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News & Record staff writer Mark Binker is in the media pool traveling with President Barack Obama. This story is compiled from reports he is filing. Staff photographer Lynn Hey is also in the media pool.

JAMESTOWN — President Barack Obama took his message of job creation to GTCC on Tuesday morning, beginning his day with a tight cluster of teachers and teachers in training at the school's early education program.

The presidential motorcade left the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro at 9:27 a.m. and headed to Jamestown, occasionally passing clusters of people along the way. At one Exxon station, a sign read: "Giggles Says: wheres the jobs."

Passing Millis Road Elementary on the way into the GTCC campus, a group of students watched the motorcade go by. A large banner read: "Welcome Mr. President."

The motorcade arrived at GTCC shortly before 10 a.m. The motorcade stopped at the Service Careers building, where the college hosts an early childhood education program.

The president, wearing an open-collared dress shirt, and five people who were either teachers or teachers in training sat around folding tables inside a classroom that looked like it normally served as a pre-school class. There were finger-paintings on the wall, a large brown paper artwork in the back and a bright primary-colored carpet.

The president gave the names of the people sitting with him:

• Craig Babcock, a fourth-grade teacher at Millis Road Elementary, which is near the GTCC campus.

• Linda Phillips, a ninth-grade teacher at Ragsdale High School.

• Tyresse Wade, a student in the GTCC early childhood program.

• Shelby Kron, a student in the GTCC early childhood program.

• Mary Skrabec, director of curriculum with the GTCC early childhood program.

Editor's note: Name spellings come from the White House. If you see an incorrect spelling, let us know here.

After media filed into the room, the president gave some brief remarks.

"We are here to talk both to teachers and soon-to-be teachers and talk about the importance of education to the economy," Obama said. "How well we do as a country is going to depend on how well we train our young people, and it starts early. So we're at a terrific early childhood education program here at a community college."

The president said he was concerned about cuts that states and local governments were making to education and said his jobs bill would help local schools keep those teachers employed.

"One of the concerns that I've had over the course of the last several months, in fact the last couple of years, are the layoffs that we've seen in education. States and local governments are under a big crunch. At precisely the time when we need to be emphasizing education, putting more resources into education, we're seeing cutbacks all across the board."

Obama continued: "The American Jobs Act, the bill I put before Congress, would help curb some of those trends. I hope that members of Congress will listen," Obama said, adding that "politicians often talk about the importance of education but don't always provide funding. We don't always put our money where our mouth is."

At 10:08 a.m., the president started his private conversation with the teachers, and the media left the building.

An hour later, the motorcade left for the Ragsdale YMCA gymnasium for the president’s next speaking event.

At 11:16 a.m., someone started a “Fired Up, Ready to Go” chant in the gymnasium. Immediately afterward, Linda Phillips, a Ragsdale High School teacher, began her introduction of the president.

Phillips, a mother of three, said she teaches reading to students who need extra academic support at Ragsdale. Her position, she said, is funded by a grant and in danger of being cut because of loss of funding. Phillips was one of five teachers or teachers in training who met with the president earlier this morning.

"We need to keep good teachers in our classrooms," she said, prompting applause.

At 11:20 a.m., the president arrived in the auditorium.

The president spoke at a podium in front of a "American Jobs Act" banner. Above that banner were two American flags and two North Carolina flags. On the wall to his left  was one big American flag and one big North Carolina flag.

Obama acknowledged Phillips, Congressman Mel Watt and Jamestown Mayor Keith Volz.

Volz, the president reported, had told him there were some good golf courses and restaurants down here.

"I’m going to have to sample both next time I’m here," Obama said. The president mentioned that he had some North Carolina barbecue and sweet tea yesterday, as well as some hushpuppies.

"Don’t tell Michelle," the president said, referencing his wife.

He then launched into his stump speech, comparing and contrasting his jobs plan with plans put forward by Republicans. The president said that the Republican plan would "gut" environmental regulations, roll back Wall Street reforms and repeal health care reform, which prompted "boos" from the audience.

"That’s a plan, but it’s not a jobs plan," Obama said.

As he did Monday, Obama said of Congress, "We’re going to give them another chance to do the right thing." He mentioned that his jobs plan will be split into pieces.

"The first vote we asked Congress to take is scheduled for later this week," Obama said. The first part of the bill would allow local governments to hire more teachers, firefighters and police officers.

The president said that North Carolina had laid off 2,000 teachers this year.

"Your governor has been fighting these education cuts," Obama said.

The president also called for more infrastructure investment by way of a part of his bill that would also put some unemployed workers back on the job. Countries such as China, he said, were jumping ahead of America in building roads and high-speed trains.

"That doesn’t seem to me like the American way. We used to always have the best stuff," he said.

Obama said he saw an ad, probably by American Crossroads group, on television while watching Monday Night Football. Obama warned audience members not to be fooled by the ad, which is critical of the administration's jobs plan. Although upper-income earners would pay more under his jobs plan, Obama said, more Americans would pay fewer taxes due to payroll tax cuts.

He added that "voting 'no' on the jobs bill is voting in favor of middle class families' taxes going up."

The president called on the audience to push Congress to pass his jobs bill.

"When we confront tough times, we don’t give in to what is. We think about what ought to be. ... Now is the time to say 'Yes, we can,'" he said.

Obama concluded his remarks at 11:47 a.m. and then went to shake hands in the crowd as loudspeakers played "Stars and Stripes forever."

Just before 1 p.m., the president’s motorcade entered Reidsville.

He stopped at Reid’s House Restaurant, a small place with a row of stools at a lunch counter and one row of booths. As the president entered, people whipped out their cellphones and cameras to take pictures.

"The food must be good here," Obama said, noting the large crowd. "I’ve got to put my order in, then I’ll take pictures," he said. It was not immediately known what he ordered.

To one man, Obama said: "Now, you ate all your vegetables before you had dessert," noting his wife’s focus on healthy eating.

He greeted another couple, one of whom is an outgoing Reidsville City Council member. They told the president how long they’d been married.

"Michelle and I have been married 19 – we’ve got 44 to go to catch up with you."

Leaving the restaurant, the president worked a rope line.

"You’ve got to work hard," he said to one pair of community college students.

One woman handed Obama a phone, telling him that her grandmother was on the line. "Hey grandma – boy this is an old-style phone. … I appreciate you."

After working the rope line, the president got back on his bus. The motorcade left town at 1:21 p.m.