Asking Questions on Whitehouse YouTube Channel

On the White House YouTube channel, people are asking President Barack Obama questions about different subjects related to American Politics. People may ask questions about the economy, the war, education, and more. I have asked question including: How are you planning to end the war? and Why are you putting so much money into the war and taking money out of school budgets, and now teachers are getting fired because of this? In this economy the last thing people want to do is go to private school when they cannnot afford it? Also, I have asked, is anyone planning to help stop Global Warming, or is money more important then the lives of the entire human race?

President Obama's Speech: The State of Education

On January 26, 2011, President Barack Obama made a State of the Union speech largely about education.

      

Obama stated in his speech that education is very important and that kids (and adults) need education because education is used for many, many things in life. In fact, life-long education is crucial. Most pressing, however, for the young students is knowing that education can make your future brighter. Education, with determination and hard work, gets people into college and then access to interesting job and successful careers. Everyone needs a job to make a living, buy a home and raise a family.

      

Obama is worried that children are not getting enough or the right education. Children in the United States, he explained, have not been studying the most important subjects enough in school. 

President Obama made the speech in United States' capitol, Washington D.C.

To learn more, go to the White House website or watch the video of the President's speech below. The video is from the White House website and include "extras," such as graphs and images.

The History of the State of the Union, Obama's Turn

George Washington gave the first state of Union on January 8, 1799. As tradition, the president makes this report annually. While not required to be a speech, every president since Woodrow Wilson has made the State of the Union report as a speech and delivered it before a joint season of Congress.

Barack Obama Talks to Students in Philadelphia

On September 14, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech to Masterman Julia R. Secondary School. The school is one of the best schools in Philadelphia. Last week, the school was called the National Blue Ribbon School because of the students' record of achievement at school.

Obama talked about how students should work very hard to get good grades. Obama said a lot of things about how to study with results and pay attention in class. He said "Don't feel discouraged or give up if you don't succeed at something, try it again and learn from your mistakes."On September 14, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech to Masterman Julia R. Secondary School. The school is one of the best schools in Philadelphia. Last week, the school was called the National Blue Ribbon School because of the students' record of achievement at school.

Obama talked about how students should work very hard to get good grades. Obama said a lot of things about how to study with results and pay attention in class. He said "Don't feel discouraged or give up if you don't succeed at something, try it again and learn from your mistakes."

Watch the president's 20-minute speech below. Although he is talking to students at Masterman, his message is for all American school kids, including those of us at Hillwood.

Each year, the president of the United States address students at a back-to-school speech. Last year,The Herald covered President Obama's first address. You can read Bridgette's 2009 story about the president's speech. (Bridgette graduated last year from Hillwood. She is now a freshman at San Francisco's School of the Arts.

Watch the president's 20-minute speech below. Although he is talking to students at Masterman, his message is for all American school kids, including those of us at Hillwood.

Each year, the president of the United States address students at a back-to-school speech. Last year,The Herald covered President Obama's first address. You can read Bridgette's 2009 story about the president's speech. (Bridgette graduated last year from Hillwood. She is now a freshman at San Francisco's School of the Arts.)

2010: State of the Union Speech — One Student's Angle

In our president's State of the Union speech, Mr. Obama tried to reinstate hope in America's working class, as was so prevalent when he was inaugurated last January.

The main points of Pres. Obama's speech covered economic recovery, Afghanistan, education, clean energy, and how we need bipartisanship to solve our problems.

For the economy, our president proposed billing banks for bailouts, prolong unemployment benefits, lower the cost of health care, tax cuts, composing Obama's Recovery Act, or Stimulus Bill. To encourage small businesses, community banks across America will be given $30 billion from Wall Street banks to lend to these businesses. They will also receive tax credits and dismissal from capital gains taxes.

To take steps to a cleaner America, we will invest in clean nuclear power plants, advanced biofuels, and clean coal technologies.

Another topic I will focus on is education. As an eighth-grader aspiring for college or university, I was very taken aback to hear that after 20 years, college debts will be relieved. Many also have realized that in order for America to become a "more perfect nation," we need an educated and innovative work force.

sources: nytimes.com, NPR
by Brigette W.

State of the Union — President Obama Has Big Plans, Needs Citizens' Help

I think that Obama is a good president, someone who wants to take care of his country. But I think that he is offering to much all at once. But like he said, he cannot do this all by himself — everyone needs to help, not just the government. That includes the citizens of our country.

I think that if everyone helps, we could maybe could get all the things that he promised accomplished, like getting the economy back on track, getting our people jobs, and get our troops back home.

