Brainstorming:
Visit www.thisibelieve.org and search the essay database for submissions from your city or state or for essays on a theme of interest to you. Skim quickly through the opening paragraphs of 15 of these essays and save copies of 3 you’d like to read fully.
Read through each of the three essays the first time listening for the author’s unique voice. Consider what experiences have shaped the lives of each? How does each respond, physically or emotionally, to these experiences?
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 life in the past or present. Each summary should be scrupulously accurate in recording the philosophy that guides the life and choices of each author.