President Obama's Message Relates to Classroom 10 Teaching and Learning

The president’s speech was a great way to kick off the new school year! The majority of the students I spoke with had positive reflections of the president’s speech and some good connections were made between the message and student goals for the year. I was also energized by the speech and found myself reflecting on President Obama’s message of personal responsibility, setting high goals, and persisting. After reflection and discussions with staff and students regarding the president’s message and our district wide initiative for Classroom 10 learning, I realized that I felt so energized and positive about President Obama’s speech because it was an affirmation we are on the right path regarding the work we are doing with classroom 10. The president’s message directly connected to our learning community work with self directed learning and the habits persistence and responsible risk.



My students started the year out discussing habits, thinking skills, and district outcomes and indicators in regards to what they need to accomplish. President Obama’s stress on persisting, personal responsibility and setting goals was a solid confirmation that our learning community is on the right path. It felt good to listen while students discussed President Obama’s speech and made connections to the habits, skills and outcomes posters on the classroom wall. I also appreciated that President Obama encourage students to reach out to teachers to help with setting and accomplishing goals. Creating positive relationships with teachers, coaches and other responsible adults is crucial to our students’ success and I am glad President Obama took the chance to encourage students to seek out those relationships.



A few nights ago I received an email from a former student-athlete that is finishing his sr year at a high school in Washington DC. This young man only attend THS for one year, but while here joined multiple sports teams and was also active in clubs. Though the student did not reference the President’s speech, the student wanted me to know that he realized that he needed to take responsibility for his schooling and finish his high school career with renewed dedication.



When this young man found out that he would have to move to the other side of the country so his mother could take a job, he became very upset and gave up on school. The young man was an immigrant to our country and had experienced a lot of rough transitions over the past three years and was heart sick about having to leave THS. He was just starting to feel settled and content with his schooling and life in Maple Valley when he was told he had to move again. Though we talked about persisting and making the best of the situation, he still failed most of his classes and basically gave up on school. I remember thinking that if he had been able to attend classes and participate in sports with us for more than one year, he would have had been better prepared to persist through this difficult time in his life. I also remember feeling depressed about the situation; I hate seeing kids struggle and suffer. I was extremely glad to receive an email and learn that the president’s message had reached him and he was ready to finish his Sr. year strong. I also like to think that the time he spent in our district classroom and sports programs helped prepare him for this last year of school in. Below is quote from this former THS student regarding some of the most important lessons he learned while a member of our learning community.



Former THS student quote:

“The most important lessons I learned are 1.no matter the situations out of school, you should never let it negatively impact your work, and 2.don't ever give up and stop trying just because things chang


Special thanks to my friend and assistant coach Doug Burnham for creating the persistance poster at the top of the page.