This image, from Newsweek, shows factors in President Obama's first 12 months in office. As the stock market and unemployment change, so do Obama's approval rating.

This image is also from CitizenTube, where you can submit questions for President Obama to answer. According to the site, the President will respond to questions in a live YouTube interview at the White House on Monday, February 1, at 1:45 p.m EST. The deadline for submitting questions is Sunday at 8 p.m. EST.

President Obama Celebrates Dr. King's Birthday

On the birthday of Martin Luther King, President Obama made a speech in the White House. He gathered young people and old people to listen to his speech. He wanted to remind us that there are many young courageous people like Dr. Dorothy Height, Mrs. Eleanor Banks, and Romaine Thomas and her husband. He also included many others who are actively involved in bringing about great moments in the US history.

Obama said he heard from Willie Glanton, who is a great activist in Iowa. She has done work on the behalf of the civil rights movement, which is reminding us that raciscm wasn't just isolated in some areas. Dr. Height told listeners what it was like meeting Martin Luther King when he was a 15-year-old at the Morehouse.

Click here to read The Hillwood Herald's coverage on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday and life.

Written by: Rubina H.

The President Announces National Literacy Information Awareness Month

President Barack Obama declared the whole month of October information literacy awareness month. He declared this, Thursday, October 1, 2009, and today, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

This month is when we work harder on our work, like, math, literature, history, and science.So, we can grow up and get good jobs and make a difference for are country. The president gave his speech at the White House. Here are some excerpts from his speech, which you can read here:

• Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking.
  
  
• National Information Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age.
  
  
• In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them.
  
  
• The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical.

I would like to thank The New York Times, because I got the picture from them. In this picture, he is speaking about winning the award.

United Nations: President Obama's Speech and History

As you may know, President Obama gave a speech at the United Nations meeting on Thursday, 9/24, morning. His speech ranged from nuclear weapons, the global economy, to disease and democracy. He seemed to focus the most on nuclear danger from North Korea and Iran. He talked about the importance of the United Nations and about how all nations should cooperate.

To read the President's speech, you can go to this link on The New York Times website.

The United Nations originated after World War II to replace the League of Nations in 1945. It's an international organization with aspirations for the world concerning the economy, security, human rights, international law, social progress, and world peace. It consists of 192 member states and its six official languages are: English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.

Watch Julian interview Brigette about her story:



Sources: The New York Times, Wikipedia
By Brigette. W

Letters to the President

The upper graders are writing letters to the president, about his speech at Wakefield High School. First we wrote about who we are and what we liked about his campaign. The second paragraph was what we liked about his speech and what it meant to us. The third paragraph was what three specific goals we would do as students and as citizens and how we would achieve these things.

The video below shows the president and his staff talking about all the letters that he receives and what he and the White House does with all of them. Each week, the president answers ten letters.

Photo of The Herald staff by Irene X.



Watch Rachel interview Lance about his story. Filmed by Zack O.

News Event: Barack Obama

On Wednesday morning President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations.

Student Assignment: Brigette
You may either read the President's entire speech or merely scan it. You will want to explain the news angle — the president is speaking to the United Nations. You will need to explain what the United Nations is.

Include the following quotation from the President's speech in your story. You will want to relate it to what the United Nations is and what it does for the world. Remember to credit him with the quotation. Here is the quote:

"The United Nations was born of the belief that the people of the world can live their lives, raise their families, and resolve their differences peacefully. And yet we know that in too many parts of the world, this ideal remains an abstraction -- a distant dream. We can either accept that outcome as inevitable, and tolerate constant and crippling conflict, or we can recognize that the yearning for peace is universal, and reassert our resolve to end conflicts around the world."

Consider answering the following questions, in addition to the five W’s of news reporting:

• Who
• What
• Why did the President speak at the United Nations?
  
• Where
• When
• What is the United Nations?
• Where and when did it start?

Upload one or two images related to the event. Remember to credit the photo source.

Photo credit: The New York Times

President Obama's Announcement of National Literacy

Student Assignment:

Brigette

President Obama announces that October is National Literacy Month.

Read the president's announcement.

Now, write a news story at least 10 sentences long. What is the president's annoucement about and what might it mean to students? What could the Hillwood Herald do to increase literacy?

For your assignment, answer the five W's in doing this.

• Who
  
• What
  
• When
  
• Where
  
• Why
  

Include a link to the announcement and a related photo. Remember to include all source citations.

