Original Lesson Plan
Can any of the haters out there post a link to the original lesson plan for K-6 which y’all are upset about. I don’t want a quote extracted, I would like to see the whole lesson plan.
Thanks,
nemski
Of all the fines levied against him, how much will Donald Trump actually pay?
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I was just watching one of these news talk shows and apprently USDOE revised that particular communication. So the orginal source link is no more.
It took me about 10 seconds on Google. Look at “Extension of Speech” where students:
“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.”
It goes on to suggest putting the “goals” on cards around the classroom, and poems, and art work…
For the country, your school, your community…fine…but for the president? If it was Bush, I’d be saying the same thing. Ew.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301/President-Obama%E2%80%99s-Address-to-Students-Across-America-September-8-2009
Why… why… that’s evil! Having students set goals and then have teachers use those papers to remind them of those goals. This is beyond ridiculous.
And “haters”? You throw that word around a little too casually, don’t you think?
pandora again, the community, the school, the country…
Maria,
I was trying to help the president when I was protesting against going to war with Iraq. Helping the President doesn’t necessarily mean helping him or her further his goals, if those goals are misguided. It can also mean expressing a different point of view.
a-and a first grader is going to understand that?
Two things Maria, I’ve seen this quote several times, but not in its original format.
Second, 1st graders can understand quite a lot. My son, at 4 years old, had a grasp of 9/11.
Why should a first grader understand that? The only way your objection works is if you think he is recruiting kids to become jihadists for cap and trade or the public option or some other policy. Which would not surprise me if you do think that, in spite of all of the promotion otherwise. It is the only way to justify the freakout — to pretend that there is something there that isn’t.
He is discussing the importance of school and the need to work hard and not drop out. I fail to see how some thinking and goal setting around staying in school is the end of the world.
And apparently, GWB did address kids about NCLB, for crying out loud. A policy speech on NCLB and not one of you thought that was a problem.
nemski so now you’ve seen it. And?
cassandra the topic was the original lesson plan. And even the White House concedes that it was “inartfully” written.
I understand what the topic is and I’ve read the lesson plan. And I stand by my previous comments — especially since kids write to the White House in droves. This didn’t even ask for these letters to be sent in — just used as a goal-setting exercise.
cass the letters “would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.”
Again, even the White House was smart enough to back off of this.
As a goal setting exercise. The only people who would get them at some later date would be the kids themselves — who could then make an assessment of their progress towards those goals.
So what?
Republicans HATE accountability. We get that.
OK, I feel it’s necessary to step in here as probably (one of) the only teachers commenting about this topic.
What this lesson was was a simple “writing prompt.” There are dozens of these that students are given at any point in the year to have them practice their descriptive, informative, narrative, and persuasive styles of writing. The prompts themselves are generally bullshit. Just a necessary vehicle to gauge whether a student possesses the skills to adequately respond in an appropriate written voice.
My guess is this prompt was just written by some low-level policy analyst in the DoE who was used to the concept of a “writing prompt” and just hammered out a BS assignment to make it sound all flowery and shit. That’s it. Nothing nefarious, treacherous, or socialism-inducing.
In fact, a “write a letter…” prompt is pretty popular. They’ve been used on the DSTP many times in the past and they’re generally one of the more widely used styles that students actually enjoy and can respond to in length because it tends to be much more “conversational” in tone.
That being said, the prompt was a major flub. The wording of it was awkward and should have been vetted more thoroughly because I can certainly understand how it could be misunderstood, specifically the part asking how the student could “HELP” the President. The administration acted quickly once it was brought to their attention, but the concurrant reaction by the right-wing attack drones has been completely ridiculous, if not totally predictable.
It is blatantly unconstitutional. The federal government does not set curriculum for a reason. The idea of making young people sign up to help the President regardless of their own or their families’ politics is abhorrent to the American system. I doubt the President knew this was slipped in because he reversed it so quickly. I do think that is shows a problem with the people he has filling his administration. Like Van Jones, they admire Chavez and are seeking to implement some of his tactics.
On the other hand, i do agree with this…
“…The federal government does not set curriculum for a reason. The idea of making young people sign up to help the President regardless of their own or their families’ politics is abhorrent to the American system.”
So what? No curriculum was set and no one is asking for kids to sign up for politics.
Unconstitutional, David? REALLY?!?!
Aren’t you guys the advocates of “the government can only do what the Constitution says it can do?” Well, then, by that measure, Medicare is unconstitutional, right? You really want to whip out that completely illogical, BS excuse?
