Common Core-aligned lesson plan for third-graders casts Obama as modern messiah

Another biography of President Barack Obama is making waves.

This one is entitled “Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope.” The author, Nikki Grimes, paints the 44th president as nothing short of a messianic figure.

Eagnews.org has found a language arts lesson plan for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders revolving around the book at the website TeachersPayTeachers.com. The description of the $3.60 lesson plan by Sherece Bennett boasts that it is officially “aligned” with the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an attempt to standardize various K-12 curricula around the country.

The book treats Obama as sort of a modern combination of Moses and the Joseph of the Old Testament—with a bit of Johnny Appleseed thrown in for good measure.

Early in the book, Eagnews notes, a young, hopeful Obama notices some homeless people and asks, “Will I ever be able to help people like these?”

As the future president grows, his mother teaches him “English grammar and the Golden Rule.” “Be honest, be kind, be fair.”

Later in the story, Obama dramatically changes his name from Barry to Barack.

“One morning, he slipped on the name he’d been born with. The name of his father, Barack. For the first time in his life, he wore it proudly–like a coat of many colors.”

The allusion is obviously biblical. In Genesis 37:3, Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, receives a “coat of many colors.”

Still later, the “Common Core aligned” book dramatically describes Obama’s work as a community organizer in Chicago.

The work was grueling, with stretches of failure, and puny patches of success. Door-to-door Barack went, early mornings, late nights, pleading and preaching, coaxing strangers to march together, to make life better for everyone.

He worked as hard as a farmer, planting the words “Yes, we can!” like seeds in spring.

The TeachersPayTeachers.com lesson plan for the book includes a number of exciting activities including a collage containing “pictures and words about Barack Obama,” according to Eagnews.

Also included is a “comprehension quiz.”

“Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope” receives an average rating of three stars (out of five possible) at Amazon.com.

As with many politically-charged books, this one has mostly five-star and one-star reviews. Only about 15 percent of the reviews are somewhere in the middle.

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