This I Believe...

As part of getting ready to write college entrance essays, We are spending a bit of time examining excellent writing. Varations on this assignment are played out at many high schools and colleges across our country. I hope you find it inspiring...

This I Believe...

"This I Believe..." started out as part of a radio show in the 1950's. It was reborn on NPR for nearly four years. The last new program was aired early this summer. We are visiting the This I Believe website to listen to and read a few examples of their powerful and consis essays. I have focused on selecting essays from students 18 and under, as well as a few others.

Day 1 (Friday)
I explain the program and we listened to a few of the stories including:
"Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude"

Seeing with the Heart

My Father Told Me I Was Fat

The Beatles Live On

Returning to What's Natural

Finding the Flexibility to Survive

Accomplishing Big Things in Little Pieces

Then we will discuss what is striking about these pieces. What grabs your attention and makes you want to keep listening/reading?

Day 2 (Tuesday)Exploring the Essays on Your Own

We have time in the computer lab for students to explore more essays. I would like each student to read/listen to at least six more essays and select their favorite. We will be filling in a reader's journal to track the names of the essays and the student's response to them. I want each student to pick a favorite and print it out for our next activity.

“This I Believe” Personal Narratives:
Considering Style, Impact, Audience, Content and Personal Voice

Directions: I’d like you to go to thisibelieve.org and read/listen to at least five different essays. I’d also like you to record your responses to each of the essays with the following items for consideration:
 Why did you select this essay?
 What do you think the author did well?
 What are the author’s strengths?
 What is the author’s overall purpose and audience?
 What are the techniques the author uses and why? What is the effect on the reader?
 What stylistic devises worked well? Why?
 Copy down one of your favorite lines from the essay.
Before you leave class today, pick your favorite, copy the text to a word document and print it. Be sure to bring it to class tomorrow.

You can browse by theme, or by special collections (many of ours came from this page), or by the age of the writer and expected audience.

Day 3 Considering Style

Each student came to class with a print out of their favorite essay from the "This I Believe" series. They put themselves into groups of 3-4 people and shared their essays. One person would read their essay to the other members. The group would discuss the essay with an emphasis on the stylistic elements of the essay. Each person would make an entry on a sheet of paper with the following information filled in:
Name of the student reading the essay_____________________
Name of the essay ________________________________________
Favorite line from the essay______________________________
Response to the essay ____________________________________

Each student needed to have three completed responses.

Homework: Begin to develop a list of things you believe in. Think about the guiding principles by which you live your life. These are things you are passionate about, things you would work for or fight for. They are the things by which you make your choices. Have at least five on your list for class.

Day 4 (Friday)Generating Ideas

Students began by listing at least five core beliefs. Many of them were very general, such as I believe in family. We worked on probing deeper to get to a statement that was more specific.

Next, students selected one that they think they would want to write on and did the following (The items below are borrowed from the "This I Believe" website curriculum for high school. It is used with permission from the author.):

Synonyms (words and phrases
that mean the same thing as
the belief statement) OR
words/phrases associated with
this concept.
Example: Life is fair.
• Even-steven
• You get out of it as much as you
put into it
• You get what you deserve
***Make a list of 3-5 synonyms

Write out at least one story that illustrates how that belief operates in your life.

Make a list of at least three other stories that also illustrate your belief.

Homework: Be ready to start a rough draft on Monday. We will be in the computer lab to type up our essays on Tuesday and the block day.

Day 5 (Monday) Creating a Rough Draft

“This I Believe” Personal Philosophy Statements
This has been adapted from the “This I Believe” website

We’ve spent some time listening to and reading many of the excellent essays on the “This I Believe” website. We’ve done some prewriting activities to help you hone in on what some of your beliefs are. Now it is your time to write. I’d like you to write a short essay on your some belief you hold. It is my hope that this may help prepare you for writing your college entrance/scholarship essay. This will not be easy, most likely. But it should be honest and focused. Understand that you many need to go through a few drafts until you get to that point.

Here are the particulars:
 350-500 words, typed using 12 point Times New Roman font
 1 ½ Spacing
 Titled something other than “This I Believe”

We will also follow the guidelines for the program:
This I Believe Essay-Writing Guidelines

We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting your own statement of personal belief. We understand how challenging this is—it requires such intimacy that no one else can do it for you. We would like you to tell not only what you believe, but how you reached your beliefs, and if they have grown, what made them grow. This necessarily must be highly personal. That is what we anticipate and want.

To guide you through this process, we offer these suggestions:

Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs.

Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That’s about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.

Name your belief: If you can’t name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on one core belief, because three minutes is a very short time.
Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe, not what you don’t believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial “we.” Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.
Be personal: Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone, and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.

HOW DO I SUPPORT MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY?
Here are a few ways to make your essay more personal. Try to use…

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 (a short story to illustrate a point)

P Personal Experience

E Example

S Statistic

Tips To Add Audience Appeal To Personal Essays

1. Be sure your essay is about something you care strongly enough about to elaborate and wax
eloquent or passionate about it. Readers want to know what you know, feel what you feel, and
understand exactly where you’re coming from.

2. While the idea for the essay must be personal, make the frame big enough to allow your reader
to find parallels between your experience and theirs. Give readers the opportunity to say, “Ah!
Yes, I’ve never been there or done that, but I can relate to what the author is talking about.”
Even if readers have not been on a mission trip to Africa, the effective writer must draw in an
audience to show a more universal implication of a very personal experience or belief.

3. If you are writing about a small personal occurrence, put your idea in a context that gives the
reader insight to both the small moment and the wider perspective. Think of your essay as a
camera lens. You might start by describing a fine detail (a specific moment in the narrative),
then opens up the lens to take in the wide view (the general/global backdrop), then close the
piece by narrowing back to the fine detail.

4. Use details to draw the reader in. Be specific and avoid using abstract expressions and phrases
such as “the best day of my life” or “I’d never known greater grief” to describe emotions of love
or loss. Make the emotions real and immediate by noting specifics and details that draw the
reader into your experience.

5. Employ all the senses to convey your ideas to the reader: sight, sound, taste, touch, and hearing.

6. Make sure that beyond all the idea development, your readers can summarize the MAIN IDEA
that you BELIEVE. You should not have to hit the readers over the head with a summary
statement such as “What I am trying to say…” or “What I really mean is…” In fact, such a
closing is almost insulting or an indication that you fear you have danced around the belief
without making it crystal clear. You must aim to leave the readers clear and satisfied—whether
they agree with what you believe or not. Sometimes a brief echo of the opening is the most
satisfying clincher to bring a personal essay full circle.