I don’t see where in the Constitution Medicare is allowed for. I just don’t see getting rid of it as practical or reasonable without a solid free market alternative.
If I could wave a magic wand, the government would go back to before the New Deal. The fact is that is not what the majority of the people want.
But by your definition, because it doesn’t say the Federal government can provide a freakin’ RECOMMENDED curriculum…a simple WRITING assignment, that that’s UNCONSTITUTIONAL, then you’ve opened yourself up to all the other arguments that can be thrown out by bringing the word UNCONSTITUTIONAL in the mix.
JFC, at least when liberals threw around the word it was in response to something of consequence, like torture…
Mike, remember these are the guys who think 24 is real and Jack Bauer is a hero. They are also just fine with torture, illegal wire-tapping, etc. When they cite the Constitution… what a joke.
Illegal wire-tapping was not done. Legal wire tapping for intelligence purposes of foreign operatives is fine. It has always been in time of war. I am opposed to using that information in any law enforcement effort. That would be unconstitutional and violate the right of people to be secure in their persons, papers, and effects. That is why FISA is so strictly drawn. The problem is you people don’t look at what is actually happening. That is why people think liberals are a little loony. They are right, with all do respect.
What is wrong with “helping the President”?
Is there absolutely nothing that any of you wingnuts can possibly conceive of that you might be willing to do to help the duly-elected Commander In Chief of this country you so profess to love?
Sure, I support Winning the War in Afghanistan. I don’t think I should be required to do so for a grade in a government funded school. You don’t shed your constitutional rights at the school house gate.
Wingnut David is off his rocker :”If I could wave a magic wand, the government would go back to before the New Deal.”
Right, David. For starters, you want to go back to the time when people with your skin color weren’t allowed to vote.
What a thoughtless moron you are.
kids have rights? Unconstitutional?
Fuck, you’re dumb!
and as someone who has a masters in education, Mike M is right, it’s an easy reinforcing assessment prompt.
but hell if you fucktard babies out there want to turn it into the hitler youth oath, so be it, you’re only destroying the last amount of credibility….scratch that, can’t destroy what you don’t have.
Of course, it all comes down to the teacher and how they handle the thing. I’ve got colleagues who are such big Obama fans that I genuinely fear how they would approach a lesson like what was originally put forward. And if you have any question of what I mean, ask yourself this — knowing my political leanings, how many of you would have been comfortable having me teach a “help the president” lesson plan for a Bush speech?
And just so you know, I would not have taught such a lesson plan for either a president I love (Reagan) or a president I loathe (Clinton). I simply find it too perilous a task for any teacher with strong political opinions — whether that teacher is a liberal or a conservative.
David lives in his own little fantasy world with no grasp of history. See Steve Newton’s post. Ouch!
If you hadn’t noticed the 15th and 19th amendments were before the New Deal. If Democrats under Grover Cleveland and KKK sympathizer Woodrow Wilson had not repealed Civil Rights laws passed under the authority of the 14th amendment, voting rights would not be an issue. The anti-voting rights barriers were unconstitutional. Try actually understanding your history. Our problems did not come from following the constitution but ignoring it and that is still true today.
For the record I am referring to the role and expansion of government. It is fine that you don’t agree. The majority of people wouldn’t, but you can’t argue that it is nutty. That system only created the fastest rising world power ever seen and the most prosperous people ever known.
Besides, folks — what do you do when a kid says the thing he can do to help the president is search for the man’s real birth certificate?
If your political opinions are that strong and “perilous” perhaps you’re in the wrong profession.
Maria, no, I haven’t seen it. Just the quote.
No, I do a great job teaching in my field — indeed, last year I did a presentation on the two major party presidential candidates that was so even-handed that about my students split evenly between Obama, McCain, and Unsure when I asked (the day after the election) who they thought I had voted for.
But when you consider that I have had a group of outside-the-district Democrats trying to get me fired over my blog, I would have been opening myself up to all sorts of problems if I tried to use such a lesson plan. And in some of the districts around here, a pro-Obama teacher using that lesson plan would be painting a target on his/her back.
Larouche?
And just a quick FYI — in my overwhelmingly minority, overwhelmingly Democrat district, I have NEVER had a parent complain that I have politicized anything. Indeed, I’ve actually had one local Democrat officeholder ask to have his child placed in my class — and that child is now a teaching colleague of mine (yeah, I’m getting OLD).
VC — no, I’m not a Democrat.
I voted McCain, on the strength of the personal testimonies of several of my father’s military colleagues who were POWs with him — after weighing them against the views of several former seminary classmates who are pastors & associate pastors in Obama’s former legislative district and surrounding area. Indeed, I quoted some of each group in my presentations.
