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Activities and Resources

Activities

44: President Barack Obama

 

One of President-elect Barack Obama’s biggest tasks before he takes office on Jan. 20 is to choose his Cabinet members. Cabinet members are the president’s top advisors from all areas of the executive arm of government.

Create a chart to post on a bulletin board or class Web site listing all the Cabinet offices (see list below). Have students each research one of those position and prepare a brief description to present to the class. Then have the class follow the news of Obama’s choices for each Cabinet job. As an Obama Cabinet member is named, fill in that section of the chart with the person’s name and photo and have the student who researched that office read his or her description to the class.

The Cabinet offices include the vice president and the heads of 15 government departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice (headed by the attorney general), Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. Other Cabinet-level officials have included the president’s chief of staff, the U.S. trade representative, and the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, and Office National Drug Control Policy.

 

Looking for Smart Stuff? Click here to download Issue 10's edition (PDF).

Answers to the Issue 10 SmartStuff are listed on Page 2 of the Issue 10 Teacher's Guide that accompanies Current Events magazine.

 

Resources

 

44: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

• Read or watch Obama’s victory speech at CNN: edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript.

• Read biographies of President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden on their campaign Web site: Obama: www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php; Biden: www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_joe.php.

• Take a White House tour with room descriptions and video at http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/whtour and www.whitehouse.gov/history/whtour/vpoffice-ipix.html.

STAR POWER:

• Read about celebrities doing good at the Celebrity Role Models blog: celebrityrolemodel.com.

• Glamour magazine chooses the top 10 female college student role models each year: www.glamour.com

• Forbes picks the top role models under 18: money.aol.com/forbes/general/top-role-models-under-18

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