Robert Littell
Atlanta, GA
Back in 2007, as part of the Principal For A Day project in the Atlanta Public Schools, I approached the principal of my assigned school - Whitefoord Elementary – to ask if I could try introducing a concept I had created called “NetWeaving”, as well as the “Pay It Forward” concept, to a grade within the school. The principal picked the 3rd grade.
I asked each of the 3rd graders to stand up and to introduce themselves and the first time around, I did no coaching. As you might guess, there were a number of mumbled names, eyes to the ground and shuffled feet.
Then we redid this exercise, but this time in pairs. Each child took turns introducing him or herself to the child beside him or her by shaking hands, with good eye contact.
Then I asked 5 volunteers to pick a best friend to bring to the front with him or her. The two then picked someone they didn’t know well, and then the two friends took turns introducing their friend to the child neither of them knew. I prefaced these exercises by explaining the idea:
“NetWeaving is just all about introducing your friends to other friends of yours, and then asking them to “Pay It Forward” and do the same with their friends. That way, you can have MORE friends. How many of you would like to have more friends?” As you can imagine, every single hand went up.
Since that first meeting, I have adopted the school, and in conjunction with my role as past president and current board member of the Pay It Forward Foundation in California, we came up with other projects including a program called “The EYES Have It” providing a free eye exams and glasses to every student who needed them. (Funded by the grant which indirectly came from proceeds of the sale of my book The Heart and Art of NetWeaving.)
I sincerely believe that this program could be replicated and has terrific possibilities for possibly becoming a model for the entire APS system. Each graduating 5th grader gets his or her NetWeaving/Pay it Forward Junior Ambassador diploma, challenging them to follow the principles and concepts and take it with them as they go into middle school.