Story-ID Erasmus Project

Project Title

Story-ID

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Health and wellbeing; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

The project was aimed at encouraging students to take stories and storytelling as a starting point to define their own identities and to turn schools into reading hot spots in which the students feel at home.
The focus of this project was twofold: in the first year of this project we focused on cultural identity and storytelling, while in the second year we focused on reading promotion.
As a first step we focussed on identity through the social and cultural heritage of our countries and schools and by exploring each other’s cultural and literary traditions. We achieved this objective by creating surveys about identity, school identity, national identity and literary identity. A broad audience from all the different schools participated in this survey. The students participating in the exchange weeks used this data to talk about stereotypes and traditions. Each school focused on literary tradition and identity belonging to its home country, taken as a center point for the student activities.It was their starting point to create stories. The exchange weeks and assignments in online projects gave a deeper understanding of the different school systems, national identity, literary tradition, heritage etc…
Next we wanted to increase the literacy skills of our pupils. Pupils were asked to read and discuss national and international stories, get into contact with storytelling traditions and write their own stories and in a personal way, so as to exercise their skills intensively. We achieved this by having our students participate in online projects (etwinning) on different genres and storytelling. During these activities we discussed fairy tales, urban legends, etc… and explored the differences between the countries. Students took on an active role by creating their own stories.
One of the criteria for the application for the exchange weeks was the creation of a story in which the students reflected on their cultural identity. During the exchange weeks different kinds of storytelling workshops took place. For example: creative writing, creating writing, creating short movies…
By combining storytelling with identity, this project has facilitated a broader integration in the whole organisation of each school. Students felt more connected to their institutions and their country and had a more outspoken role in ‘making’ their school.
During this first year these concrete results were achieved:
we assemble a selection of typical stories for each country and analyse their value for cultural
heritage, we created a story specific for each country/city/school that illustrates its identities, we wrote a common story by a team of pupils from mixed origins, based on these specific stories and
common european values.
The second year of our project we wanted to transform our schools into reading hotspots. We took inspiration from the good practices that were already in place in the partner schools. We presented these initiatives during teacher meetings and we created shared tools to increase reading motivation. (Flipgrid – Reading posters – Literary maps – Meeting the writers…) We organised a book day / book week in each school. We made reading visible, we organised book clubs, we created a reading room and we organised a collective reading moment. Through all these activities we managed to turn our school into a book-friendly environment. We planned to carry on all these activities during the second year’s exchange weeks, but due to Covid-19 a lot of the exchange weeks couldn’t take place. That’s why we chose to organise a three-day online event in March 2021 with students from different countries discussing reading and identity and writing joint stories.
The project aimed at a more intense relationship with European partner schools and/or external organisations, e.g. storytellers or reading promotion organisations. Unfortunately, many already planned activities and meetings had to be cancelled or readapted due to the covid restrictions.
Students have learnt how to work in groups, have developed imagination and creativity; have fostered critical thinking and problem-solving skills; have also enhanced communicative skills and increased their self-esteem.
In order to develop the project a participatory and cross-curricular method has been used mainly focusing on the cooperative learning approach.
Since students have participated in different tasks to develop individually and/or in groups, they have been involved in activities that go beyond traditional classroom work; they have improved balance, self-awareness, confidence, self-discipline and communication skills.

Project Website

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/75468/home

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 129231,4 Eur

Project Coordinator

Heilig Hartinstituut Pedagogische Humaniora & Country: BE

Project Partners

• LICEO ARTISTICO STATALE CATALANO
• academy at shotton hall
• The Thomas Cowley High School
• Jac.P.Thijsse College
• Agrupamento de Escolas de Santa Maria Maior