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This young boy brought 100 beliefs to school on the 100th day of school. The audio clip is good to share with students - to help them generate their own beliefs, to see how wide-ranging beliefs can be.

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I believe life is good.

I believe God is in everything.

I believe we're all equal.

I believe we can help people.

I believe everyone is weird in their own way.

I believe hate is a cause for love.

I believe that when I meditate I feel peaceful.

I believe we should be generous.

I believe brothers and sisters should be kind to each other.

I believe kids should respect their parents.

I believe I should not whine.

I believe people should wake up early.

I believe people should go outside more.

I believe in nature.

I believe people should use less trees.

I believe we should help the Arctic and rainforest animals.

I believe people shouldn't throw litter on the ground.

I believe people should not smoke.

I believe God is in good and bad.

I believe in magic.

I believe people should not give up.

I believe love is everywhere.

I believe that God helps us to have a good time.

I believe we live best in a community.

I believe we can protect people in danger.

I believe we should help the poor.

I believe it's OK to die but not to kill.

I believe war should not have started.

I believe war should stop.

I believe we can make peace.

Independently produced for Weekend Edition Sunday by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick.

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When Tarak McLain's kindergarten group celebrated their 100th day of class, some kids brought 100 nuts or cotton balls. Tarak brought a list of 100 things he believes. Now a first-grader, Tarak shares his top beliefs about God, life, nature and war.

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Essay Planning Sheet from TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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Essay Planning Sheet from TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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This sheet can help children think through possible theses before writing.

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Notebook-sized pushing our thinking page

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An essay with reasons for why one should do this.

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If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: "Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it's good luck." Four principles guide the pizza dude philosophy.

Principle 1: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in humility and forgiveness. I let him cut me off in traffic, let him safely hit the exit ramp from the left lane, let him forget to use his blinker without extending any of my digits out the window or towards my horn because there should be one moment in my harried life when a car may encroach or cut off or pass and I let it go. Sometimes when I have become so certain of my ownership of my lane, daring anyone to challenge me, the pizza dude speeds by me in his rusted Chevette. His pizza light atop his car glowing like a beacon reminds me to check myself as I flow through the world. After all, the dude is delivering pizza to young and old, families and singletons, gays and straights, blacks, whites and browns, rich and poor, vegetarians and meat lovers alike. As he journeys, I give safe passage, practice restraint, show courtesy, and contain my anger.

Principle 2: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in empathy. Let's face it: We've all taken jobs just to have a job because some money is better than none. I've held an assortment of these jobs and was grateful for the paycheck that meant I didn't have to share my Cheerios with my cats. In the big pizza wheel of life, sometimes you're the hot bubbly cheese and sometimes you're the burnt crust. It's good to remember the fickle spinning of that wheel.

Principle 3: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in honor and it reminds me to honor honest work. Let me tell you something about these dudes: They never took over a company and, as CEO, artificially inflated the value of the stock and cashed out their own shares, bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy, resulting in 20,000 people losing their jobs while the CEO builds a home the size of a luxury hotel. Rather, the dudes sleep the sleep of the just.

Principle 4: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in equality. My measurement as a human being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job - any job - and the respect with which I treat others. I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart. And it all starts here - with the pizza delivery dude.

Tip him well, friends and brethren, for that which you bestow freely and willingly will bring you all the happy luck that a grateful universe knows how to return.

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If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: "Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it's good luck." Four principles guide the pizza dude philosophy. Principle 1: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in humility and forgiveness.

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This site is full of essays on all kinds of topics - from NPR. The essays are NOT written in a 5 paragraph style, but they are rich and beautiful and inspiring. You could find many to read throughout the year to inspire notebook entries, find ideas, and study craft.

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TWO WRITING TEACHERS - Post by Kathleen Sokolowski

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TWO WRITING TEACHERS - Post by Kathleen Sokolowski

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This post includes lots of thinking about personal essay writing as well as a letter to parents to include with a published book of personal essays and also a self-reflection sheet.