President Obama's Announces National Information Literacy Month

Student Assignment

President Obama announces that October is National Information Literacy Month.

Read the president's announcement.

Now, write a news story at least 10 sentences long. What is the president's announcement about and what might it mean to students?

Make a top ten list explaining what Hillwood Academic Day School could do to increase information literacy?

For your assignment, remember to answer the five W's in doing this.

• Who
  
• What
  
• When
  
• Where
  
• Why
  

Include a link to the announcement and a related photo. Remember to include all source citations.

Opinion: My View of the President's Speech

Student Assignment:
Brigette W.
On Tuesday, September 8 — the first day of school for Hillwood students — the President addressed the country's students by video. What did he tell students? What did you consider the most important parts of his talk?

Although this is an opinion article and not a news article, you will want to briefly set the stage for your post by telling some of the background. You will only need one to two sentences to do this. Also, answering the five W's will help you do this.

• Who: You
  
• What: You watching the Obama speech
  
• When: During what class? What time?
  
• Where: Hillwood
  
• Why: ?
  

Remember, you are giving people your opinion -- what did you find most important or most interesting about the President's speech and why? Other questions to consider:

• Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything?
• Is he challenging you to do anything?
• What do you believe are the challenges of your generation?
• How can you be a part of addressing these challenges?

Link to the transcript -- or words -- from the Presidential address. The page is here.

Embed the Presidential video in your blog post.

Brigette, you will be interviewing the other students with this assignment about their stories. After you finish writing your story, come up with three to five question. You will ask each student one question.

Nancy Pelosi: An Update

Student Assignment: Brigette

Irene reached out to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi earlier this week, to see if she could visit Hillwood. It would still be wonderful to have her come to the school for an interview with the upper-graders.

Write a news story explaining what she has been up to recently. The following links should be helpful in your research, and your big news hook is that President Barack Obama came to town on Tuesday to help Democratic candidates raise money for the upcoming campaign. The area (roads) around Hillwood were closed for his motor brigade.

Remember to include images and/or video in your post.

• Story about the presidents visit to Hillwood's neighborhood
• The New York Times page on Nancy Pelosi

President Obama Gives His Back-to-School Speech

Student: Rubina

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama gave his back-to school speech to students. You can read his prepared delivery here, and you can search for the video of his talk here.

Write a story explaining what the president would like American school children to know. Also, who introduced the president this year?

Remember to answer the five W's of a good news story. Also, include images, sources, and -- if possible -- embedded video. Consider linking to web pages about the president, written by The New York Times (such as this timeline). Additionally, include a link to The Herald's 2009 story about the president's speech, written by Brigette.

Add the phrase "yearbook 2009-2010" to the "labels" of this story. Your coverage of the president's speech will almost certainly be included in the yearbook this school year.

Also, you have the top news story of the week — the president's address. As you watch the video, mark down the time of your favorite part or the most important part of the President's speech. You will share this portion with the class, along with your study tips from last week.

How Would You Answer the President?

Students: Jay, Angela, Erion, and Camryn

The following excerpt comes from President Obama's State of the Union speech from Tuesday. What does he say about education and how would you answer his two specific questions for students?

So, yes, the world has changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn’t discourage us. It should challenge us. Remember -– for all the hits we’ve taken these last few years, for all the naysayers predicting our decline, America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world. (Applause.) No workers -- no workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies, or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We’re the home to the world’s best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth.

What’s more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That’s why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here. It’s why our students don’t just memorize equations, but answer questions like “What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world? What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.” Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. 

And now it’s our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.

What Did President Obama Say About Education?

Student: Rubina and Alysen

Read this article on Education Week and consider the transcript from President Obama's State of the Union Speech. What did he have to say about education? What do his words mean to you?

Remember to include images, links, and sources in your post.

The President's State of the Union Address: Education

Student: Faryn

Read the following excerpt from the State of the Union by President Obama. What does President Obama say about education? What does it mean to you? Remember to include images, links and labels with your post.

Your goal this week is to complete your post by the end of class.

What’s more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That’s why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here. It’s why our students don’t just memorize equations, but answer questions like “What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world? What do you want to be when you grow up?” [...]

The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, “The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.” Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. And now it’s our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. (Applause.) We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government. That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future. (Applause.) And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there. [...]

Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success. But if we want to win the future -– if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas -– then we also have to win the race to educate our kids. Think about it. Over the next 10 years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school education. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren’t even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us –- as citizens, and as parents –- are willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed. That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It’s family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair. (Applause.) We need to teach them that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.