Obama inspires Md. teacher’s book

A Prince George’s County teacher is getting a head start on helping President-elect Barack Obama improve education.

The Rev. Eugene Williams Sr., of Clinton, has self-published “Words, Cross & Across: Word Searches on Barack Obama,” a book of word searches and puzzles based on the president-elect and his family.

Mr. Williams, 67, said he got the idea for the book last year when his 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade English students at Annapolis Road Academy, in Bladensburg, didn´t understand many of the words in Mr. Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I see it as a family-oriented book,” Mr. Williams said. “It’s a good way to bring families together and learn new words.”

Mr. Williams said he eschewed the traditional memorization approach to vocabulary by building on the suggestion of student Aaron Johnson, who sits in the back of the class.

“There’s always a student in the back,” he said.

Mr. Williams said he crafted the searches and charts with word meanings and usage components so students also could learn definitions.

Many of his words were pulled from the SAT prep class he taught, but not all the words are so complex.

Words such as “father,” “nice” and “bank” are included to balance out “elucidate,” “puissant,” and “gregarious” so that even younger children can learn from the book.

“We want parents to sit down with children as young as 2- or 3-years-old,” Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Williams said he spent months researching before writing the 156-page book, even watching the president-elect on the Web site YouTube, to help him make better associations with Mr. Obama’s word choices.

“I teach words by association,” Mr. Williams said.

During the first days of his English classes, he asks his students to choose words from literature to describe themselves, and they have to explain their selections to classmates.

“One best remembers words through association,” Mr. Williams said, adding that students will not forget the word “loquacious” when used to describe them.

Story Continues →