The Flat Stanley Project is an educational project started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a third-grade teacher in London, Ontario, Canada. The project features pieces of paper based on the 1964 book titles of children's books Flat Stanley .
The project is designed to facilitate the improvement of reading and writing skills of primary school students, while also promoting an interest in learning about different people and places. In 2001 Hubert presented the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the annual award issued by the Prime Minister of Canada to honor exceptional and innovative elementary and secondary school teachers.
Video The Flat Stanley Project
History
Dale Hubert first introduced The Flat Stanley Project to his students at Wilfrid Jury Public School in 1995. The project's name comes from the eponymous character of the Flat Stanley children's book. Written in 1964 by American author Jeff Brown, the book centers on the life of the character Stanley Lambchop, a boy who accidentally flattened.
In an interview with CNN in 2005, Hubert explains: "In the book, by Jeff Brown, Stanley was bullied by a falling bulletin board, Stanley's parents rolled him, stuffed him in an envelope and sent it to his friend in California, and it just seemed like a way of communicating can be enjoyed by third graders. "
Students involved in The Flat Stanley Project read Flat Stanley's story and then are given a black-and-white cut-out for them to be colored. The students were also asked to write stories about him, including details such as where he came from, his daily routine and interests, then they sent their Stanley to someone, like friends or relatives in another country, or a student at another school participating in this program. The person receiving the Flat Stanley is asked to take a picture with a cut-out doll and send a letter back, either via email or regular mail, to the student telling of Flat Stanley's adventures along with the accompanying photos. Students then share photos and letters with their class.
At the end of the first year, there are 13 classrooms participating in the project in the province of Ontario. Classrooms in the United States are short to follow and by 2006 the program has grown to 6,000 classes in 47 countries. In 2011 it was reported that at least 88 countries participated in the program each year.
Maps The Flat Stanley Project
In media
The popularity of the Stanley Flat Project increased in 2000 after receiving increasing media attention.
Similar to Gnome Traveling jokes, photos of Flat Stanley start appearing in the news media and on social media sites with cut-out dolls depicted in increasingly exotic and unusual places and with various celebrities.
Ahead of California's 2003 gubernatorial election election, Arnold Schwarzenegger brought his son, Flat Stanley, with him on the campaign trail, including his performance that year at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Clint Eastwood brought his daughter, Stanley, with him on the red carpet at the Oscars in 2005. US President Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton all photographed him with former US Vice President Dick Cheney.
Flat Stanley travels on President Air Force One aircraft accompanied by Secretary of State Colin Powell and also orbits the Earth on Discovery Plane. According to a February 26, 2009 broadcast from Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Flat Stanley was on the board of US Airways Flight 1549 when it was forced to make a non-powered emergency water landing on the Hudson River. He was taken to a safe place in his traveling companion suitcase.
Flat Stanley has also been photographed with the likes of television personalities Steve Irwin, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, NASCAR racers Joe Nemechek and Richard Petty, former heavyweight Muhammad Ali, NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, musicians Clay Aiken and Willie Nelson, as well as People oldest in Ireland.
The Flat Stanley Project was featured in the 2004 episode of the animated TV series King of the Hill titled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Loving Alamo", where Peggy Hill took photos of Flat Stanley dolls to help teach children children about geography and security issues. Stanley also made appearances on the TV series The West Wing and Everybody Loves Raymond and game show Who Wants To Be a Billionaire? and Jeopardy! .
Flat Stanley becomes hi-tech
In 2006, four schools in rural Chesterfield County, South Carolina undertook a year-long project called Flat Stanley Goes Hi-Tech . Project participants communicate and share photos by email and web-cam with students attending participating schools in Chile and Nova Scotia, Canada. The project involves 9 teachers and more than 200 students.
The progress of the project was captured in a one-hour documentary broadcast on South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV). Links to videos and links to interviews with cast and crew are available on the Flat Stanley Goes Hi-tech website.
Flat Stanley Goes Hi-Tech won the TIPS (Technology Innovation at Schools) Award for South Carolina in 2006, presented at South Carolina Ed-Tech, an annual educational technology conference hosted by The South Carolina Association for Educational Technology (SCAET) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Variations
The Stanley Flat Project has inspired similar projects around the world.
Flat
In 2003 Karlo Cabrera, a teacher at Fenside Public School in Toronto created "Flat Mark" as part of a civic and literacy project. The idea for Flat Mark comes from the nine-year-old student Steven Matskoulis, who has visited the Parliament House with his parents and suggested him to Cabrera after reading Flat Stanley's children's books.
The fourth class of Cabrera's class sent Flat Mark to the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin, along with a letter requesting that he bring Flat Mark with him at work. Flat Mark attended several transitional meetings, met with Martin's Chief of Staff Tim Murphy and principal secretary Francis Fox, toured Rideau Hall and attended a meeting between Martin and Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.
Flat Stan the Man
In 2010, St. Louis Cardinals launched the "Stand for Stan" campaign in order to convince President Barack Obama to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Major League Baseball Hall of Fame "The Man" Musial. Fans were also encouraged to download copies of "Flat Stan the Man" from the club's website and to post photos of themselves with their cut-outs to the club's website.
The cause was advanced by Senator Christopher Bond, Republic of Missouri; Claire McCaskill, Democrat from Missouri; and Richard J. Durbin, Democrat from Illinois, who maintained contact with the White House. On November 17, 2010 it was announced that Musial will receive the award along with 14 others. Musial presented his award in a ceremony at the White House on February 15, 2011.
Stanley Flat Cup
After the Stanleyhawks Stanleyhawks Stanleyhawks Cup victories in 2010, 2013 and 2015, the Chicago Tribune newspaper offered a "Flat Stanley Cup" cut for fans to download. Blackhawks fans are encouraged then post their own photos and cups on Twitter with the #flatstanleycup tag or they can post them to the Tribune site.
Flat Francis
The Catholic Extension - a Chicago-based organization that raises money for needy dioceses across the United States - creates a "Flat Francis" campaign to formally welcome Pope Francis on his visit to the United States in 2015.
The organization created the flatfrancis.org website where participants can download copies of Flat Francis. Participants are required to take photos of themselves with their Flat Francis and post them to social media sites along with hashtag #FlatFrancis.
Flat Selves
Some schools have their students make "Self Flatten" usually designed to resemble a student's appearance making a cut-out and using the student's own name (eg a student named Leslie will create "Flat Leslie.") Variations from Flat Selves also include a human-sized version made by tracking the student's own body.
See also
- Flat Stanley
- Friend pen
References
External links
- The official website of Flat Stanley Project
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments