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In the last two weeks, I have spent a lot of time researching how Girlworld is going to be seen and used by girls. First, I went to the Seattle Girls School and met with four amazing teachers, Rosetta, Wendy, Brenda and Trina. They got me super fired up. Then I flew to Oakland to my old place of work, the toughest job I will ever love — where I became enthralled with the plight of middle school girls, the Julia Morgan School for Girls.(I fly back home to Seattle tonight.)

First, the Seattle Girls School. SGS is special place. It has a great vibe. It is so similar to the Julia Morgan School for Girls. They are both schools that TRULY understand girls and empower them. Although the only teacher I had met  before was Trina, an art teacher that has since left SGS to get her masters in fine art, I immediately knew I had a good crew together for brainstorming about Girlworld and education outreach. I showed them the trailer and they GOT IT. Brenda, Rosetta, Wendy and Trina helped me come up with a big education outreach idea. This is how it went down.

First of all, they  got down and dirty with the social media idea. Some funders might get excited about social media in theory (it is so buzzy, right?), but do they really? How would using social media/ technology really work?  There is the logistics of access to technology and time zones. And then, what really would it accomplish? The SGS teachers pointed out that it could very well be a set up the most basic level of learning, comparing. This is low on the ladder of learning—comparing. If we hooked girls from HERE with girls from THERE, it would be all about WE do this and THEY do that.
But really, the more powerful lesson is how much girls have in common. Girls want to learn. They yearn to learn. They yearn to be independent. Brenda, a 6th grade teacher brought up that Shanta has what many girls want, to be independent. “If you are not going to take care of me, then I have to learn how to take care of myself.” She is defiant and is striving to be self-sufficient. Wendy also said about Shanta, she feels like her family has so many so kids, that they don’t care about her. This is a familiar feeling for many middle schoolers whether it be true or imaginary.

All the women said they have never used Social Media in their classrooms. Wendy, who is working closely with her students on a project with students in Rwanda (and taking them there next week? More on this in my next entry!) said the one time they tried to communicate with the Rwandan students via Skpye, it didn’t work. The time difference, technology and just shyness got in the way. Totally makes sense.

But the biggest thing, is why? Why have girls here communicate with girls there? What is the outcome?

Then I brought up what I got out of the Working Films Consultation with Robert West. I asked what if the film was a catalyst for getting girls from girls school all over Seattle together in order to create a girl-group call to action.

Rosetta put it like this:

Get the girls here to see their opportunity via their education on a personal level.
Then they can stand as allies with their fellow girl school peers to CALL ON LEADERS TO MAKE CHANGE!!! when it comes to girls education in the developing world.

Girlworld: Bringing together girls from girls school all over the country on a city wide basis to call on leaders to make a change.

Girlworld summit! (Girlworld, the name itself, just got cooler!!!!!)

What it looks like:

We makes friends with girls schools and orgs here in Seattle”
SGS, Forest Ridge, Girls, Inc., Reel Girls
We bring them together to the Central Cinema on a school day to watch Girlworld (I am thinking 7th and/or 8th graders). We open up a discussion about the film. Then we have activities about what to do. There is a whole curriculum around this day. Girls sit with girls from different schools. They brainstorm. They draw diagrams. They present. They write letters. They get fired up. We march on Olympia.

We do the same thing in the Bay Area including Girls Rock and Girls Moving Forward at Grand Lake movie theater.

But wait, there is more.  Sandra, the director of the Julia Morgan School for Girls and Ana, a JMSG  teacher, discussed the importance of context and build up for something like the Girlworld Summit. I hear that. Ana is currently working on 7th grade curriculum entitled Culture and Identity. Both of  them just returned from the National Coalition of Girls Schools Conference that focused primarily on social justice. WOW!

So what about this idea? This comes by way of my friend, consultant, hero, crush: Chris Boulton. What if students, from the beginning of the school year have pen pals? Pen pals from all over the developing world who are girls going to school— maybe a classroom sponsors a girl or a few girls and they write back and forth, old school, pen and paper kind of writing. This could be through an organization that has been sponsoring girls for years, like Plan International.

They girls bring the letters and pictures and information about their sponsees to the Girlworld summit. The girls meeting in the movie theatre for the first time will have a lot to share—a lot to talk about. Maybe also they have read Three Cups of Tea, excerpts from Half the Sky. They are prepared. Ready to form teams, delegations, Model UN style. They are ready to rumble and be heard.

One thing I definitely learned from teaching middle school girls:

they know how to get it done, you’ve just got to give them space to do it

Girlworld: The Summit: I know. It is big. A BIG IDEA, but also I think it is totally doable. Totally doable.

I think actually we should try out a mini-summit come fall. I am going to ask the Seattle Girls School teachers what they think about that?

This is getting exciting!!!