This I Believe

This assignment asks students to select a strongly held personal belief and craft a persuasive essay in favor of their beliefs. This project also requires an accompanying reflection essay.

Students should tell a specific story about themselves. This is their own own experience, work, and family, things they know that no one else does that have shaped their core values. This is a specific story, so they can also consider a moment when their belief was formed, tested, or changed. The story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—and it can be funny—but it should be real.

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The statement of belief should be brief, between 400 and 600 words, about three minutes when read aloud at a natural pace, or about two pages—maybe slightly more or less. Students should be able to name their belief in a sentence or two, and because this is their personal story, they can use the first person, "I," and use words and phrases that are comfortable form them to write and speak.

This I Believe Objectives

• Identify a personal belief, isolate one vignette, and select descriptive devices and narrative strategies
• Respond to other This I Believe statements
• Present their This I Believe statements in class
• Identify & employ genre and stylistic conventions appropriate to multiple different audiences & rhetorical contexts.

This project is connected to Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) through:

Genres & Formats

• Written narrative
• Oral Presentation