A teacher's adventure with George Washington

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

HOLLYWOOD| Imagine waking up to watch the sun rise over the Potomac River from the back porch of Mount Vernon, standing where George Washington stood and seeing the view he saw over 200 years ago.

That was Nativity School teacher Lynne Moore’s reality last October, when she was invited to the George Washington Teacher Institute for a four-day residency program, one that included a nearly all-access pass to the historic home.

“Standing there at 5:30 in the morning with a cup of coffee to watch the sun rise was exceptional,” said Moore.

The George Washington Teacher Institute was designed to help kindergarten through 12th-grade educators teach about the life and lessons of the first president of the United States. But Moore is not a history teacher. She is a middle school etiquette-turned-literature teacher. So how did she end up among historians and librarians?

“I found that there was something lacking in terms of putting this timeline together of literature and history and so I wanted to marry those two things and be able to discuss it in a richer, more in-depth way,” she said.

While teaching Revolutionary War novels, she wanted to get to know Washington beyond the textbooks. The Teacher’s Institute at Mount Vernon allowed her to learn first-hand from George Washington University scholars, Mount Vernon staff and fellow participants.

“This is their background,” Moore said. “They know this material like the back of their hand. While I know much of it, I still wanted to return and teach it well, making it come more alive for students and getting them a little more excited about it.”

In addition to academic study, the institute included a peek behind the closed doors and velvet ropes at Mount Vernon. The group even looked at primary source documents from that time, many written by Washington himself. As a fan of hands-on learning and being out in the field, Moore was ecstatic.

One highlight was a visit to the tomb of George and Martha Washington. There, a retired U.S. Marine-turned history teacher from her group had the honor of placing a wreath at the General’s final resting place.

“We had tears,” Moore said of herself and fellow participants. “Mount Vernon was a very grand home, but it was also just a home. It was unfortunate that he was unable to enjoy his time at Mount Vernon.”

Washington retired there after two terms in office. But as he neared the end of his time as the country’s first president, there was some fear among the remaining founding fathers about the peaceful transition of power.

“This was not always a great fraternity,” said Moore. “There were moments that relationships were tenuous. They all had different ideas about this from the very beginning. However, the general idea revolved around freedom and independence and how they would go about forging this new territory.”

Moore believes Washington would have been fascinated by the change in the level of discourse during the presidential election of 2016.

“We’ve come a long way,” she said.

Washington was perhaps more conscious of his role as president because he knew that, being the first, history would be a critical judge. So he abided by a personal code of honor, and accompanied it with etiquette and a constant thirst for self-improvement.

Back in the classroom at Nativity, Moore’s students have acquired a better understanding of Washington’s habits.

“Respect, self-esteem, self-control, organization, a code of honor: These are their words,” said Moore regarding how students describe Washington’s conduct and scruples. “That’s what they decided was part of having good manners. It was just as important to George Washington as it was to Jesus Christ.”