1. Compiles a short list of the main forces and people that have shaped their life so far;
2. Distills from these main influences a set of values their life experience is teaching them;
3. Identifies qualities they wish to develop in themselves to best live their “creed values”;
4. Shares in a presentation with their class community:
     a) their main influences,
     b) their Creed values,
     c) the qualities they’ve chosen to develop, and
     d) the difference they wish to make in others’ lives;
5. Can gain a more balanced perspective on the academic portion of their learning–how both academic and personal matter;
6. Can kindle a lifelong habit of updating their values and reflecting on how best to live them;
7. Can play a more conscious role in a family, a workplace, and in our democracy as a citizen who knows what they stand for.

John Creger launched the Personal Creed Project his second year teaching English at American High School in Fremont CA, his first year with sophomores. Largely a delayed intuitive response to his own unsatisfying high school experience, the project embodies John’s hopes to provide his students what was missing for him.