First thing that struck me about Obama's delivery of his speech to the school children of America is his language and word choice. He starts with a simple hello, and the rest of the speech is spoken with relatively simple, casual language, a change from his usually eloquent and rich language. Of course you have to consider his audience (kids), but then also the tone of the whole thing. He wants it to be less of a speech and more a conversation. A discussion to which we, the students, feel comfortable responding. I also think obama's concluding paragraph has a deliberate well written structure and point. He reminds of us of past generations and their contributions. But these contributions he cites are things we are all very familiar from first to twelfth grade - man on the moon, World War, civil rights, founding of the nation ,and then what we are much more familiar and comfortable with, the hallmarks of this generation, Google and Twitter. Another interesting thing to consider is Obama's range in maturity of audience. Theoretically he is addressing every six year old pre-pre-pre pubescent to eighteen year halfway out-the-doors. This is reflected in a both a basic message that applies to all (work hard, you are this country in twenty years, don't stop trying) and then more direct messages that apply to the more mature (you're not going to be a rapper) and less mature crowd (don;t be afraid to ask questions). So ultimately we can all walk away from this speech smiling.