Calling On Teachers And Students: How Did Obama's Pep Talk Affect You

President Obama offered a heartfelt pep talk to the nation's students today and HuffPost wants to hear reactions from students and teachers alike. Press the "Particpate" button below to share your thoughts.

For teachers, tell us both what stood out for you and for your students. If possible, include a picture of your classroom.

For students of all ages, tell us about the speech in whatever medium most interests you. This could be a poem, drawing or a description of how it has changed your perception of homework and the school year that lays ahead.

To contribute, press the "Participate" button below. Include your name in the title, write your response in the description box, include a photo of yourself or your classroom, and mark on the map where your school is located.

We'll be featuring your reactions to the speech as they are submitted.

Obama School Speech

 

Find a picture, click the participate button, add a title and upload your picture

— Obama School Speech

Comments

[norman60]

06:54 AM on 09/09/2009

1. I THINK GOP-ERS OWE THE PRESIDENT SOME RESPECT AND APOLOGY.

2. I THINK THEY ARE SUFFERING FROM A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN AND LACK OF COORDINATION.

3. THEY ARE TOO QUICK TO CONDEMN A GOOD MAN BEFORE HEARING HIM. THEY ARE NOT FAIR TO OBAMA.

4. IT'S NOW PRETTY CLEAR GOP-ERS HATE OBAMA NOT FOR FOR BEING BAD, BUT FOR BEING BLACK.

5. THEY HAVE DONE GREAT DAMAGE TO THIS COUNTRY'S FUTURE BE TEACHING KIDS TO DISRESPECT THEIR PRESIDENT.

6. I THINK THEY ARE TEACHING OUR KIDS TO BE WORSE RACISTS THAN THEY ARE.

7. I THINK MANY OF THE THINGS THEY NOW DO ARE SIMPLY STUPID AND THEY ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THEMSELVES, THIS COUNTRY AND THE WATCHING WORLD.

[dwright]

06:56 AM on 09/09/2009

It is really easy to understand - anything Obama is for - they are against.

[TyeJ]

11:05 PM on 09/08/2009

For Lentinelia,

You've got to be brighter than that. The correct answer was "study hard", obey my teachers, stay out of trouble, take responsibility for your own choices. Sounds like some advice you should try.

[Iam12Vote]

09:00 PM on 09/08/2009

...kids, you shouldn't listen to the president. Or those rock n' roll records neither.

[Rayven]

08:41 PM on 09/08/2009

It was a good speech, that many parents are not or have not said to their children! He showed thorough and true "real" leadership by letting Americans know that "yes, he indeed cares about the well being of Americas children!"

The imbeciles who have posted negative comments about the president directly speaking to kids, are vile in their mindsets. Having a bigot, racist, are just plain ignorant mentality......all of you should thoroughly be ashamed of yourselves.

President Obama raised the "bar of leadership", forget your personal politics (because besides racist views, that is the only other reason for spewing such ignorance...) and start working for a better American, not causing more problems.

[ajmcd]

08:10 PM on 09/08/2009

I am sooooooo ticked! Neither of my children's schools showed the president!

[queenofcore]

11:39 PM on 09/08/2009

you can go online and show it to your children I did

[SueEll]

06:36 AM on 09/09/2009

The same thing happened to me. I just can't get over it. What kind of educators do we have that would support suppressing the speech of the President of our country?

[verticallychallenged]

08:08 PM on 09/08/2009

As a teacher on the first day of school, it would have been nice if we could have watched it. My district arranged techie things on Inauguration Day so we could see that, but it was quite an effort, so I'm not surprised we didn't have the opportunity today. Shame, though. When Obama gave his Inaugural Address, you could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. High school auditorium.

[dmspeech]

08:02 PM on 09/08/2009

What the President said was what parents used to say many, many years ago. Unfortunately, many parents have abdicated their parental responsibilities. I've taught for 35 years and the mantra from most, not all, is what did the insert person (teacher, principal, other student) do to you?
If the president's speech helps ONE child stay in school, become a better person, become responsible, leave a gang, etc, etc., then the speech was worth it. The problem was, for the conservatives, is that no one cared what they had to say.

