The announcement this morning that President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize came as a shock to many. This is the first time that a sitting President has been awarded this prestigious prize and Obama spokesman said that the President is humbled.

Find lesson ideas for teaching students about the Nobel Peace Prize.

On September 8, 2009, President Obama will be speaking live to the students of the Nation. This is a highly controversial event, but one that teachers can take advantage of. It seems from the information provided, that President Obama will be speaking about goal setting for the school year, and striving to meet those goals. After the speech is over, how can teachers take this speech and provide extension activities for students?

Extension Activities for Obama’s Speech

Have students write an essay about one specific goal that they have for the school year. They should include details as to why they have this particular goal and exactly how they plan on meeting this goal.

Students can work together as a class to create a list of “class goals” much like teachers allow students to create “class rules“. Have students share lots of ideas for goals and then condense them into 3-4 really important goals. Once these are decided on, write them on a large piece of paper and have all the students sign the paper, promising to try their best to meet these goals.

Students can create a piece of artwork (coloring, painting, tissue paper art, etc.) that shows the outcome of meeting goals for the school year. Knowing what they are shooting for in the end will help to motivate them to work hard towards that goal.

For lesson plan ideas on preparing students for the speech as well as information on how to listen to the speech, visit Lesson Plan for Obama’s Speech to Students.

Read more extension ideas that will help teachers use President Obama’s speech to bring more appropriate student behavior to the classroom.

A recent study by Dr. Friedman and his associates entitled “The ‘Obama Effect’: How a Salient Role Model Reduces Race-Based Performance Differences,” in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (forthcoming), looks at the effect that President Obama had upon test takers.

Traditionally, African Americans perform lower than their Caucasian counterparts on the same test, but after President Obama became president, this achievement gap effectively disappeared. Researchers believe that expectation based on race has a huge impact on the achievement of individuals. This study shows the power of a role model in impacting the expectations and achievement of a group of people.

Time will tell whether the Obama effect will have a long term impact, and more studies are needed to verify the findings, but the implications are vast. In essence, African American students perform better simply by having an African American role model demonstrating the importance of a good education.

Teachers, especially those who teach low achieving students such as special education students and minorities, need to learn how to extend the Obama effect to each of their students. They need to teach their students that they can achieve, and help them believe it through positive role models and effective teaching strategies.

This study demonstrating the Obama effect is only the beginning of the necessary changes in the educational system.

President Obama gave a speech on March 10, 2009 about what he wants to do to turn the public school system around. He calls for merit pay, firing “bad” teachers and raising standards for students. He also wants to increase the school year (or the school day), and focus heavily on early childhood education.

The interesting thing about his speech is that he is very focused on having America become the superpower that he knows it can be, and that only through our children’s education can we get there. This leads me to wonder what our expectations for our students are based on?

Do we want to see our children surpass other children around the world, leading them to be the best and brightest? As a special education teacher, my goals are far from this. Instead, I look to give my students the best education possible to enable them to succeed in today’s society. As a tutor, I seek to have students learn to love learning. This for the sake of learning and self-betterment, though, not for world domination.

Read more about President Obama’s speech.