NSU professor finds new perspective through the Life Guard Teacher

On May 19, 2014, Dr. Linda Wilson, associate professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department of the Elementary Education program at Northeastern State University, along with three other educators, was chosen from a national pool for the Life Guard Teacher Fellows Program.

The program is facilitated by the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, and is housed just outside the main entrance to Washingtons Virginia estate. Many original Washington documents call the library home, which also functions as a facility for scholarly research and leadership training.

The library was created in September 2013, with hopes of renewing interest on the founding era of the United States and focusing on the accomplishments and characteristics that made George Washington into the leader and hero that he was.

Educators chosen for this fellowship are given free access to the library collections, staff, mansion, grounds and education museum, interpreters and living history re-enacters from May 2014 to August of 2015. The grant allows for the educators to stay at the DaVos House for up to three weeks, covers the cost of their airfare and provides a stipend.

Fellowships for university professors are rare when compared to the vast number of professional development opportunities for Pre K-12 teachers, said Dr. Wilson. The opportunity to live on the grounds and have unlimited access to the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, as well as the Mt. Vernon mansion and grounds, was of great interest to me.

Wilson spent a week at Mt. Vernon at the end of September and plans to return again for two weeks in May, following the conclusion of NSUs spring semester.

Through this opportunity, Wilson is designing a creative project that will use a series of vignettes about George Washington written at both the 3rd and 5th grade reading levels to help students become more actively engaged in learning about Americas founding father.

I want the children to see George Washington as a persona child who lost his father, an adventurous spirit who surveyed unexplored parts of America, as a leader in the French and Indian War, as a family man who married a widow and brought her children to Mt. Vernon to live, as a man who put everything on the line for his countrys independence (all 8,000 acres of land, all 300+ slaves, his home, and his life), and finally as a leader who worked collaboratively to create a new government as serve as its head for two terms, said Dr. Wilson.

In addition to the vignettes that Wilson will create, she will also design several templates for the students to be able to create graphic novels depicting different aspects and events in Washingtons life.

During her first adventure at Mt. Vernon, Dr. Wilson remained in contact with several elementary schools in Oklahoma, asking the teachers to ask their students what they were interested in knowing about George Washington.

The childrens questions were priceless. I used some of those questions as a basis for my research topics, said Dr. Wilson. Did George Washington have to do worksheets in school?, Why isn't George Washington still the President of the United States?, and I also received many questions about his teeth and the pets he had.

Wilson journaled her daily adventures via email, and the classroom teachers read the emails to their students. On several occasions, Dr. Wilson was able to mail postcards to her participating classrooms. The experience and interaction with the students to her, was priceless.

Beyond creating the graphic novel project for elementary age students, Dr. Wilson also hopes to be able to bring back valuable lessons for her university level students through a simulation project.

I want to share what I have learned with my students/future teachers. By creating a simulation for my ELED 4343 (Social Studies in the Elementary Grades Class), they are actively engaged in much higher order thinking opportunities, she said.