Easy, RWR, the premise – “I simply find it too perilous a task for any teacher with strong political opinions — whether that teacher is a liberal or a conservative” – was yours.
I know, pandora — I simply wanted to amplify and expand on why I find such a lesson plan perilous for a strongly partisan teacher on either side of the spectrum.
why I find such a lesson plan perilous for a strongly partisan teacher on either side of the spectrum.
This is still remarkably stupid — especially when the subject is staying in school. So how does that get to be partisan?
Why is there no post from someone regarding Van Jones resignation? I’m waiting to hear what you have to say?
I’m referring to the original lesson plan that involved having students commit to help the president and later holding them accountable for having followed through on that commitment.
Would you have wanted me in front of a class telling my students they had to commit to helping GWB and holding them accountable for having done so?
i’m not a dem either, rwr, but you do run with the self-inflicted brain-dead birther and deather crowds. so your words may have some semblance of higher-order thought, but your breath stinks.
i don’t know much about van jones, except he did say “some might say” (you know how to use that phase on FoxNews, right conservatives?) that Bu$hCo allowed 9/11 to happen as a pretext for war….something I do not agree with, but given the history (of what we already know) of Bu$hCo, i’m sure some very rational people had that cross their minds as well. Personally, I’ll stick to what I know about 9/11 – Liberals and moderates saw 9/11 and wondered how this this happen; conservatives witnessed 9/11 and saw a business opportunity.
Actually, VC, I debunked the whole birther argument in the summer of 2008, and have been pretty vocal in opposing them since that time. And i have no idea what a “deather” is — unless, of course, you are talking about Obama’s vote to guarantee women a dead baby after an abortion, even if the kid is inconsiderate enough to keep gasping for breath after being expelled from the uterus (what civilized people call “being born alive”).
susan, I’ll see your Van Jones and raise you one Alberto Gonzales and one Karl Rove.
What I saw was more than just his thoughts about 9/11. He was arrested and jailed on more than one occasion. I am wondering how he was able to become an adviser to Obama in the first place? I am not a dem either but neither am I claiming republicans who are all the way to the right. I vote for the person after hearing all they have to say, not just because they are one party or the other. My ticket has always been voted with both. And I don’t know about anyone looking at 9/11 and seeing business opportunities. It scared the heck out of me and I was only thinking about the people, and my family.
EdisonKitty, I was not trying to start anything, I don’t condone anyone who does wrong and I don’t do tit for tat stuff. I live in the present.
telling my students they had to commit to helping GWB and holding them accountable for having done so
The lesson plan refers to the subject that the President would be speaking to. Which would be the importance of staying in school. So the e question would refer to the steps you would take to help the President by staying in school. If GWB was doing this, I would ask the same question. Again. What is heaven’s name is so awful about the President talking about working hard and staying in school?
And if the only way you can answer this is to pretend you do not know what the advertised subject of the speech is, then you can save your breath and consider yourself on the FAIL list.
in nutspeak – deather = gov’t required youth in asia lol
And I would add to ek’s list: John Negroponte and Elliot Abrams.
susan, me neither. I’m only an occasional commenter, so no detailed post, anyway. I’m no expert on the Jones history, but it seems like he did one of the wiser things he could have by resigning before any more damage was done. By contrast, the last admin can boast a couple who stuck around way too long. Anyway, it was a minimalist attempt at conveying all that in a humorous way.
By teh way, I just came across this little tidbit that might interest you — a local school board president wrote a letter to SecEd Arne Duncan regarding the speech, and raises a very interesting question on how the school time was requested:
I understand that your office sent a request to all of the school districts across the country, which was addressed to our principals that our students tune into an internet broadcast by President Obama next week. As the request was sent directly to our principals and not through the proper protocol of our administrators, you have created a state of confusion. You of all people should know you cannot allow that type of request to be distributed to our staff, without going through the proper channels.
Local control is a key part of public education in this country. Are we really going to have the feds bypass the elected school boards and the superintendents of districts to appeal directly to principals for time? If so, why, and on what authority?
http://www.texasrainmaker.com/2009/09/05/an-open-letter-to-the-secretary-of-education/
Von Cracker, your comment was taken as you said. But even though I am not in favor of the war in Iraq and don’t think we should be there, I think if we had not done something after 9/11, everyone would have had issues with the government. I remember everyone came together after 9/11. Going to Iraq afterward was a different issue that most disagree on.
“Going to Iraq afterward was a different issue that most disagree on.”
