Why 30 Days?

I teach English Composition at a Community College. Every semester, I require my students to pick a 30-day challenge as the basis for a semester-long portfolio. Out of that challenge, they get the fodder to create a narrative essay (about why they are choosing the challenge), a blog (about the process of completing the challenge) and a digital story (about lessons learned from the challenge). I encourage students to choose a S.M.A.R.T. Goal, and I tell them to choose something that they are comfortable reporting on. The challenge must also be something they work on every day or almost every day, and I want the goal to be a positive one: giving up a bad habit or starting a healthy one. Other than that, the choice is up to them. The most common challenges are fitness, diet, or bad-habit related, and I have had at least one student quit smoking for each of the last three semesters. Some more unique goals include finding love in 30 days (attempted by a non-traditional, older student who generated some really entertaining blog posts) and taking a selfie with a stranger every day for 30 days. Students always seem a bit skeptical when I announce the project because I know it is non-traditional by nature. Since I strive to be transparent with my teaching choices, I always outline the following reasons to justify these assignments:

1. "Write what you know." While this cliche may be a bit trite and limiting, I believe that for student writers, it's important. Allowing them to choose their challenge and being upfront about how much material must come from it gives both a sense of control and a sense of responsibility to the students. They can choose their challenge, but they must choose wisely.
2. Many, if not most, of my students are new to college and/or at a transitional phase in their lives. Probably 90% or so fall between 18-30 years old. At this stage in life, many of them are learning to tackle the world on their own terms, without the guidance (or misguidance) of family or a small circle of school friends. Habits they establish as independent adults are important. I hope this is at least a small step in finding their way to being healthier and more productive.
3. The challenge is well-suited to explore a variety of genres. Students complete an essay, a blog, and a digital story, and then they wrap it all into a final portfolio with an artist statement and reflective piece. For traditionalists who think these aren't academic enough, we also do reading response assignments that require summary and in-depth analysis leading to an informed response about the effectiveness of the chosen piece, so my students get traditional as well. But honestly, in our current culture, the ability to learn and imitate a genre is important, regardless of the content. We spend a lot of time talking about the conventions (or expectations) of each genre, and we look at many examples, both good and bad, to helps students compose/create. Using three very different genres to report on one overarching theme brings that point into the light for my students, and they begin to understand how to choose and create in an appropriate genre.
4. One word: bonding. Although the students don't all pick the same challenge, they can bond over the shared experience of trying something challenging...and then being forced to write about it. We check in on class days to talk about how the challenge is going and what changes students are seeing or feeling as a result. This is why I am starting this blog. This is my 4th semester requiring this in class, and while I've done challenges along with my students and even completed write-alongs with them as examples for current and future students, I have not kept a running record of the process, and consequently, I have not always been accountable to myself or the students. By keeping a blog, I can join my students in the bonding process and hopefully encourage a "we're all in this together" mentality.

I hope you enjoy and even join in the journey!

Sincerely,
Denise Richter