Education Resources

Students should review the digital library exhibit, “President Clinton and the State of the Union”, before completing any of the following assignments. Students may work in groups or individually.

Option One:

Each student or team of students should examine President Clinton’s four recommendations for a new crime bill presented in the 1994 State of the Union Address. Students can learn about this SOTU excerpt in two places: Pages 8 and 9 of the transcript and the Clinton Library YouTube video starting at 51:52.

Students should create a written or verbal report that evaluates the structure of President Clinton’s remarks on the crime bill in the 1994 SOTU. How does the introduction for this speech excerpt grab the attention of the audience? What language does President Clinton use to present and organize his main points? How does President Clinton conclude his remarks? What elements do the conclusion and introduction have in common with one another? Is there anything else that made this speech effective?

Extension Activity/Informed Action Component

Students should conduct research to identify local efforts to combat crime in their community and make a multimedia presentation (such as PowerPoint, Prezi, or iMovie), website, poster, or exhibit board that illustrates those efforts.  Like President Clinton’s remarks on the crime bill in the 1994 SOTU, students should structure their presentations around an introduction, main points, and a conclusion. 

Option Two: 

Using the documents and photographs in the digital library exhibit, each student or group of students will examine the speechwriting process. Students should consider the impact of each step in the speechwriting process before creating a diagram that illustrates how these stages work together and lead up to the delivery of a SOTU Address.(Examples of the speechwriting process include documents showing input from federal agencies and photographs of President Clinton practicing remarks with speechwriters.)  

Extension Activity/Informed Action Component

Each student or team of students should prepare a short draft version of a speech that recommends an annual policy goal to Congress. Then, the class will review and suggest changes to the draft versions.  As a class, the students will then combine the best elements of the drafts into a final speech which could be presented at an assembly, school open house (live or recorded), shared as a podcast (audio only or video file), through social media, and/or as a press release to traditional media outlets.

Option Three:

Each student or team of students should review pages 49 and 50 from Terry Edmond’s file on the 2000 State of the Union Address and the photographs from the digital library exhibit. Students should then identify the technology used by speechwriters when creating SOTU Addresses for President Clinton in an outline. Students should note the technologies and technological advances that may have changed the SOTU speechwriting process over time. 

Extension Activity/Informed Action Component

Students should share their results with the class through written reports, multimedia presentations (such as PowerPoint, Prezi, or iMovie), websites, posters, or exhibit boards.