Not at the time because we were lied to by our government. Sorry, susan, your rationale is BS. Until we adequately acknowledge the outright failures and lies of the past, then you complaining about a nut like Van Jones is just a bit decadent.
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll278/arteachphoto/STFUAlgore.jpg
time to setle down kids
Mike Matthews. I was responding to von cracker and when I said most disagree on the war in Iraq, I was talking about now, not when we were lied to. Yes we should acknowledge the failures and lies of the past, all of them, no matter who was in office. But the past is in the past, now is the time to correct it and move on. Hopefully Obama is going to do that. And I was only asking why no one was talking about Van Jones here. I thought that this was a blog that got down to the issues, all of them, not just the ones they don’t agree with. All the ones mentioned above were dealt with and still are brought up. I guess you have given me my answer. Continue to live in the past and place blame where you want, but I am looking at the present, both sides not just one sided. I don’t like the far right any better than the far left.
“Why is there no post from someone regarding Van Jones resignation? I’m waiting to hear what you have to say?”
Susan, good luck with getting them to acknowledge the Van Jones debacle even happened, let alone giving an honest, objective assessment. These poor misguided lemmings seem too busy ignoring the collective context of the ignoble actions of my president since he’s been in office… preferring instead to soil their shorts over a blatantly obvious, ill-conceived, agenda issue even President Obama has the intelligence to abandon.
Thanks Miscreant, I think you said it correctly. I just believe in hearing all sides and they have proven they are only one sided. I was hoping I was wrong.
“…. Are we really going to have the feds bypass the elected school boards and the superintendents of districts to appeal directly to principals for time? If so, why, and on what authority?”
good lord, if there’s one thing my school district insists on it’s f’ing “proper channels”.
This is code for: I have my power base, baby, and no one’s gonna even make a suggestion without my blessing…cause I’m the boss, baby. Ya gotta problem with that? Do ya, punk?
If you’re getting your beliefs from internet comment sections, Susan, then you have bigger issues to deal with besides Van Jones and his prior good and bad deeds. lol
I don’t see Van Jones being any worse than say some elected official on the right, such as Bachmann, Tancredo, and Inhofe. Hell, I’ll say with more confidence that those three have said worse derisive, loony statements.
Look their beliefs and past statements up on the Google and see what I mean. But since those three are/were average Republicans, the media treats them as being “mainstream”. I’m certain, by way of previous observations, that Mr. Jones never received the same discretion, and he’s not even an elected official.
Susan,
It’s the freakin’ labor day holiday and we’re not professional writers. We have personal lives and we don’t have time to discuss everything.
Here’s a discussion at Washington Monthly.
Here’s another discussion at Balloon Juice.
My personal opinion – I’m mad that Obama gave into a conservative hissy fit because I think that will just make them attack more. However I do think the Jones thing was a distraction that the White House didn’t need. I don’t like conspiracy theorists of any kind so I can see why Jones resigned. I don’t think signing a petition makes someone a conspiracy theorist, especially if it’s true that the petition was misrepresented to people. Hopefully Mr. Jones will find a new job where he can continue his activism.
So, when are the Republicans going to denounce the conspiracy theorists in their party? At least 11 are sponsoring the birther bill nonsense and a whole lot of them have spread the deather stuff around. When will they resign?
TP: Yeah, screw the proper channels. m Chairman Unicorn and his apparatchiks have spoken — that should be all that is necessary for every good American to goose-step in line, right?
I don’t see Van Jones being any worse than say some elected official on the right, such as Bachmann, Tancredo, and Inhofe.
The difference being that the people of their respective districts &/or states repose sufficient confidence in them to elect them to office. The people got to pass judgment on them, and found their sttements and history acceptable. On the other hand, a 9/11 truther and self-declared communist with a history of racist statements and support for a cop-killer probably could not get elected in most parts of the country (though your party is known for Maxine Waters, Cynthia McKinney and Sheets Byrd, so maybe the racist angle isn’t such a big deal for Democrats).
they are silent because they think Van Jones is a typical progressive and they are mad at The One for throwing his commie ass under the bus.
anoni is obviously channeling his inner asshole. Why don’t you not try mind-reading? Thanks.
when you throw a rock over the wall, the dog that yelps is the one you hit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i8-5kMmiUo
ah, the smell of desperation.
just beggin for a nut.
it might be desperation, but that video is hilarious.
skip the pelosi part. move to the vj part. notice the blanket of total bullshit he strings together? i had never seen this, but now understand why he was hounded out. its clear now that vj knows nothing about science, economics, or business. bho cannot afford to be associated with this depth of errant stupidity.
