Report #2
FIPP Activity Report
Funded by the Basic Skills Initiative
Name Bruce Peppard
Date 10/15/09
FIPP Partner Karen Amano-Tompkins
Section # English B
Activity /Strategy 32 Day Commitment
Category #3 Classroom Expectations
Briefly describe the activity/strategy.
1. Introduction I liked the notion of students embracing personal responsibility and
I wanted to empower them to be able to break long-formed ill habits that
hindered their success in the classroom. Consequently, the class discussed
behaivors that lessened their chances for success in school. Many of the
students come to college motivated to do better than they did in high school,
but do not necessarily realize their habits that get in the way of that success. I
thought the 32 Day Commitment would help students realize one ill-formed
habit and help them work toward overcoming it. An alternative was for them to
come up with a new, positive behaivor they would adopt.
2. Set up & Supplies Overhead document camera used to show 32-Day
Commitment form and how to fill it out. Forms for the class.
3. Directions Identify several behaivors/habits that you have that sometimes (or
frequently) get in the way of your success as a college student. A general
discussion of these habits followed. Students then completed the 32 Day
Commitment Form which I was not privy to see.
4. Conclusion Students were to chart their progress over a thirty-two day period.
What worked well? Students were adept at identifying behaivors that got in the way of
their success. Many students expressed having the form reminded them of the
behaivor they were attempting to change (or the new behaivor they adopted). In
addition, many students wanted me to know what behaivor action they were taking as
well as their progress toward that goal.
What would you change? I'm fairly convinced students will be more likely to follow
through on an activity if they think it is being monitored. Consequently, in the future I
will monitor the students' progress. Too many found it easy to dismiss the activity or to
back-fill the form when I asked them to take out the form and assess their progress. In
the future I will have them assess their progress more quickly and more frequently to
remind them of their commitment to themselves.
Would you use the activity/strategy again? Why or why not? Yes, with the indicated
changes I made above. I belive the activitiy is worthwhile because I tried it myself and
found success with the activity. More importantly, I know students can benefit from it.
Please describe any student learning outcomes/changes that you observed after the
implementation of the activity/strategy. I did see some behaivoral changes among some
of the students. A student who indicated she would commit to coming to class every
day (she had already missed two classes this semester) did indeed come to class.
Another observable behaivoral change was evinced with a student who commited to do
all his homework from that point forward--mission accomplished once again.