Core Values Part III: Creating a Values Based Personal Creed - With John Creger

John Creger is a veteran English teacher and classroom researcher at American High School in Fremont CA. He continually seeks new ways to engage his students more deeply in learning. This stems from his own dissatisfaction with shallow teachings and from his fortuitous discovery of the Urantia Book in his 20s. The book brought him proof of what he had felt all along--this is no shallow universe. With new purpose, John majored in English and graduated with a new mission--to work with teens in the classroom. His writings are published in five languages on three continents.

Throughout his career, John has tried to help his students find satisfying connections to the universe within and beyond themselves as they gain skills in reading, writing, thinking, and conversing. He has synthesized a model of Deepened Learning from Urantia Book teachings on education and the human condition. John believes this model explains why all who encounter his Personal Creed Project love it. The project centers on each students’ discovery of values.

In honor of the Personal Creed Project, John received the James Moffett Memorial Award for Teacher Research from the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Writing Project, and numerous other awards.

His first book isThe Personal Creed Project and a New Vision of Learning (Heinemann 2004). He has published articles in California English, Urantia Fellowship Herald, and the Journal for the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning. He is considering a second book.

The Personal Creed Project is being adapted at schools and colleges across the country and beyond. John hopes to create a network of “Creed sites” to pool insights and best practices in deepened learning. He gathers English teachers online to deepen classroom learning and will serve as a consultant to schools and districts while also teaching.  Email him at: jcreger@jps.net.