MULTILATERAL COMENIUS PROJECT,,FIRST STAGE - AWESOME CHILDREN TALES”

2013~2015

“ELENA CUZA” NATIONAL COLLEGEBUCHAREST- ROMANIA

23-26 October 2015

SUMMARY

•The best way to create situations in which children can face and experience new and fresh ideas is by adopting an integrated approach to learning wherein the boundaries between subjects is blurred and they all blend together.

•Drama is one of the choices to do this and it should be brought into the classroom during the learning process in a natural way through various activities and games that relate to pupils' real life experiences.

•“A.C.T.”’s main goal is to make pupils and teachers familiar with the cultural thesaurus of our countries and the European values by using drama as a complimentary, alternative teaching tool.

•We believe theatre is the most adapted means for developing with both pupils and teachers involved in the project's activities.

RATIONALE

We consider that “ACT” is very useful for emphasizing lots of cultural aspects in the partner countries, such as: language and customs, life style, behavior, literature and history.

Drama stimulates creativity in problem

solving. It can challenge pupils'

perceptions about their world and about

themselves.

A child can become a fairy tale hero, explore a

new role, try out and experiment with various

personal choices and solutions to very real

problems-problems from their own life, or

problems faced by characters in literature or

historical figures.

Theatre allows pupils to communicate with and understand others in new ways. Pupils will

learn to work together, to cooperate, to find the best way for each member of a group to contribute and to

listen to and accept the viewpoints and

contributions of others.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES:

•to share methods and good practices, including alternative and complementary methods (such as theatre, music, visual arts, civics, ethics), used by each partner in order to enrich the curricula and improve the quality of the teaching activity;

• to develop awareness among pupils, staff and local community of the cultural diversity and similarities of the participating countries within the framework of European values.

EUROPEAN ADDED VALUE• We are going to compare European educational

systems, and collaborate to achieve the goals of our project. The project meetings, as the fruit of our collaboration on the European level, will help us gain a much deeper insight into the methods of working with children.

• During the first meeting, partners will develop a common methodology. The steps for using theatre as a teaching tool in children's education will be described. The methodology is based on know how and on common tools developed through international cooperation. The developed methodology will be respected and followed by partners and will be enriched and improved by pupils' and teachers' experiences. It will also be adapted for the children with special needs who learn in two partner schools (Romania and Cyprus).

• During the process of application of targeted tasks and activities, teachers and pupils involved in the project will have the chance to face different backgrounds and will gain a lot of knowledge of culture and traditions of other European cultures.

The project offers us opportunities to deepen our knowledge of partner countries.

WORK PROGRAMME

SEPTEMBER2013

WELCOME TO COMENIUS – INTRODUCTORY EVENTSPUPILS’ FORUM

MEETING WITH PARENTS

IT'S ME! *Each country loads the description of its educational system . *Children will make their self-portraits and later these will be put on the website and sent to partners.

COMENIUS BILLBOARD

COMENIUS- “ACT” 2013-2015https://www.facebook.com/groups/424754394302103/

http://comeniusact.wordpress.com/

OCTOBER 2013

MASCOT COMPETITIONSThe national winner mascots will be given names and introduced on the website. The photos of the 6 mascots will be posted on the Comenius Billboard in each partner school and at the project meetings.

LOGO AND POSTER COMPETITIONAn exhibition and a contest on an international level will be organized on the website. Each country will vote, but is not allowed to vote for its own poster. The winner poster will become the poster of the project and will be posted on the website, on the Comenius Billboard in each school and at the project meetings .

OPENING PROJECT MEETINGDuring this first project meeting the procedures of the project and the project plans are discussed: implementing plan, monitoring and auto-evaluation plan, dissemination plan, communicating procedure; *The methodology describing the steps of using drama as a tool is developed;*Acquaintance with the Romanian educational system , *Discussing about the form of questionnaires;* Articles in the school magazines

OCTOBER 2013

•FIRST STORY•ROMANIA loads on the website the text of a national/ traditional story and its script translated into English. •Teachers from each country present the story to the pupils and various activities are done in each classroom: reading, role play, dramatizations, creating paper dolls , puppetry, mascots of the story , creating costumes, staging the script of the play.

•CREATIVE WORKSHOPSEvery school will organize creative workshops where teachers will share ideas for the project. CREATING THE QUESTIONNAIRES - Spain creates and sends all partners the questionnaires for pupils and parents

DECEMBER 2013

COMENIUS OPEN DOORS DAY•Each school organizes exhibitions with final products (mascots, paper dolls, puppetry, crafts, paintings ).•The first story is dramatized and staged by pupils in each school. Parents and local and media representatives are invited. •Questionnaires are filled in by pupils and parents.•Each country sends to the coordinator photos and the video of the performances and of the realized activities, as well as the results/ analysis of pupils' questionnaires.•They are loaded on the website.

