State of the Union—Clinton, Bush, Obama

President Obama delivers his third State of the Union address to Congress, the American people, and the world on January 25, 2011.

Based on the accomplishments of the "Lame Duck" session in December, the speech will probably be optimistic, with the recovering economy a major focus. With the advent of the revolution in communication technology and the Internet, billions of interested people all over the world will likely see the speech live on TV or later in other ways.

State of the Union Messages to the Congress are mandated by Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution which states, "He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

Among the many precedents established by George Washington was clarification of the phrase "from time to time." Since 1790 State of the Union messages have been delivered regularly at approximately one year intervals.

A seemingly well-established misconception found even in some academic literature, is that the State of the Union is an orally delivered message presented to a joint session of Congress. With only a few exceptions, this has been true in the modern era (1933-present), but beginning with Jefferson's 1st State of the Union (1801) and lasting until Taft's final message (1912), the State of the Union was a written (and often lengthy) report sent to Congress.

ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity to help your students learn more about the history and the policies of government during the period of 1998-2000—"State of the Union--Clinton, Bush, & Obama."

BookCart learning activities save time and provide teachers with the flexibility to make inquiry-based learning activities at a variety of points in a course when it's appropriate. Each Cart provides examples of essential questions that help students develop 21st Century critical thinking skills, student directions that guide the research process, an option for call numbers to related print resources, an optional quiz, 21st Century literacy standard, ProQuest models for written reports and presentations.

You won't find this combination of inquiry-based learning activity support in one place in any other K-12 resource.

• Open your eLibrary TEACHER EDITION.
• Click BOOKCART ADMIN link at the top.
• Click the PROQUEST CARTS tab.
• Type "State of the Union" in the Search box.
• Click the COPY icon in the ACTIONS column to the right of the title.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS tab to end the copying process.

Librarians or teachers can edit this BookCart learning activity to customize it for their students. To edit this BookCart:

• Click the new BookCart TITLE with the prefix "COPY OF".
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your name in the AUTHOR boxes and your initials in the EMAIL box (required filler info).
• Option: Edit any ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS for your students in the DESCRIPTION box.
• Option: Edit the existing STUDENT DIRECTIONS in the Description box.
• Scroll down and click SAVE.
• Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS and view your new student learning activity.

The good news is that any and all of hundreds of ProQuest model BookCart learning activities can also be copied using our hyperlinked list (PDF) organized by curriculum area.

Assign students a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least 7 slides on the significance of the recent history and policy implications of one of the speeches of Presidents Clinton, Bush, or Obama.

Students should cite at least three resources and address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can substitute or add others):

• What are some of the policy issues that recur in the speeches of the 3 presidents (select one of the speeches for each president).
  
  
• What are the reactions to these speeches by the opposing party or other critics?
  
  
• Which of these speeches resulted in the most legislation beneficial to Americans, and describe the legislation?

Select Advanced Search option > Type "State of the Union" in the Search box > Enter "State of the Union" in the Document Title box (include quotation marks with both) > Sort Results List by Date

Your students can use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

Teachers may be interested in a ProQuest flexible rubrics model for evaluating inquiry-based learning activities.

Educators may also wish to employ the Quizinator Web tool (free, but registration required) for creating a variety of printed resources, including short assessments.

ProQuest's new research platform is ready for the new decade. Have you seen it yet? Find out more.