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Pausing to Reflect: Personal Essays

Katie Wood Ray entitled one of her brilliant books: The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (And They're All Hard Parts). She was right about the hard parts! While I believe with all my heart in the power of writing workshop, there are days and particular units that feel really challenging.

My third graders are wrapping up their unit on personal essays. While some have grasped the structure and have articulated reasons and examples to support their argument, others have struggled to understand the concept of an essay. I want to take some time to think about what went right when teaching this unit and where the breakdowns occurred. Before rushing off to the next unit (and I'm all too aware I should already be in this unit, according to the curriculum map), here I will pause and reflect.

What went right:

Prior to the unit starting, the literacy coach and my third grade colleagues and I took time to write personal essays. This helped us understand the genre better and we had 5 instant mentor texts we could share with our students.

I consulted with one of the fourth grade teachers in my school who had been teaching personal essays for several years. She shared some of her strategies with me, including using a mini folder to organize the different components of the essay. We visited the 4th grade class as those students completed their essays and they read them aloud to my students, talking also about their writing process.

Students were taught to look through their notebook for ideas for personal essay- an entry about a day at an amusement park could lead to a personal essay about why a certain park is the best place to visit.

Students read mentor texts from the third grade teachers as a way to understand the parts of a personal essay.

Students all selected their own topics.

Students who wrote strong personal essays shared their work with the class and we charted what we noticed.

Students typed their essays in Google Docs and shared it with me, allowing for us to revise and edit digitally.

The fourth grade class visited us at the end of our unit and we shared common understandings about personal essays. My third graders read aloud their pieces to the fourth graders. The fourth graders, led by their fabulous teacher, shared positive things they noticed about the essays, including specific details and persuasive reasons. The fourth graders gave us a preview of literary essays and how these have similarities to personal essays.

The personal essays from my students will be compiled into a class book so everyone can have their own collection as a keepsake.

I wrote an opening letter to the class book, explaining the genre of personal essay for the families.

Students were asked to read 2 classmates' personal essays and provide positive feedback to the writer. Students could also ask a respectful question if they were still wondering something after reading the piece.

I created a Writer's Reflection for each student to complete after receiving the feedback from other readers.

Questions I have:

Students who are really struggling with the structure of an essay and the stamina to write several paragraphs- is it okay to shorten their requirements? Can they just write one convincing paragraph? Dictate their ideas to the teacher while she types it up? What is the best way to help a struggling writer who might not be ready to write a personal essay?

Some students created paragraphs on the piece they brought to publication, but did not create paragraphs in their post on demand sample. How do I help them independently know when they need a new paragraph?

We know the "5 paragraph essay" is deadly, but how else do you show young children how an essay works? Do they need to know that structure so they can eventually outgrow it and write a compelling essay that doesn't necessarily follow that format? If not, how do you help young children understand the parts of an essay?

Editing- How do you help students really slow down and make sure they have capital letters, punctuation, and sentences that make sense? My students use their editing checklist and tell me all is well and a partner has signed off on their work, only to find that there are many sentences without capital letters and other problems.

If we are teaching the writer, not the writing, what do you do when the writing is going to be published, the deadline has arrived, and the writing is still off track? Should the teacher revise and edit so the student can see what the appropriate model would look like? Or should the student read the work he/she created?

How do you handle it when students write about video games/ Pokemon and it all feels like an unfamiliar language?

Going forward, I know I need to do more work teaching my students how to edit more diligently. I also need to consider the idea of differentiation for students who might not be able to produce the end product we are working towards. How do you reflect at the end of a unit of study? Please share any thoughts or answers to the questions I posed as well!

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My third graders are wrapping up their unit on personal essay. While some have grasped the structure and have articulated reasons and examples to support their argument, others have struggled to understand the concept of an essay. I want to take some time to think about what went right when teaching this unit and where...