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 Mindful not to miss a teaching moment, we've decided to present the following three segments from the Department of Education in advance of President Obama's address to school students on September 8. The first segment is a letter from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, dated August 26, 2009, introducing the concept to school principals, and the other two segments are activities that teachers can use to promote the personal educational ideas and plans of the president for kindergartners through grade 12. Reading between the lines is recommended, as is projecting those lines. You, the reader can decide whether it's brainwashing in the literal sense, youth indoctrination of a certain style, a precursor of things to come, or a harmless pep talk.
Update: In response to widespread criticism, the White House and the Department of Education published online a revised version of their "menu of classroom activities." However, the original "menu of classroom activities" for "PreK-6" and "Grades 7-12" below are still highly revealing of the original intent of the White House and Department of Education.
LEAD & MANAGE MY SCHOOL
Letter From Secretary Arne Duncan to School Principals
August 26, 2009
Please note that the time of this speech has changed to 12:00 noon eastern
standard time.
Dear Principal:
In a recent interview with student reporter, Damon Weaver, President Obama
announced that on September 8 — the first day of school for many children across
America — he will deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of
education. The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals,
and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and
commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in
every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global
economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.
Since taking office, the President has repeatedly focused on education, even as the
country faces two wars, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and
major challenges on issues like energy and health care. The President believes that
education is a critical part of building a new foundation for the American economy.
Educated people are more active civically and better informed on issues affecting their
lives, their families and their futures.
This is the first time an American president has spoken directly to the nation's school
children about persisting and succeeding in school. We encourage you to use this
historic moment to help your students get focused and begin the school year strong. I
encourage you, your teachers, and students to join me in watching the President deliver
this address on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. It will be broadcast live on the White
House website www.whitehouse.gov 12:00 noon eastern standard time.
In advance of this address, we would like to share the following resources: a menu of
classroom activities for students in grades preK-6 and for students in grades 7-12.
These are ideas developed by and for teachers to help engage students and stimulate
discussion on the importance of education in their lives. We are also staging a student
video contest on education. Details of the video contest will be available on our website
www.ed.gov in the coming weeks.
On behalf of all Americans, I want to thank our educators who do society's most
important work by preparing our children for work and for life. No other task is more
critical to our economic future and our social progress. I look forward to working with
you in the months and years ahead to continue improving the quality of public education
we provide all of our children.
Sincerely,
Arne Duncan
PreK-6 Menu of Classroom Activities: President Obama’s Address to Students
Across America
Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education
September 8, 2009
Before the Speech:
Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his
speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama and motivate students by asking
the following questions:
Who is the President of the United States?
What do you think it takes to be President?
To whom do you think the President is going to be speaking?
Why do you think he wants to speak to you?
What do you think he will say to you?
Teachers can ask students to imagine being the President delivering a speech to all of the
students in the United States. What would you tell students? What can students do to help in
our schools? Teachers can chart ideas about what they would say.
Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor,
senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?
During the Speech:
As the President speaks, teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are
important or personally meaningful. Students could use a note-taking graphic organizer such as
a Cluster Web, or students could record their thoughts on sticky notes. Younger children can
draw pictures and write as appropriate. As students listen to the speech, they could think about
the following:
What is the President trying to tell me?
What is the President asking me to do?
What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?
Students can record important parts of the speech where the President is asking them to do
something. Students might think about: What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking
anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
Students can record any questions they have while he is speaking and then discuss them after
the speech. Younger children may need to dictate their questions.
After the Speech:
Teachers could ask students to share the ideas they recorded, exchange sticky notes or stick
notes on a butcher paper poster in the classroom to discuss main ideas from the speech, i.e.
citizenship, personal responsibility, civic duty.
Students could discuss their responses to the following questions:
What do you think the President wants us to do?
Does the speech make you want to do anything?
Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
What would you like to tell the President?
Extension of the Speech: Teachers can extend learning by having students
Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants or puzzle pieces or trails
marked with the labels: personal, academic, community, country. Each area could be labeled with
three steps for achieving goals in those areas. It might make sense to focus on personal and
academic so community and country goals come more readily.
Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.
Write goals on colored index cards or precut designs to post around the classroom.
Interview and share about their goals with one another to create a supportive community.
Participate in School wide incentive programs or contests for students who achieve their goals.
Write about their goals in a variety of genres, i.e. poems, songs, personal essays.
Create artistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
Graph student progress toward goals.
Grades 7-12 Menu of Classroom Activities: President Obama’s Address to
Students Across America
Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education
September 8, 2009
Before the Speech:
Quick Write or Think/Pair/Share (Students spend a few minutes Thinking and writing
about the question; Paired with another student to discuss, then Sharing their ideas with
the class as a whole). What do we associate with the words responsibility, persistence,
and goals? How would we define each term? A teacher might create a web of student
ideas for each of the words.