“Comment by Rhymes With Right on 6 September 2009 at 7:14 pm:
TP: Yeah, screw the proper channels. m Chairman Unicorn and his apparatchiks have spoken — that should be all that is necessary for every good American to goose-step in line, right?”
As long as it’s YOUR apparatchiks, it’s okay, right?
uhg! i give up. are you talking to me? what is chairman unicorn? have they trained a unicorn to goose step? what?
Susan, good luck with getting them to acknowledge the Van Jones debacle even happened, let alone giving an honest, objective assessment
An of course our local idiot brigade does not quite understand that we post up more than one thread per day. And there is a thread where Van Jones’ resignation is discussed and has been up since about 10:30 or so AM today. But hey, don’t let us get in the way of of the usual self-serving BS from you people. Who can’t stop lying even when the evidence that you are quite wrong has been up all day.
Um, Susan, you might want to check out this post. I believe this is what you were looking for. BTW, it was published 12 hours ago.
Geez, Cassandra! Great minds think alike! 😉
Especially when finely tuned with the mass quantities of alcohol!
LOL!
Anyone ever find the original lesson plan the haters got in a hissy fit over?
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301/President-Obama%E2%80%99s-Address-to-Students-Across-America-September-8-2009
I apologize now if this has already been said, but at nearly 80 comments, my brain (and eyes) sometimes blurs… But ABC News showed a clip today about President HW Bush saying these exact words: “Write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals.” when he addressed a classroom of children (while they were in class not after school, I believe, but am not certain!)
Mike is probably (is) right, maybe it wasn’t vetted enough and the wording awkward. However, when I worked for a non-profit health clinic (as an educator) we were asked to write a letter to ourselves about the things we hoped to accomplish in the next year (personal and/or professional). The organization then sent us our letters to ourselves (Like the Brad Paisley song) a year later to see if we had obtained our goals. It’s not quite the same as what the WH was suggesting but it’s pretty darn close. And yeah, it was weird writing to myself, but when I got that letter back, I realized how much I had grown in the year since I’d written it.
So telling our kids to work hard, stay in school and be accountable for their actions (or to even *gasp* dream to be anything they want) is bad. As long as I understand that, I will understand why I’m a Democrat… (again sorry if this is repeating anything that’s been said!)
Comment by nemski on 6 September 2009 at 10:33 pm:
“Anyone ever find the original lesson plan the haters got in a hissy fit over?”
Yeah, nemski, it’s the second comment in this comment section, it’s been sitting there since 11:14 am.
The bottom line is, the people are tiring of BO’s shtick. It doesn’t matter now what he’s trying to sell; those with buyers remorse are cautious customers. Can he win them back? Only by moving to the right, as he’ll probably do in his speech this week.
It should be noted Rick that the only way his poll numbers go back up to the high 50’s and low 60’s is to move to the left. His polls dipped to 52% because the left has tired of his compromising rhetoric and want to see the action he promised us.
The right will NEVER approve of him. He could do everything you want and you will still call him a socialist. You know that is true. You will never respect the President of the United States and you will always seek to attack him and the office, no matter what he does.
It is disingenious and false for you to say that he has to move right.
“It is disingenious and false for you to say that he has to move right.”
So why do they say such things? Because for the right wingers, every exchange is an opportunity to disperse more propaganda. You’ll notice not one of them can offer a reasonable and well-reasoned line of thinking to support such contentions; that’s because there isn’t any.
His polls dipped to 52% because the left has tired of his compromising rhetoric and want to see the action he promised us.
You are delusional. Do you actually read the polling data? If you did, you would see that the most significant demographic to jump-ship is the independent voter….the very people who got him elected in the first place. While initially fooled by the ‘hope and change’ fatuity, they now see BO for what he is; and they are abandoning him (or, more properly, his socialist agenda) in great numbers. The only way to re-gain their trust, is to move to the right.
While libs love to claim a ‘mandate’ in ’08, the fact is, turnout was down (as a percentage of eligible voters) from ’04. One reason for this was that many conservatives, like me, sat the election out.
Creation out of destruction. Watch and learn.
Yes, I do. Do you? His decline recently has been entirely on the left and in the Democratic Party. You wingnuts already disapproved of him and have from the start.
“…every exchange is an opportunity to disperse more propaganda.”
Not unlike the ever-popular, well choreographed Town Hall Meetings, the indoctrination of grade school students, and the president’s perpetual State of the WhatTheFuckEver addresses.