What's My Lens? This I Believe Essay:

Now is your chance to dig deep to consider what you believe in.  Using NPR's This I Believe essay genre, what is one of your personal philosophies? What do you believe? Why?  How does that shape your lens?
See Below for help getting started, and...

• Click here for the project overview 
• Click here for the rubric

This I Believe Website

Suggested Steps:

 ( TASK 1: Check out the project and rubric (link above!)
 TASK 2: Read This I Believe essays (many! links below!) to get a feel for the possibilities
 TASK 3: Review The format of This I Believe
 TASK 4: Complete at least ONE brainstorm from my website
 TASK 5: Write a quick draft or outline to prepare for your in-class on-demand This I Believe essay
*Get peer feedback!
 TASK 6: Write an On-Demand This I Believe Essay in Class Wednesday, October 5th

Study The Genre

Check Out www.thisibelieve.org and the links below!

• "Find a Good Frog" http://thisibelieve.org/essay/101469/
• "Always Go to the Funeral" http://www.npr.org/2005/08/08/4785079/always-go-to-the-funeral
• Featured Essays: http://thisibelieve.org/essays/featured/
• Class of 2014 TYWLS students published on This I Believe!
• Christy's Essay from 2009: http://thisibelieve.org/essay/64405/
• Jackie Robinson
• Model Essay 1
• Model Essay 2
• Model Essay 3
• Model Essay 4

Brainstorming

• Prompts about Beliefs: Click here for a brainstorm about your beliefs through answering common questions
  

• Important moments: Click here for a brainstorm about important moments in your life
• Consider making a T-chart of what you believe and don't believe (see the photo example above!)
• Consider a cloud- your belief in the center and the stories/reasons why you believe that all around (see the photo example above)
• Things I've Learned About Life: Click here for a brainstorm about life lessons you've learned
  
• My favorite way to brainstorm for this is to freewrite a list filling in the blank, "I believe......". This list could be silly or serious or both.  We all have strong beliefs. Don't think about having to write an essay about one- just write a list of what you believe in. Click here for an example of a list I made a few years ago.  I highlighted the ones I wanted to try writing about to narrow it down. 
  

Drafting

• Click here to download suggestions for getting started!
• Once you have your belief- check out this brainstorming sheet for stories that connect to your belief
• Having trouble thinking of a memory connected to what you believe? Try out this sheet to help! Click here...
• HOW DO I SUPPORT MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY?
   Look at the six letters in bold below.  Each one stands for a simple technique that you can use to support your personal belief . The strategies below have been adapted from writing guru Barry Lane for use in This I Believe compositions. 
• There is a term that goes with each letter.  I have provided you with an example of each technique using actual This I Believe essay quotes.  Think of specific examples from the essays that you have read in preparation for this project.
• D  Dialogue: “If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all,” my mother  
        warned me throughout my childhood.
  R  Rhetorical Question: “When you are eighty years old, what will you regret that
       you didn’t do?”
  A  Anecdote:  “I hadn’t really know what to expect from Africa.  All of my suppositions
       were based on National Geographic and the “Lion King,” both of which., I later 
       decided, portray merely a stereotype of the continent I grew to love.”
  P  Personal Experience:  “When I started dating Yusuf, my parents worried.”
  E  Example:  “I considered some of the awful things my grandparents and great-
       grandparents had seen in their lifetimes: two world wars, killer flu, segregation, a
       nuclear bomb.”
  S Statistic:  “There will be a pandemic that kills millions.”
  ​
• (Adapted This I Believe Curriculum www.thisibelieve.org Page 27)
   
  
  

​
Click HERE for the rubric!