CHRISTMAS TOGETHER•Pupils will write Christmas cards for children from partner schools. They will exchange Christmas cards.•Christmas festivals take place in every school. •Each school loads on the website photos and a presentation of traditions and customs about celebrating Christmas or other specific holidays.

PROMOTING THE PROJECT TO LOCAL MEDIA•Each school promotes the project to media representatives so as to introduce the goals and the activities of the project to the public.

JANUARY2014

•SECOND STORY•POLAND loads on the website the text of a national/ traditional story and its script translated into English.

MARCH 2014

POLAND

•COMENIUS OPEN DOORS DAY•exhibitions with final products; The second story is staged by pupils in each school. Parents, local and media representatives are invited. •Questionnaires are filled in by pupils and parents.•Each country sends to the coordinator photos and the video of the performances and of the realized activities, as well as the results/ analysis of pupils' questionnaires. They are loaded on the website.

•PROJECT MEETING – MARCH-POLAND•SECOND project meeting takes place- acquaintance with the Polish educational system, discussing the procedures of the project;

APRIL2014

•THIRD STORY•SPAIN loads on the website the text of a national/ traditional story and its script translated into English.

JUNE 2014

•COMENIUS OPEN DOORS DAY•The third story is staged by pupils in each school. Parents, local and media representatives are invited. •Questionnaires are filled in by pupils and parents.•Each country sends to the coordinator photos and the video of the performances and of the realized activities, as well as the results/ analysis of pupils' questionnaires. They are loaded on the website.

•THIRD PROJECT MEETING – JUNE- SPAIN•THIRD project meeting takes place- acquaintance with the Spanish educational system:

SEPTEMBER 2014

•FOURTH STORY•TURKEY loads on the website the text of a national/ traditional story and its script translated into English.

OCTOBER 2014

TURKEY

•FOURTH PROJECT MEETING – OCTOBER-TURKEY•FOURTH project meeting takes place- acquaintance with the Turkish educational system;

NOVEMBER 2014

•COMENIUS OPEN DOORS DAY•Each school organizes exhibitions with final products (mascots, paper dolls, puppetry, crafts, paintings ) on the Comenius Billboard •The fourth story is put into stage by pupils in each school. Parents and local and media representatives are invited. •Questionnaires are filled by pupils and parents.•Each country sends to the coordinator photos and the video of the performances and of the realized activities, as well as the results/ analysis of pupils' questionnaires . They are loaded on the website.

DECEMBER 2014

•CHRISTMAS TOGETHER•Pupils from each country will write Christmas cards for children from partner schools. They will exchange Christmas cards.•Christmas festivals take place in every school. •Each school loads on the website photos and a presentation of traditions and customs about celebrating Christmas

•FIFTH STORY•*PORTUGAL loads on the website the text of a national/ traditional story and its script translated into English.

MARCH 2015

PORTUGAL

•COMENIUS OPEN DOORS DAY

•FIFTH PROJECT MEETING- MARCH 2015-PORTUGAL•Fifth project meeting - acquaintance with the Portuguese educational system;

APRIL 2015 •THE SIXTH STORY•CYPRUS loads on the website the text of a national/ traditional story and its script translated into English.

MAY 2015 CYPRUS

•COMENIUS OPEN DOORS DAY

•FINAL PROJECT MEETING- MAY 2015- CYPRUS•acquaintance with the Cyprus educational system;•Partners will evaluate the international collaboration.•*Evaluation of the whole project with the project team ,giving certificates and diplomas for the participants , taking photos at the final meeting , giving DVDs with all the information in the project. •The "A.C.T." brochure and "A.C.T." booklet will be published and each participant will receive one , they will be sent to local community representatives and local decision makers •The DVD of the project will be given to all partners•Articles are published in school magazines and in local media

•Closing ceremony of "A.C.T." Comenius project – each school will organize the event according to their traditions.

JUNE 2015 •REPORT REGARDING PUPILS' INTEREST•TURKEY - will make a final report regarding pupils' interest after each story and the project's impact among pupils and parents annalysing questionnaires and focus groups from all countries •FINAL REPORT•Coordinators will send their final reports to National Agencies.

DISTRIBUTION OF TASKSRomania will manage, coordinate, monitor and evaluate all the activities developed within the project, keep in contact with all the partner schools and fully participate in the design and realization of the final products and dissemination of the project activities and products.

