Archive for October, 2008

On October 14, 2008, the Mount Vernon Education Department and the Fairfax Network will tape a distance learning broadcast called Shaping the Presidency, which will look back at the profound impact George Washington had on defining the office of the president. The panelists will also discuss how campaigning, the election process and the role of the media affected early presidential candidacies, and how those influences have evolved.

The panelists will include Joseph J. Ellis, the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College and award-winning author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award winner for American Sphinx. He is joined by Cokie Roberts, author of the best-selling book Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation and Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation, and John P. Riley, former historian at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estates and Gardens and present director of education and scholarship programs at the White House Historical Association.

In addition to the distance learning broadcast, the Mount Vernon Education Department has compiled a Shaping the Presidency Teaching Unit, which focuses on Washington’s remarkable accomplishments as first president. Through a compilation of lesson plans based on primary documents and the distance learning broadcast, Shaping the Presidency is designed to enrich your students’ understanding of Washington’s impact on the founding of our nation and his insight into world affairs.

You can register for the broadcast, which will air on October 23rd, or request a complimentary DVD, by contacting the Fairfax Network. If your students would like to have a question asked on air, leave a comment below with their question, student name, teacher name, grade, state and school name.