"This I Believe" Essay

 

The "This I Believe" Essay was a 1,000 word essay that we wrote for U.S History. It was about what we believe America is. We studied many important documents that have been in our country's history. In our essays, we quoted some of these documents, at least one for the five centuries that this country has existed, going all the way back to the Pilgrims. The quality that I chose to represent America was equality.

 

I grew through this project in two ways. The first way I grew was in how to use inquiry. I had to research and analyze many documents and had to decide what information was important and what wasn't. The second way I learned was in my writing skills. I had never written a paper like this and it was a good challenge to write my own beliefs and ideas supported by statements from historical documents. I struggled with finding documents from the different time periods that helped support the quality that I had chosen. This project was important because it taught us to think for ourselves and really think about what we think America is and whether or not it lives up to what it says it is.