Lesson Plans

The “20 Questions” series of worksheets from George Washington’s Mount Vernon are designed to guide students through a structured exploration of primary sources. Each set of questions move from concrete observations to analyses of people that lived in the past. The last questions ask students to make larger conclusions about the culture of the time in order to inform a final writing prompt. Included with each worksheet are primary sources from George Washington’s world.

This activity is designed to question students' assumptions on how labor was divided at Mount Vernon. Students will look at an artifact (the grub hoe) and then analyze primary and secondary sources to reinterpret that artifact. They will learn that enslaved women primary worked in the fields, while enslaved men usually did "skilled" tasks. This is an activity that will illustrate how gender binaries are constructed and have changed throughout history. It also reinforces students' STEM skills, such as percentages and ratios. 

This lesson highlights the global economy of the 18th century by tracing one of Washington's ale glasses through production to consumption. Students will create a story on all the different people that they think would have touched the ale glass throughout this process. This activity will make them realize the many hidden hands behind a common object.  

This DBQ style lesson asks students to use multiple primary and secondary sources from the 18th-21st centuries to evaluate the statement: Americans feel that those in positions of authority tend to be tyrannical and unjust. This lesson was created by 2016-2017 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Michael Ellis.

The primary documents in this activity depict the apotheosis of Washington through visual and text-based primary sources. Students analyze and compare different types of primary sources to understand the ways in which Washington was characterized after his death. Reflective practice on a historical figure’s legacy provides context and periodization for historical practice.  

This activity sheet focuses students' attention on historical artifacts in the Archaeology collection to learn more about the enslaved population's lives at Mount Vernon. Students will learn how to use artifacts as a primary source, which is especially important in such cases where artifacts are some of the only primary sources left from enslaved communities. 

This lesson was created to be used with Mount Vernon's Be Washington interactive experience. Students will analyze advice given to President George Washington during the Genet Affair crisis in 1794 through the use of primary and secondary sources. 

This lesson was created to be used with Mount Vernon's Be Washington interactive experience. Students will analyze advice given to General George Washington during the Newburgh Conspiracy crisis in 1783 through the use of primary and secondary sources. 

This lesson was created to be used with Mount Vernon's Be Washington interactive experience. Students will analyze advice given to President George Washington during the Battle of Second Trenton in 1777 through the use of primary and secondary sources. 

This lesson was created to be used with Mount Vernon's Be Washington interactive experience. Students will analyze advice given to President George Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion crisis in 1794 through the use of primary and secondary sources. 

This set of five lessons analyze the debate over term limits in the Constitutional Convention, George Washington’s establishment of the two-term precedent for the presidency, and the connection between that precedent and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s breaking of that precedent nearly 150 years later.

This activity connects students to George Washington's meticulous record keeping by equating it with modern day bullet journaling. Students will look at a 1793 Farm Report that was made by one of Washington's overseers and sent to Washington while he was President. Students will then keep a bullet journal for a week to experiment recording their own information. By reflecting on their experience, they will be able to get a better understanding of Washington.

This activity recreates the distribution of Washington's swords between his five nephews after his death. In groups of five, students will learn about five of George Washington's swords, after which they work together to choose which sword they would pick. They will consequently learn about how swords were used in the 18th century to represent a person's rank and identity, as well as the situation they are in. Students will also realize how artifacts are not static and their lives continue beyond their original use. 

This DBQ style lesson asks students to use multiple primary source objects from Mount Vernon’s collection to explore the concept of ownership and what it can tell them about enslaved people in the 18th century. This lesson was created by 2016-2017 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Michael Ellis.

In this lesson, students are asked to use Article 1 and Article 2 of the Constitution and George Washington's notes on his personal copy of the document to create a job description for the President of the United States in 1787.

This activity allows students to analyze a primary source and convey that information in the form of an infographic. Students will examine George Washington's List of Enslaved People, 1799 and create their own infographic to visually represent that data to convey a message. This will increase their media literary skills by analyzing the sources of infographics, while also learning more about the enslaved population at Mount Vernon in 1799.