[sbmulqueen]

07:42 PM on 09/08/2009

I posted this elsewhere, but indulge me! My daughter is 6 yrs old, in 1st grade. She had been so excited about the speech (which we talked about beforehand). I asked her how it was and she just beamed and said she loved it (she loves the Obamas). I asked her what she learned and she said "If you get something wrong don't just give up, it's like giving up your world." We talked a bit more about other parts but that is what stuck with me.

Oh and she said her teacher said "there has never been a girl president," so Zoe (my daughter) volunteered to be the first.

[Iam12Vote]

09:03 PM on 09/08/2009

She's got my vote. America needs a President Zoe.

[tb92]

01:05 AM on 09/09/2009

She may have competition from my girls, but that would be a wonderful thing. Good luck to Zoe!

[shaofupu]

07:03 PM on 09/08/2009

I live in TN and had to give permission for my daughter to watch. Did not understand why it was such a big deal? My daughter came home all excited about having watch the president on TV in the library, of course, she is only five!

[sbmulqueen]

07:50 PM on 09/08/2009

But that's the best, isn't it? They are young and not jaded and they don't listen to all this garbage. They just know the POTUS spoke to them. And BTW, they probably aren't paying attention to the fact that he's bl.a.ck - they just listen. It's what happens to them later when they listen to Faux News at home that things go wrong.

[Iam12Vote]

09:06 PM on 09/08/2009

Exactly - the President of the United States was speaking to THEM!
Fan.

[TyeJ]

06:51 PM on 09/08/2009

I've locked all of my doors and have 911 set as speed dial on my phone in anticipation of the hoards first grade commie/socialist/Nazi's loving revolutionaries unleashed by the magical President Obama. Didn't anyone notice he was speaking in complete sentences, you know, subject-verb. I'm terrified by the hidden messages.

[2Labradors]

06:29 PM on 09/08/2009

Listened to the speech this morning and thought it was terrific. Re all the hand-wringers, sobbing parents and nay-sayers: your "concerns" were much ado about nothing.

[ruhdwulf]

06:18 PM on 09/08/2009

I guess it's official. Ignorance is a key plank in the Republican platform. I would expect a wave of Republicans to resign from school boards and the boards of colleges and universities in support of ignorance. How could one, in good faith, be part of any system that educates the masses and so vociferously oppose it? The answer is, you can't.

New Republican bumper sticker:

Education.
We don't like it. We don't want it. We don't support it.

[Realization]

07:10 PM on 09/08/2009

They can only propagate ignorance by controlling the schools. "Conservatives" (properly termed Radical Right Wing Fundamentalists) know that if children receive a good education they won't choose to be "Conservatives". Or maybe they don't know it. Maybe they just fear it like they fear so much else while trying to impose their ideas on others in the name of "freedom".

[obama20082012]

07:39 PM on 09/08/2009

You just earned your first fan, well said. They only want to be part of any part of government just to privatize and wreck it. And they do it so well.

[SueEll]

06:16 PM on 09/08/2009

My third-grader came home from school today and I asked her what she thought of the President's speech. She told me they didn't show it. I was/am stunned. I just assumed that it would be shown to the kids. It was a speech from the President of the United States, after all. I thought if anyone objected that they could keep their kids home. Our elementary school has on their website "The Six Pillars of Character Education: Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship". Unbelievable, isn't it? (This is not their first day back after summer vacation, it is their third week.)

[sbmulqueen]

07:34 PM on 09/08/2009

I made sure I contacted our principal and superintendant last week - who assured me they would show it and they did. Obviously you can't do that now, but you certainly can and should complain - to the school, the school board, write a letter to the editor, etc. They should not get away with that.

[obama20082012]

07:40 PM on 09/08/2009

Your daughter can watch it on this sit under video.

[nebraska9]

06:05 PM on 09/08/2009

excuse me.

[nebraska9]

06:03 PM on 09/08/2009

come on -- what were people even worried about?

[obama20082012]

07:41 PM on 09/08/2009

A black man might tell us white people what to do?