Starter #3

Choose a quote from the list that you identify with (or choose a quote that has stuck with you in your life from another source).  How do you relate to this quote?  What experiences from your life have given you that belief?

Pair Share:  Discuss "The Beauty of Contrast."
1. What is her core belief?
2. What is the narrative (story) that she uses to illuminate her belief?
3. How does she reveal her personality to us?
4.  Why should we care? 

Listen to “Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude”

1. What is her core belief?

2. How does she use narrative (story) to illuminate her belief?

3. How does she reveal her personality to us?  Does she seem authentic?  Do we feel her message?

4. Why should we care?   What can we learn?

Personal v. Transactive Writing

What this essay is and is not...

The three criteria of an excellent "This I Believe" Essay

Group Critique of Published Essays

For each essay, discuss the author’s approach to the assignment.  Answer the following in your groups:

1.  Is it personal narrative or personal memoir?

2.  What is the author’s core belief?               

3.  How did the author use story to illuminate their belief?  What elements of good storytelling did they incorporate?  Does the whole piece work together in one unified voice? (narrative coherence)

4.  How does the author establish his/her unique personality through the assignment?  Which sections of the essay strike readers as truthful, either intellectually or emotionally? (authentic voice)

5.  “So what?”  How does the author connect to the human community?   (communal relevance)

"The Ultimate Sacrifice"

James Michener, "All Men are my Brothers"
"The Cultivation of Belief"

HOMEWORK

1. Continue to explore thisibelieve.org.

2. Read or listen to at least 3 essays.  (Choose based on personal interest.  Browse themes!  Listen to many more if you want to!)

3. For each of the three essays:  Without attempting to indicate your agreement or disagreement with the essay, write a 1-2 paragraph summary of the author’s core belief and the way this belief has shaped his or her life in the past or present.

As you read, pay close attention to the author’s authentic voice, narrative coherence, and communal relevance.  For a challenge extension, analyze these three criteria in writing.

4. Begin to brainstorm your own essay.