President Obama will speak to the students in the Nation on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. This is an excellent opportunity for teachers to take the words of the President of the United States and turn them into a more well behaved, on task classroom.

While President Obama talks to students about setting and meeting goals this school year, teachers should look for ways to incorporate the class expectations into those goals.

Teachers can have class discussions about how students can meet the goals they set, using real goals as examples, and guide students into understanding how the class rules will help them meet those goals.

One possible activity is to have students pair goals with each class rule. So if the class rule is to raise your hand before speaking, a goal that can be paired with that rule is to learn to be more respectful of others in the classroom.

Some other ideas for pairing class rules with student goals:

• Stay seated in class – Do your best on all seat work/complete all assignments
• Always Walk in school – work slowly and carefully on assignments just as you walk slowly and carefully in the halls
• Be respectful of others – Respect the teacher’s time and write with neat handwriting

Have students help in pairing up goals with the class rules.

Read on for more extension ideas, or check out lesson plan ideas for President Obama’s Speech.

Related posts:

1. Checklist for Writing Class Rules
2. 101 Classroom Management Tips