Originally posted by joe beyserAre you serious? So you expect me to not use my judgement?
Do you have a source stating which web sites are reliable or not. Come on man you are in poor form here.
I'm sure you take every site on the web as being of completely equal relevance and reliability.
Poor form? Sure... if it's poor form to not just believe any web page on the web then well, I'm guilty as charged.
Originally posted by PsychoPawnI was using my judgement about the speach and you wanted sources. It is encouraging that you see value in free thinking.
Are you serious? So you expect me to not use my judgement?
I'm sure you take every site on the web as being of completely equal relevance and reliability.
Poor form? Sure... if it's poor form to not just believe any web page on the web then well, I'm guilty as charged.
Originally posted by joe beyserYes, and I legitimately asked you what you based your judgement on - hence the request for a source.
I was using my judgement about the speach and you wanted sources. It is encouraging that you see value in free thinking.
Now the conversation has come full circle.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/09/03/dan-gainor-education-obama-speech/
So Obama is reaching out to kids with a lesson plan that includes teachers urging students to read books about this president, or having them “write letter to themselves” about his speech – though somehow those letters are later to be shared with others. It’s hard to imagine a more blatant attempt to politicize the school system to boost a failing presidency.
http://www.examiner.com/x-2032-Portland-Parenting-Examiner~y2009m9d5-Is-Obamas-curriculum-breaking-the-rules
...
In an interview with Fox News, Culver stated, “That’s where they kind of got into a slippery spot. Federal statute denies any authority to the Department of Education to provide any kind of curriculum or anything that can be passed down to the state, and that’s part of the statute forming the Department of Education. So they kinda got themselves into this mess because they didn’t really understand some of the key legal roles ore the dos and don’ts at the Federal Department of Education.”
What does that mean? The curriculum material that has been handed out to the schools to go along with President Obama’s address to the students is not right, not just because parents are up in arms about it, but because it goes against federal statute.
Wait a minute, let’s get this straight: The people we’ve elected into high government positions who have hired people to head up committees and run the Department of Education-the very people whose job it is to know the ins and outs of the legalities surrounding the Department of Education just really don’t know what the rules are?
If I’m a doctor, and I don’t wash my hands before a surgery, and my patient dies from a horrible infection, can I just release a statement about how I didn’t know what the rules were?
...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-dc-obama-schools,0,4944375.story
Here is what your children will be subjected to if they are in Kindergarten through grade 6 when Obama addressed the classrooms according to the US Department of Education. Ask yourself as you read it, "Are we creating the Villiage of the Damned with matching little kids that have white hair and glowing eyes?"
Menu of Classroom Activities:
President Obama’s Address to Students Across America
(PreK?6)
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. Teachers could 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 that they are delivering a speech to all of the students in the United States.
* If you were the president, what would you tell students?
* What can students do to help in our schools?
Teachers can chart ideas about what students 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 could 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 could record important parts of the speech where the president is asking them to do something. Students might think about the following:
* What specific job is he asking me to do?
* Is he asking anything of anyone else?
* Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
Students could record questions they have while he is speaking and then discuss them after the speech. Younger children may need to dictate their questions.
Menu of Classroom Activities (PreK?6)
President Obama’s Address to Students Across America
After the Speech
Teachers could ask students to share the ideas they recorded, exchange sticky notes, or place notes on a butcher?paper poster in the classroom to discuss main ideas from the speech, such as citizenship, personal responsibility, and 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 could extend learning by having students:
Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked with the following labels: personal, academic, community, and country. Each area could be labeled with three steps for achieving goals in that area. It might make sense to focus first on personal and academic goals so that community and country goals can be more readily created.
Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short?term and long?term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.
Write goals on colored index cards or precut designs to post around the classroom.
Interview one another and share goals with the class to create a supportive community.
Participate in school?wide incentive programs or contests for those students who achieve their goals.
Write about their goals in a variety of genres, such as poems, songs, and personal essays.
Create artistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
Graph individual progress toward goals.
Originally posted by zeeblebotThis seems like standard teacher lesson-plan stuff.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-dc-obama-schools,0,4944375.story
Here is what your children will be subjected to if they are in Kindergarten through grade 6 when Obama addressed the classrooms according to the US Department of Education. Ask yourself as you read it, "Are we creating the Villiage of the Damned with matching little kid ...[text shortened]... tistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
Graph individual progress toward goals.
I suppose if you're looking at this with Orwellian-colored glasses, it could all look really sinister.
Having students ask questions like "to whom do you think the president is going to be speaking" and "why do you think he wants to speak to you" are actually the sorts of things that a skeptical person should always be asking whenever a politican speaks. Teaching children to do this will make them more discerning, more critical listerners.
Originally posted by sh76Just as a side note, I was at church the other day reading ramblings written down by children that they posted on the wall entitlted, "Children say the funniest things". Of course, about half of it was silly stuff but I would say about a third of it was political in nature and all geared toward supporting President Obama. In fact, I recall one child wrote something to the effect that if McCain had been elected, then Obama could not have afforded to pay his rent in Washington and would have been homeless. Of course, my only question is, why all this partisan talk from children? Was it from their parents or was it from their schools or was it a combination of both? It kinda gave me the creeps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3pD4gSuN28
I don't know. Maybe I'm naive, but I thought it was very good. I like how he hammered on the concept of personal responsibility and the need for students to take advantage of their opportunity by working hard. He also told the students that if they drop out of school, they're letting the country down (as opposed to the identity of the speaker, one might think the speaker is... gasp!... a conservative!
Originally posted by whodeyWas this church populated by people who would be mainly Obama supporters? Or was it in a "blue" part of the country (such as in the middle of a large city or somewhere near the coasts?).
Just as a side note, I was at church the other day reading ramblings written down by children that they posted on the wall entitlted, "Children say the funniest things". Of course, about half of it was silly stuff but I would say about a third of it was political in nature and all geared toward supporting President Obama. In fact, I recall one child wrote s ...[text shortened]... ts or was it from their schools or was it a combination of both? It kinda gave me the creeps.
Young children's political "views" are probably copied from their parents. Young children like to imitate their parents, so whatever their parents say or believe, the children will say and believe as well. And people say a lot of stuff in private they'd be embarassed to say in public - except that the children hear this stuff and then DO say it in public.
Here in upstate SCarolina, the 7 school districts did not play the speech live for the students to hear, so several black activists decided to protest on the steps of the largest district office. I don't know how it turned out, since I don't care what they do. But the school admin people pointed out that assembling everyone during fourth period/lunch to hear a speech live would be alogistical nightmare. I think their solution was to replay it for those interested in it, and parents could opt their kids out if they did not want them to participate.
"Strange days indeed..."