the world in general.
• Students then share and explain with classmates. What group did they choose to write to? What did they include in their address?

Extend:

• Students can read more and reflect on the Senate tradition of reading the Farewell Address out loud, which has been performed each year since 1862.
• Since 1900, most of the appointed speakers have left a note in a leather-bound book with their name and a brief reflection on what the Address means.
  • Students could discuss this ritual and view the available recordings of the speech, as well as compare and contrast the notes that the speakers have left over time.
• What note would the student write in the book if they had a chance to deliver the annual Address to the Senate?