John Creger’s
Thriving at the Core Presentations

John’s Professional Development Seminars

Design Sessions
In his full day design session—Self-Discovery as the True Core: The Personal Creed Project and the Missing Region of Curriculum— John introduces the Creed Project, the model of learning, and the course-deepening design principles of sustained reflection, pervasive questioning, and active cultivation of wisdom.

Teachers write Creed reflections and make presentations for themselves, and sample classroom practices John uses to help his students develop in each of the course-deepening areas. Teacher-participants in John’s design sessions report the same excitement John sees from his students.

Strategy Sessions
John’s full day strategy session—Reading, Writing, and Conversation Strategies for Learning That Matters— focuses on specific strategies and strategy sequences to equip teachers to help their students deepen mastery of Common Core State Standards.

This session draws on strategies from John’s involvements with AVID, WestEd’s Strategic Literacy Initiative (Reading Apprenticeship, Academic Literacy), the San Jose Area Writing Project, and his own innovations during more than 25 years of teaching all levels of sophomore English at American High School.

Recent Sessions

• November 2018: “Renovating Hope: the Personal Creed Project and a More Fully Human Curriculum,” Houston TX. Three speaking engagements at National Councils of Teachers of English (NCTE) convention.
• October 2018: “Reversing Learnicide: the Personal Creed Project and a More Fully Human Curriculum,” Asilomar CA. Weekend-long design session with Central Coast Council of CATE.
• March 2018: “Equity Through Self-Discovery: the Real Core of Curriculum,” San Diego CA. Session at California Association of Teachers of English (CATE) convention.
• June 2017: “Teaching Self-Knowledge in Unsettling Times,” San Jose CA. Week-long Open Session with San Jose Area Writing Project, San Jose State University.
• February 2017: “Renovate Your Classroom Literacy Practices Through Deepened Conversation,” Santa Clara CA. Session at CATE convention.
• November 2016: “Self-Discovery as the True Core,” Atlanta GA. Speaking engagement at National Councils of Teachers of English (NCTE) convention.
• October 2016: “The Experience of Classroom Depth,” Asilomar CA. Weekend-long design session with Central Coast Council of CATE.
• August 2016: “Two Interactive Days of Deepened Literacy,” Marysville CA. Two-day design and strategy session with Marysville Joint Union School District.
• 2015-16 school year: “Thriving at the Core” professional development series, Fremont CA. Series of seven design and strategy sessions for Fremont Unified School District.

Half and full-day seminars give participants a personal experience of the deepened learning John designs into his
courses. In most strategy and design sessions, participants sample an abbreviated version of the Personal Creed
Project

Recent Comments from Teacher Participants:

California Association of Teachers of English Convention, March 2018:

• [I value] the attention to research, huge resources shared!
• I actually experienced validation that there are other ways of working with curriculum.
• A great tool was presented to get my students thinking inwardly.
• Materials I can definitely use [to fit the project to] middle school developmentally.
• A project that I can adapt to sixth grade.
• Good balance between engaging in and understanding the overall goal of the project.
• Loved my own experience of sharing my creed (taught me a lot about myself).

California Association of Teachers of English Convention, February 2017:

• Amazing—some of the best training I have ever gotten.
• I actually experienced rejuvenation, inspiration.
• A wonderful conversation with new colleagues and new strategies from an experienced and gifted teacher.

Marysville USD Two Interactive Days of Deepened Literacy, August 2016:

• Not what I expected, much deeper and more thoughtful. Great workshop.
• Even more depth and teacher ideas than I expected.
• A deeper understanding of how to get kids involved

Fremont USD Thriving at the Core Professional Development Series, October 2015 through April 2016:

• I really enjoyed the session.  I like the fact that you have the spirit of a first year teacher even though you’ve been teaching for almost 30 years.  I love the idea of deepened literacy and the model that you have created.
• I wanted to let you know how disappointed I am that I cannot make it to your workshop on Monday. I really wanted to be there. I was really interested in learning about the questions you use each quarter to plan your year.  Unfortunately, I had to drop the session because I have a conflict with the spring production I am heading that opens on Friday.
• I wanted to thank you so much for a great year. I enjoyed the collaborations and shared knowledge your sessions allowed teachers to participate in. I appreciate your leadership and learned a lot participating in the ones I was able to make.  I hope you have other opportunities next year.

Asilomar weekend-long design session, October 2015:

• I actually experienced exposure to an incredibly thoughtful and well thought- out project built on very solid theoretical foundations.
• I can incorporate so many of these materials into my classes. My students will love these activities, and my co-workers will be excited to hear about them.

Washington, D.C. Conference on English Leadership (NCTE) strategy session, November 2014:

• I actually experienced collaboration with other teachers and a solid understanding of grade level core questions. What I most value in this session are its real, honest classroom activities.

Speaking Engagements

John is available for speaking engagements with organizations advocating for public education. His talk, “Renovating Education Through Personal Development,” explores his principles and methods of deepening students’ experience of learning through integrating academic development and self discovery in classrooms and schools.

Background to John’s Presentations:

Early in his almost 30 years teaching sophomores at American High School in Fremont CA, John began developing the Personal Creed Project. His aim was to carve out time alongside his students’ academic learning to help them discover what they value in life. A series of weekly reflective writings weaves through his English course, culminating in a classroom presentation. When students today complete the Personal Creed Project, they often say they have learned who they are and how they want to help in the world.

Consistent, widespread enthusiasm for the project across nearly three decades, in diverse classrooms around the country, across the achievement gap– even years after students experience it—presents John with a challenge. Why the enthusiasm? To help him understand, he has developed a Model of Deepened Learning. John believes this model both: a) explains the enthusiasm and b) suggests what is missing in our notions of curriculum. He proposes the model as our first professional understanding of depth in education.

To incorporate what he identifies as the missing region of curriculum into his students’ learning, John designs his courses using a two-legged approach, enabling him to integrate planning for his students’ academic growth with support of their personal development. In planning his courses, units and lessons, he employs three course-deepening design principles: sustained reflection, pervasive questioning, and active cultivation of wisdom. Under continuous development for more than 25 years, the Personal Creed Project is being adapted in schools and colleges around the country.

About John Creger

In recognition of the Personal Creed Project, John received the 2001 James Moffett Memorial Award for Teacher Research from the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Writing Project, and has been a nominee for Fremont Unified School District’s 2008 and 2000 Teacher of the Year. Former students have honored John with San Jose State University’s Dorothy Wright Award for Outstanding High School Teachers (2018, 2015 and 2005), National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers Award (2007 and 2006), and in six editions of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (1992-2005). John offered the first in his continuing workshop series for educators at the 1998 annual conference of NCTE’s Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, returning to give a keynote in 2011 and a half-day design session in 2015. Since 1998, John has presented over 60 workshops, keynotes, and other presentations at professional gatherings around the country. His articles have appeared in California English (2002), Urantia Fellowship Herald (2012), and in NCTE’s Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (2015). His first book is The Personal Creed Project and a New Vision of Learning. (Heinemann 2004). He is currently envisioning a second book with the working title The Practice of Depth in My Classroom.

Recent Comments from Students (AHS class of 2015):

• My whole life I was begging for a class that would help me in life, that would benefit me. You gave me that. You focused on that and finding ourselves, the most important things. ~ Deep D.
• This year has been a tumult of essays, reflection and encouragement. You really treated us like human beings and we felt valuable. There is nothing more important than that. ~ Cassandra B.