NPHCBlogIt
 

"This project - The Not Perfect Hat Club - looks to define #GlobalClassrooms in  2014 -15.
I hope to involve my school."   - Michael Graffin, Co-founder of  The Global Classroom Project
 

NPHCBlogIt was a six-week global event based on the book, Not Perfect Hat Club by Jena Ball. The event was hosted online and  featured live author readings and discussions, collaborative blogging exchanges between classes around the world, and weekly creative challenges, The event launched on September 23, 2015 and ran for six weeks. Approximately 400 schools from 16 countries took part.

 

The Why and How

  

Perfectionism is a Global Issue
With a few exceptions, I found that the industrialized approach to education, which encourages competition, comparison, judgment and fear of failure, was present in every school I visited.
 

Kids Inspire Other Kids
Having tried blogging between two or three geographically distributed classes in the United States, I'd seen how kids inspired one another. They loved having an audience and were inspired to make their work the best it could be before showing it to other kids.

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Kids Learn From Other Kids
The opportunities to step outside their classrooms, towns, and states to see where and how other kids lived was invaluable. Stereotypes got debunked, new cultures and languages were explored, friendships were formed, and emotional intelligence (empathy, kindness, respect for differences) grew. Even more exciting was the way the kids jumped feet first into collaborations. Ideas flew, photos, videos, music, and drawings were exchanged and we all came away feeling like we'd formed a little creative community where it was not only safe and fun to share but our work could make a difference as well.

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The Not Perfect Hat Club Works!
The responses I got to the book, the themes it embraces, and the programs I created around them were positive and encouraging. Parents as well as educators and administrators were acknowledging that students need to develop self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and creative abilities (along with core literacy skills) in order to become kind, capable, and successful adults. 

 

It Was Time To Take Down The Walls
Based on everything I mentioned above, and my own belief that stories have the power create positive change, I felt it was time to use my own abilities to take down the walls between countries, classrooms, and kids. 

 

Click on each of the images below to be taken to the program (live readings, lessons, discussion questions, and creative activities for each week the six-week NPHCBlogIt program.

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