THE LIFE-CYCLE OF AN ETWINNING PROJECT

AND COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITY MODELS

Elizabeth Sauser-Monnig, French National Support Service

eTwinning Plus Contact SeminarTunis, 22-24 November 2013

THE LIFE-CYCLE OF AN

ETWINNING PROJECT

STAGE 1: GETTING A PROJECT IDEA

Normally you go through the Desktop to find a partner. Here, you can find your partner through the Ice Breaking activity

STAGE 2: FINDING PARTNERS

1. Defining the project idea

2. Planning the project

3. Preparing the 1st activity for the pupils

4. Registering the project

STAGE 3: BUILDING THE PROJECT TOGETHER

Back home, you will …

1. Access your project Twinspace

2. Invite your pupils into the Twinspace

3. Launch a pupil-centered activity as an

ice-breaker

STAGE 4: GETTING STARTED

1. Communicate often and efficiently

2. Follow your planned phases

3. Be ready to adjust and adapt

STAGE 5: RUNNING THE PROJECT

1. Reflection - between the teachers- with the pupils

4. Benefits for the school and community

3. Lessons learned and recommendations

4. Celebrating!

STAGE 6: EVALUATING THE PROJECT

1. Presenting the project results+ benefits

2. Applying for a National Quality Label

3. Beyond the project: eTwinning teams, groups, ambassadors

4. Training colleagues

STAGE 7: SHARING AND DISSEMINATING

SETTING UP A PROJECT

1. Teachers connect on the eTwinning Desktop

2. They develop and register the project on Desktop

3. Both NSS approve project

4. Then teachers can start work on the Twinspace with

pupils

10

TYPES OF PROJECTS

Documentary : research, collaborative reports and experiments, biographies, travel journals, …

Collaborative Fiction Writing : fairy tales, detectivestories…

Pen pal: exchanging messages about a theme.

Newspapers: writing about a theme.

THEMES FOR PROJECTS ABOUT WATER

Water and citizenship : water consumption, waste, lifestyles

Interdependancy around the Mediterranean: pollution, currents…

Water and economic, social development

Water in its different states (solid, liquid, gas)

WATER CONSUMPTION ACTIVITY

Activity suggested by Eric Vayssié, eTwinning ambassador

1. Define time period, measurements, parental agreement

2. Pupils track water consumption daily/weekly usingwater meter

3. Partners share data (on Twinspace, Google document)

4. Compare data and ask questions: find explanation for similarities, differences

5. [Extension] Brainstorm between classes : collaborative guidelines for responsible water use

ACTIVITY MODEL

Choose theme and goal with partners

1. Observe local environment: water use, flora/fauna

2. Collect data

Water meter, local weather, plant growth…

3. Compare data with partner countries

4. Find explanation for similarities, differences:

Small scale, individual explanation: baths for the wholefamily vs. showers

Large scale : geography, climate, local industries

21ST CENTURY PEN PALS

« Picture yourself », a projectfor and about teenagers

PICTURE YOURSELF

Claudine Coatanéa, English, Upper secondary

Project type: multimedia corresponspondance

Theme: teenagers’ lives

Countries: Spain, Poland, France

15-18 year old pupils

Language used: English

« Taking pictures as a starting point, the students write and interact about teenage related topics: their lifestyles, their background and environments, their icons, their worries and concerns. The idea is to share their experiences with other European teenagers while improving their English and reinforcing their ICT skills.”

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

A succession of activities over 8 months. For example :

Ice breaking activities, individual and group : « e-show and tell », « our school »

« Story of my daily life » : photos montage, would youlike to be in my shoes.

« Let me show you how to… »: video tutorials

« The music we like »: debates using interactive wall, collaborative European playlist

« STORY OF MY DAILY LIFE »

1. Take 7 pictures at different times of day (school daymostly), record sound

2. Small groups (3-4): choose 1 photo for each time of day, then explain why this photo, what moment it represents, what you do and how you feel at that time of day. A time you like? Why/why not?

Groups produce powerpoint presentations (Fanny and Dina’s)

« STORY OF MY DAILY LIFE »

3. Compare routines between countries: would you like to be in my shoes? Whose life is easier / harder? What is the best/worst moment in our daily lives?

http://bit.ly/176M8IF

French schedule:

Step 1 (indiv): Nov 7-8th

Step 2 (groups): in class, Nov 21st

Step 3 (on TwinSpace, forum): in class, Nov 28th

GOAL, « GO OUTSIDE AND LEARN ». MATHS, ENGLISH

Siegfried Maillard (maths, lower secondary)http://bit.ly/1ab0p8l

Concept: using maths to solve real life problems, …likeconverting, translating and eating apple pie!

Pupils: 13-15

Project type: documentary, problem solving

Language: English

Countries: France, Poland, Finland, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia

VIRTUAL TRAVEL JOURNAL

A Simple Collaborative Project

Idea: Present our school, city,… to our partners, and vice versa

Problem: a little disappointing because there’s no cooperation

PROJECT IDEA…

Each class will make a Virtual Travel Journal for their partner class

Cooperation: exchanging and transforminginformation about each other’s environments

INSTEAD …

1. Gather information and send it to their partners (mixed nationality small groups…)

2. Organize, interpret partners’ information

3. Create a travel journal for their partners’ country

4. Send their journal and receive the partners’ journal

BOTH CLASSES :

1. Research + data selection about our ownenvironment. Necessary for the partners, mustn’t let them down!

2. Need to receive info : waiting, discovering partners’ environment

MOTIVATION

3. Creating Journals: discovering and understandinginformation about partners’ environment, thentransforming it into something new

4. Curiosity : how will the partners perceive and presentour environment? How will they perceive us?

MOTIVATION

Length is up to you

Different possible focuses :

Environment: school/home/neighborhood/region…

Themes: history, environmental issues, music, literature…

Paths: daily path to school, local festivals, leisure…

Etc.

ORGANIZATION

Objective, general, macrosocial

History, famous people+events, literature…

Statistics, maps, press clippings

Personal, subjective, microsocial

Pupils themselves

« What I like in my neighborhood… »

« The city when my grandmother was young… »

Drawings, photos, texts

2 KINDS OF INFORMATION

Images: photos, maps, postcards, video

Texts: articles, collected data, literary texts

Objects: real objects, scanned/photographed

Sounds: from pupils’ environment, music

MATERIALS

Have a great seminar!