• discussing project with co-workers at each school;

• making Comenius Billboard noticeable in their school;

• promoting the project within their team and keeping it alive amongst children, parents and co-workers;

• making communication among children possible ;

• keeping other partners regularly informed on the project development by loading the materials produced and the videos of their activities ;

• evaluating the project regularly within the school and contacting coordinator if necessary;

• creating mascots using different techniques and materials

• deciding on and elaborating a methodology- "A.C.T." - METHODOLOGY -describing the steps of using drama as a teaching tool

• creating a poster and a logo for the project ; the best project logo and poster will be selected by voting "A.C.T."

ALL PARTNERS:

ROMANIA • Gymnazium Special School " Constantin

Paunescu“ will create the website and will keep it updated

SPAIN• elaborates questionnaires that will be applied to pupils

and parents from all partner schools

ROMANIA• will elaborate a report by the end of the first year

where all the developed activities will be described

PORTUGAL

• will print the "A.C.T. " booklet after collecting materials (stories, scripts) from all partner schools (pupils will also create a new story- a European story, using traditional elements from partners' countries)

POLAND• collects information about the project from all partner

schools, creates and prints the "A.C.T." brochure

CYPRUS• collects photos, videos of the dramatizations of the

stories and records a final DVD that will be given to all partners during the final meeting

TURKEY

• will make a final report regarding pupils' interest after each story and the project's impact among pupils and parents analysing questionnaires and focus groups from all countries

ROMANIA • elaborates the final report of the project

EVALUATIONEach objective will be evaluated by means of investigation techniques such as

observation; ;questionnaires and focus groups(pupils and teachers involved) and interviews with teachers( during the project meetings). Thus, all partners will contribute to the evaluation of the project’s activities, as it follows:

PERMANENT EVALUATION

:

• Pupils' results and the impact of the project on pupils will be measured by questionnaires. Each partner will report on their pupils' interest by presenting and analysing their answers to the questionnaires.

DURING EACH

MOBILITY

• We'll evaluate each project meeting. Each meeting has main topics that will be evaluated: communication, deadline, the quality of project. We’ll assess the events/the results and plan future mobilities/ actions.

• Each evaluation is also open to problems and success that have occurred during the project in each school. If we make new decisions or changes, we will reevaluate them in the next evaluation process.

The best evidence whether the aims have been met and expected

impact has been achieved will be the children’s contributions - the illustrated stories, paper dolls, mosaics, videos, photos and DVDs with songs and performances.

AFTER EACH MOBILITY:

• The host country will publish an article describing the activities and will upload a presentation on the site at “Our mobilities”;

INTERMEDIARY EVALUATION

• After the first year of the project, coordinators will fill in reports about the activities performed until then and will take measures for the good development of activities until the end of the project.

FINAL EVALUATION

• All coordinators will write reports about the evaluation of the project, as a whole. The reports will be uploaded on the site at “Evaluation”. A summary of these conclusions is in the project’s magazine.

DISSEMINATION AND THE USE OF RESULTS

The dissemination will be achieved at a national level with the schools we are already in partnership with other projects, with the institutions which are in charge of long-lasting development and education and with the authorities in this field.

Parents will be informed about the project activities and results through leaflets, posters, articles in school magazines or websites, during opening and closing ceremonies, parent meetings and Open Days.

The project will be displayed in the school hall and children’s work will be presented in public places, too. The videos, photos and joint stories will be exhibited in front of the local community and recorded on DVDs for all partners.

DISSEMINATION IN THE PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS:-launching the project in a parents' meeting by throwing balloons-school exhibitions and displays: Comenius notice board: The activities done will be displayed monthly on the Comenius notice boards.-project website :The activities done will be displayed on the Comenius project website and be updated regularly.-school newsletters: There will be news about the project in the school newsletter- articles in school magazine-presentation of each project meeting to the teaching staff and on the school website- a project logo and a poster-a leaflet of the project , a brochure-a DVD of the project ( final product )

DISSEMINATION IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES:Local media will be welcomed to record and promote our project. Each project visit will culminate in an article in school magazines, the local and national media in the participating countries. - The DVD of the project( final product ):representatives of the local authorities, municipal or regional authorities will be invited to school to watch the performances. Project DVD will be delivered to other schools in the region, local institutions and NGOs. This will be a motivation for others to take part in projects.

DISSEMNINATION IN THE WIDER LIFELONG LEARNING COMMUNITY:

At an international level, we will disseminate the results of the project to European schools through website, presenting periodically the results obtained at the end of each stage to the wider lifelong learning community. The web site will be updated regularly.

Project DVD (final product): The DVD of the project will be available on the website.