Crafting a “This I Believe” Essay

What do you know and believe because of your unique experiences? I believe in the power of singing in the shower. I believe that kindness doesn’t solve all problems. A friend of mind believes in the power of quiet. Another believes that Karate teaches us all we need to know. In this camp, you’ll learn how to write a “This I believe” essay that reveals a little bit about the way you think and what’s important to you. You’ll learn how to move your writing and thinking from vague to more precise; how to write a thesis statement; how to craft strong beginnings; and how to use little pieces of stories from your life so that your reader can see and hear you, the person behind the words. At the end of the week, you’ll learn strategies for reading aloud to an audience, learning how to pay attention to speed, silence, and stress.

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ONE WEEK

FIVE MEETINGS

60 MINUTES EACH

MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

• 8 AM – 9 AM Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Vancouver
• 9 AM – 10 AM Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, El Paso
• 10 AM – 11 AM Chicago, Houston, Mexico City, Bogota, Quito, Lima, Winnipeg
• 11 AM – 12 PM New York, Detroit, Atlanta, Caracas, La Paz, Toronto, Montreal
• 1 PM – 2 PM Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo
• 3 PM – 4 PM Accra, Reykjavik
• 4 PM – 5 PM London, Dublin, Lisbon, Casablanca
• 5 PM – 6 PM Paris, Stockholm, Berlin, Warsaw, Cairo, Lagos, Johannesburg
• 6 PM – 7 PM Moscow, Nairobi, Istanbul, Doha
• 7 PM – 8 PM Dubai
• 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM Delhi

Instructor Bio: Karen Caine

In more than 25 years as an educator, Karen Caine has been a teacher, staff developer, curriculum director, adjunct professor and literacy consultant. She is a frequent presenter at national conferences and is the author of Writing to Persuade: Minilessons to Help Students Plan, Draft, and Revise. Karen specializes helping teachers study what students know, assess how they learn, inspire them to believe in themselves, and teach them how to use their unique strengths and ideas. She believes students need to be explicitly taught how to reread their own writing so they can revise their work with greater intention and attention to detail. Karen’s work is filled with clear practical information about what it means to write well. She also infuses joy, humor, close observation, and relationship-building into everything she does. With Karen, students not only learn how to work through the writing process with the qualities of good writing in mind, but also become motivated to work on their own writing projects in the future.