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NPR: "I Believe"

Constructivist Lesson based on the NPR "This I Believe" web site

Created by Julia Amberg, Siobhan Fitzgerald, Chris Griffith, Megan MacDonald, Emma Netto, Wellington Netto, Brianne Wicks

Popular name: “This I Believe” Personal Essays
Grade Level of Lesson: Grades 7-12
Discipline: English Language Arts

Standards and Performance Indicators Context

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Standard #2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

Performance Indicator: Use resources such as personal experience, knowledge from other content areas, and independent reading to create literary, interpretive, and responsive text.

Learning Objective (which will become the dimensions/elements of the rubric)

• Students will synthesize a statement of personal belief which they will express in a personal essay of 350-500 words. This essay will follow the format outlined by NPR’s radio program.

EXPLORATORY PHASE

1. Agree/Disagree exercise: This exercise involves students breaking into groups based on their opinion of a given statement. The students separate into different corners of the room, according to whether they agree or disagree with the main idea of the statement. The separate corners will talk amongst themselves, and students in the corners will form their own opinions from gathered student knowledge. Then the class will re-form and have a class discussion.

Sample Statements for "Corners" Activity

DISCOVERY PHASE

1. Teacher explanation of student essay format: Following the visit to the computer lab, the students will report the conclusions they reached about the format of the essays they read. The teacher will then record these conclusions in a graphic organizer and add any additional ideas. The teacher will also differentiate for them the difference between transactive writing and a personal essay.

A rubric can be built by the students (facilitated by the teacher) from the quality descriptors entered in the circles of the graphic organizer.

2. Parental Involvement Interviews: Seniors will have a discussion with their parent(s) and/ or a role model asking their advice about what life lessons they should bring with them into the future. They will record their elders’ advice in their journals.

3. Focused Freewriting Exercise: In this exercise the students will be writing about a specific issue (politics/current events etc.) that they feel very strongly about and/or has a special significance in their lives. This exercise should last about 10 minutes so that they have ample time to formulate their own opinions on the issue.

4. Sharing of Personal Beliefs: Once the freewriting exercise is completed, students will be asked to stand up and share an excerpt from the freewrite that they feel portrays their belief and summarizes what they wrote about. This will give them an opportunity to speak in front of the class and become more comfortable with public speaking.

5. Cementing of Ideas: Have the students take their journals and copies of the graphic organizer and review the concepts and beliefs listed there and the criteria for assessment. After they have brainstormed for a few minutes, they will write down exactly which belief they will be describing in their personal writing assignment.

6. Beginning the Writing Process: The students will then be asked to write the first paragraph which will then be peer-edited by a partner using the rubric generated from the graphic of criteria.

7. Completing the Essay: After the peer-editing process, the essay will be completed in a time frame assigned by the teacher. Once the essays are finished, students will perform a “mouth edit” in which they read their essays aloud. If the student stumbles on a word or phrase, it should be rewritten for fluency.

Building Rubrics from Models