A few years ago I wrote an essay for "THIS I BELIEVE" a program inspired by Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe series from the 1950s. My essay, lets my neighbors know what I believe in, and by sharing our philosophy of life we begin to understand our social environment, but the process of declaring publicly your beliefs is an enlightening journey of self-discovery.
The Focus On Change in Education: K-12, started by the La Jolla Democratic Club, is exploring new methods of solving the problems of public education. The Dropout Crisis is one such problem, and this group has identified Middle School as a critical point in which children choose the direction they will follow. If Eighth-Graders are encouraged to take on the project of defining their personal philosophy, then their identity can be channeled into positive growth, rather than floundering on the waves of despair in an indifferent world.
The THIS I BELIEVE project is now off the air, but their web site will persist and I encourage you to take the time to contribute an essay for their archive. But the most important I want to communicate to those educators out there is that this project will continue to support educators with tools for bringing This I Believe into the classroom. They provide free downloadable curricula for middle school, high school, and college educators so they may share this essay-writing assignment with their students.
Please Join our SOCIAL NETWORK at http://focusonchange.ning.com
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