A lesson plan that encourages students to analyze and use evidence from diverse sources to act as curators and create an interpretation plan for the Greenhouse Slave Quarters at Mount Vernon. 

A lesson plan that draws a connection between the threat of smallpox during the Revolutionary War and the influenza pandemic during World War I. In this lesson, students will utilize educational technology to consult primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in the completion of a webquest. Writing across the curriculum is a large focus of this lesson. Students will make interdisciplinary connections between history and science (specifically biology). This resource was created by 2013-2014 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Hannah Markwardt. 

This activity helps students understand the enslaved workers' housing conditions on George Washington's outlying farms. Students will measure out the dimensions of the size of a enslaved worker's cabin to think about how space was apart of the mental restrictions of slavery as well as the physical limitations.

A lesson that draws a connection between the innovative steps that George Washington took as “first farmer” and the wave of changes that comprised the American Industrial Revolution. Students will explore information from sources such as text, video, and drawings. Students will make interdisciplinary connections between history and science/engineering. This resource was created by 2013-2014 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Hannah Markwardt. 

This DBQ style lesson asks students to use multiple primary and secondary sources to evaluate if the Southern secession movement in the 19th century was an extension of the ideals of the American Revolution. This lesson was created by 2016-2017 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Michael Ellis.

A lesson that asks students to connect George Washington’s Farewell Address to later presidential foreign policy messages. As a group, the class will discuss the influence Washington’s message had on the nation and posterity. Working in groups, students investigate excerpts from later presidential foreign policy messages and compare and contrast these with Washington’s Farewell Address.

Four seasonal magazines use inquiry, cross-curricular connections, and coloring pages to explore color through the landscape George Washington loved, the home he built, the army he led, and more. Students learn how Washington’s world encompassed the full spectrum of colors by examining 18th-century life and material culture. This resource was created by 2016-2017 Life Guard Teacher Fellow Lynn Miller.

This activity has students summarizing entries from George Washington's 1754 Journal in the form of a tweet. Students will be divided into groups to analyze one of the entries from The Journal of Major George Washington, which was written after Washington's expedition to the Ohio territory before the French and Indian War. They will them summarize that information by transforming it into a tweet and then presenting that to their fellow classmates. 

A lesson that asks students to examine document-based evidence related to George Washington and slavery. Students are asked to use evidence to write an essay that answers the essential question: What were George Washington’s views on slavery?

Just like Ann Pamela Cunningham, the founder of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association and defender of George Washington’s legacy, students can use persuasive language to motivate others to care about an important civic challenge they hope to address.  Through the analysis of a primary source and a civics activity, this learning resource empowers students to see themselves as citizens whose voices matter and who have the agency to collaboratively confront problems in our world today.

Are you looking for a way to incorporate civics into your high school classroom? This learning resource connects the concept of informed civic agency to George Washington’s significance as a visionary for the nation’s future.  Through primary source analysis and a creative civics activity, this resource empowers students to see themselves as citizens with responsibilities to engage in civic participation and who have agency to research and collaboratively participate in civic disagreement.

This learning resource connects the concept of informed civic agency to George Washington’s significance as a national symbol in rhetoric. Two leading 19th-century African-American orators provide different perspectives on George Washington’s legacy in the century after his death. Through the analysis of primary sources and a creative civics activity, this learning resource empowers students to see themselves as citizens whose voices matter and who have agency to collaboratively confront problems in our world today.

How did the United States government develop policies towards Indian nations during George Washington’s presidency?  How were Indian societies and cultures affected by U.S. policies?  This integrated lesson explores how the United States government, American citizens and Indian nations asserted rights to their lands during Washington’s presidency.  Students will study the changing landscape of our nation and who benefited from and was harmed by these changes.

This lesson examines the views that a young George Washington had towards Native Americans as he traveled the “Ohio Country.” Students are asked to critically analyze and evaluate the views of George Washington through his various diary entries and letters from 1748-1754.