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MY STORY – OUR EUROPE

N.º 2017-1-PT01-KA219-035888_1
The idea

The project idea was developed as a result of the needs identified in all partner schools - that of helping students to get to know their cultural heritage and the European cultural heritage, while also boosting and exploring their creativity through the medium of stories. 
Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds - mainstream, minorities, students with SEN, students with behaviour problems, high achievers, students in orphanages. The main priority of our initiative is to create a culture of acceptance and respect among these. By involving them in activities related to stories, they will be able to acquire values and principles in a non-threatening environment. The world of stories is a world without boundaries or frontiers.
Stories represent holistic approaches to  teaching and learning that allow children's involvement with rich, authentic material. Stories are an essential communication tool for experiential learning because they have the power to safely move participants from their comfort zones to encounter something totally new. They offer a whole new imaginary world created by language that children can gain access to and learn to enjoy, while also acquiring language on the way. More than anything, our children need something to spurt their creative capacity. Regular classes are centred on teaching methods that have become increasingly stern and objective in terms of transfer of knowledge. It is often the case that teachers are overwhelmed with the amount of contents and structures that need to be passed on to the students, that they forget that the focus on “how” perhaps supersedes the “what”. We have all become increasingly routine in our approach to education and we have left aside the meaningful part of it – that of shaping individuals who are able to create, to assess, to analyse and to let their imagination run free.
 

The objectives

The objectives we want to attain are:

  1. to involve students in their own learning and motivate them; (minimum 50% of target group)

  2. to develop students' language skills, literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability;(min. 60% target group)

  3. to develop intracultural and intercultural understanding; (minimum 70%)

  4. to promote European values and develop cohesion among European citizens. (measurable by analysing students' and teachers'attitudes to other cultures, as seen in the post-LTTA discussions)

  5. to create an atmosphere of non-discrimination and mutual acceptance in each partner school.

  6. to produce sustainable materials which will be used on a regular basis in the schools - collection of materials for teachers, set of adapted materials for SEN students, collection of stories illustrated by children.

Target Group

The target group consists of 200 students aged 13-15 in all the 5 schools. Among the students in the target group, there are students  at risk of dropping out, students of Romani ethnicity, abandoned children, students with disabilities, immigrants, students with integration problems and, of course, mainstream students. Those who face difficulties represent almost one quarter of the TG.

Needs

This project needs to be developed with other countries from Europe in order to:

  • exchange practices regarding school work and management

  • exchange ideas and opinions about the systems of education 

  • what works, what doesn't work in each of the countries, situations each country is dealing with

  • be able to reach the objectives of the project, especially 3 and 4, and by extension all the other ones

  • observe examples of how each school deals with SEN sutdents, what activities these students are involved in

  • develop long-lasting friendships and contacts among students and teachers from other countries

  • strengthen the feeling of European community.

Results expected

We expect two types of results from this project- intangible and tangible.
Intangible: increased motivation, better school results, better awareness of European cultural heritage, improved language skills, improved critical thinking, interpretative skills, boosted creativity, strengthened relationship between students and teachers; acquisition of values of tolerance and acceptance among students, increased self confidence of students and teachers, more cooperative students, decrease of dropout rates.
Tangible results: website,  eTwinning account, Facebook page, CDs, calendars, initial and final evaluation documents, progress and final reports, dissemination materials, certificates of attendance, Europass certificates, collection of stories from all around Europe, collection of activities for developing interpretative skills (special activities for SEN students), collection of creative activities starting from stories around Europe (special activities for SEN students), collection of activities and tasks developing critical thinking skills, map of European story characters.

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