Help Students Create Personal Belief Statements
A This I Believe Unit Offers Social-Emotional Growth Opportunities
Secondary gifted students tend to be reflective. They often see multiple sides of different issues, and they are concerned with the conflicts between what is right and what is fair. National Public Radio's "This I Believe" series is perfect for teachers who want to help students focus on personal values and ideals, and the process of developing belief statements can help foster socio-emotional growth. Students will look at the world and find a place in it, and express where they feel comfortable on a range of difficult topics.
Introducing Students to "This I Believe"
Before using the unit, students should be exposed to the This I Believe essays and podcasts that are available through NPR's This I Believe hub. Teachers need to have computer access and headphones so that all students can enjoy immersing themselves into some deep thoughts without being distracted. Once at the NPR site, students can search with several advanced options, including:
- by time frame (contemporary or 1950s)
- by keywords (name, location, or topic)
- by theme (a wide, thought provoking range is available)
- by age of essayist
Teachers should have students check the option to show the essays that have audio files, because although the written essays are beautiful, there is something even more powerful about reading the words and hearing the voices.
It is also nice to listen to the whole essay as a class, and that can be done weekly with new podcasts from the NPR hub.
Using "This I Believe" in the Classroom
NPR's middle school unit is the most likely to be used in a secondary gifted classroom because at the high school level, this unit would be used in an AP class which would not be homogeneously gifted. The unit breaks down five days of activities, which could be easily adjusted for block classes. The unit asks students to focus on:
- values
- important personal moments
- lessons learned from personal moments
- making a postive statement of belief (as opposed to saying what one does not believe)
Through the unit, students can:
- organize
- map
- write and edit an essay for a listening audience
- create a multi-media presentation
NPR offers a lot of resouces for teachers to share with students, including posters and handouts. The unit may start as a one week journey, but it can be a motivator for discussion through the whole school year and provide easy access to historical figures.
Going Beyond NPR
For classes with students who are interested in podcasting, "This I Believe" is the perfect opportunity, because there are so many great examples on NPR. Creating student podcasts of "This I Believe" essays has several benefits:
- the essays will be interesting for parents (the main audience outside of school)
- the content will be short
- students will draw confidence from the NPR examples
- students will feel comfortable as they share their diverse opinions and values because that is the whole goal of the project
A written and audio essay presentation is a wonderful way to share values, and students will likely feel more at ease sharing different points of view because there are so many. Even shy students may feel strongly enough about a topic that they will find it easier to share their voices. As students focus on values, create a meaningful project, and hear their voice among others, they will grow emotionally and socially.
Students Can Edit Sounds and Create Podcasts
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