This I Believe Reflection

Project Description:
During this project we broke away from the transactive writing we had been doing and learned about how to write a personal essay based on a belief we have based on the essays that are submitted to NPR's This I Believe program. I chose to write about the power of music. After we finished the essays, 400-500 words, we displayed them with a profile picture of us in a beautiful frame for everyone to see.

Process:
Writing a good personal essay required us to do many drafts. I personally had five different drafts of my essay before I got my final one. After we finnished writing the essays we took profile shots of our face, cut them out, traced them onto a piece of colored paper, and cut the nice color pieces out. We then took the frames we had bought for the project and used them to creatively display both our profiles' and essays for our school exhibition.

Reflection:
During the project I learned a lot about myself. In order to be able to write the essay I really had to think about what I believe in. This was somewhat hard for me becuase I believe in a lot of things and I had a hard time choosing something to write about. Becuase my dad is a musician music has always been a big part of my life. I have learned many things from my love for music, so I figured that my belief in the power of it would be something interesting and unique to write about.
While I had my belief ready to go, when I started writting I realized that because I have been doing transactive writing so much this semester my personal writing techniques were lacking. It took my until the fourth draft to be able to fully get back into the swing of things but once I had I was able to produce a piece of writting that I am extremely proud of.
If I could do this project over again I wouldn't have done anything differently. I am extremely proud of my piece and overall display of it with my profile shot. I am completely in love with my work and wouldn't change it for the world.
Now that I have practiced transactive and personal essays I feel that I am more prepared for 10th grade when I will most likely have to write in both styles. I better understand the difference between the two and feel comfortable writing in both.

To see my personal essay click here