Quick Write or Brainstorm: What are your strengths? At what are you successful as a
person/student? What makes you successful at these efforts? List at least three things
you are successful at and why you feel successful with these tasks.
Short readings. Notable quotes excerpted (and posted in large print on board) from
President Obama’s speeches about education. Teacher might ask students to think
alone, compare ideas with a partner, and share their collaborations with the class
(Think/Pair/Share) about the following: What are our interpretations of these
excerpts? Based on these excerpts, what can we infer the President believes is
important to be successful educationally?
Brainstorm or Concept Web: Why does President Obama want to speak with us today?
How will he inspire us? How will he challenge us? What might he say?
Brainstorm or Concept Web: What other historic moments do you remember when the
President spoke to the nation? What was the impact? Students could create a
Cause/Effect graphic organizer.
During the Speech:
Listening with a purpose: personal responsibility, goals, persistence. Teachers might
ask pairs of students to create a word bank from the web of any one of the terms
(personal responsibility, goals, or persistence) at the top of a double-column style notes
page. On the right-hand side, students could take notes while President Obama talks
about personal responsibility, or goals, or persistence, trying to capture direct
quotations. At the end of the speech, students could then write the corresponding
terms from the word bank in the left hand column, to increase retention and deepen
their understanding of an important aspect of the speech.
Listening with a purpose: Inspiration and Challenges. Using a similar double-column
style notes page as the one above, the teacher could focus students on quotations that
either propose a specific challenge to them or inspire them in some meaningful way.
Students could do this individually, in pairs or groups.
Transition/Quick Review: Teachers could ask students to look over the notes and collaborate in
pairs or small groups. What more could we add to our notes? Teachers might circulate and ask
students questions such as: What are the most important words in the speech? What title
would you give it? What’s the thesis?
After the Speech:
Guided Discussion:
What resonated with you from President Obama’s speech? What lines/phrases do you
remember?
Who is President Obama addressing? How do you know? Describe his audience.
We heard President Obama mention the importance of personal responsibility. In your
life, who exemplifies this kind of personal responsibility? How? Give examples.
How are we as individuals and as a class similar? Different?
Suppose President Obama were to give another speech about being educationally
successful. Who could he speak to next? Who should be his next audience? Why?
What would he say?
What are the three most important words in the speech? Rank them. What title would
you give this speech? What’s the thesis?
What is President Obama inspiring you to do? What is he challenging you to do?
What do you believe are the challenges of your generation?
How can you be a part of addressing these challenges?
Video Project:
Teachers could encourage students to participate in the Department of Education’s “I
Am What I Learn” video contest. On September 8th the Department will invite K-12
students to submit a video no longer than 2 min, explaining why education is important
and how their education will help them achieve their dreams. Teachers are welcome to
incorporate the same or a similar video project into an assignment. More details will be
released via www.ed.gov.
Transition: Teachers could introduce goal setting in the following way to make the most of the
extension activities.
“When you set a goal, you envision a target you are going to reach over time. Goals are
best when they are Challenging, Attainable, and Needed (CAN). For example, a good
goal might be “I want to boost my average grade by one letter grade this year so I can
show colleges I’m prepared.” But, every good goal also needs steps that guide the way.
These steps keep you on track toward achieving your goal. For example, my first step
might be, to improve by a letter grade in all subjects for each report card. My second
step: to complete 100% of my homework for all my classes the first week of school. My
third step: to study an extra hour for all my tests each marking period. My fourth step:
to attend tutoring or get an adult to help me whenever I don’t understand something.
My last step might be the most important: to ask an adult in my life to check on me
often, to make sure I’m reaching each of my steps. Your steps should add up to your
goal. If they don’t, that’s okay; we fix them until they do add up!
Let’s hear another example of an academic goal for the year, and decide what steps
would achieve that goal…
Now I want you to write your own personal academic goal for this year and steps you
will take to achieve it. We can revise our steps each marking period to make sure we
are on track.”
Extension of the Speech: Teachers can extend learning by having students
Create decorated goals and steps on index card sized material. The index cards could be
formatted as an inviting graphic organizer with a space for the goal at the top and
several steps in the remaining space. Cards could be hung in the room to create
classroom culture of goal setting, persistence and success, and for the purpose of
periodic review.
Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants or puzzle pieces
or trails marked as steps. These could also be hung around the room, to be reviewed
periodically and to create a classroom culture of goal setting and for the purpose of
periodic review.
Interview and share their goals with one another and the class, establishing community
support for their goals.
Create incentives or contests for achieving their personal goals.
Write about their goals and steps in a variety of genres, i.e. poems, songs, personal
essays.
Create artistic representations of their goals and steps.
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