Shine a Light – My roots are my wings Erasmus Project

Project Title

Shine a Light – My roots are my wings

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Social dialogue; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

Humanity and inclusion were the major context and background of this unique project. Equal education is our common goal for all students in Europe. It is a fundamental and basic condition for a successful life. In this context, we have been striving to improve our school curriculum. Inclusion was and still is a daily challenge for all schools participating in this Erasmus+ program, including ongoing challenges such as successful integration of new comers with no national language, thereby avoiding pupil isolation and also catering for the special needs of children with a range of abilities.
Europe is facing new challenges with regard to the integration of refugees into our society. In this project, we have particularely focussed on humanity, tolerance, and communicated our cultures. We have accepted ourselves and others, we welcomed change, we stood together and were hopefully “Shining a Light” on those who did not understand. Before the project, Literacy standards in all participating schools had witnessed a fall. In this project we improved Literacy standards and grew awareness and understanding of the need to be inclusive through Literacy activities. We had to work in a changing digital era. Use of technology was essential to the children in this project and will be in their future. Each participating school incorporated new technologies such as online applications, flipped classroom, Ipads, notebooks, Whiteboards etc. in a meaningful learning context.
Our objectives of this project were that students: understood the meaning of inclusion, felt more included, became aware of stories from their countries, told traditional stories from their country, recorded traditional stories and shared some of them on the project website, created their own storytelling systems such as diaries, or storyboards – thereby finding their own approach. They told their own story about inclusion, presented their storyboard using technology, talking about humanity, tolerance and inclusion. Students read these stories to each other using ICT, felt more competent in utilizing ICT resources, developed confidence in Literacy skills (reading, writing, communication).
Teachers received training in ICT and Literacy, used a common approach to Literacy activities, developed more confidence in ICT and Literacy, incorporated life long learning beyond the project goals, shared different approaches to inclusion, ICT and Literacy, became part and were supported by the SAL movement (Shine a Light movement founded by Jocelyn B Smith in Germany) and completed a questionnaire to ascertain their competence and confidence in inclusion, ICT and Literacy.
Number and profile of participants: Four primary and secondary schools were involved in the development of the “Shine a Light – My roots are my wings” project.
Description of activities: Year 1 – we had a look back to our recent history in order to better understand the present and the future. Students and teachers had the opportunity to interview people focusing on the migratory movements that have taken place in each country. We shared stories with pupils in schools. We focussed on the reason of these migrant movements, the difficulties and the changes that we are all facing these days. Students, teachers, and non teaching staff listened to and told their national traditional stories. We collected testimonies from people in each school. Teachers received formation on Literacy (online storytelling, applications of animation and movie making.) Each country shared stories in school. In each country we recorded a National story of each country in our native language and then used translation tools, or applied the English video mode on IPad. We exchanged the work done in our online dissemination activities as well as in our physical meetings. We also uploaded and shared the work done on our project webpage:http://througheurope.eu.
During this project period, we were able to make a connection from the past to our present and to analyse how this situation would affect our near future. In this process we learned to better understand who we are and who we will be in the future. Teachers grew in their awareness of inclusion in their own schools, students created a story on an inclusive theme, afterwards they produced presentations digitally and on paper, we presented some of these storyboards using technology, eg. green screens, puppetpals, TV studio etc. We communicated by using Skype calls and emails. Children also had the opportunity to interview partners, and we shared and analysed results in each school before the last project meeting in Gronau in May 2021.
We used individual methodology, work in groups, whole class activities, CPD opportunities eg workshops with storytellers, and cooperation with SAL members such as Jocelyn B Smith, and Tinako Koko as well as project meetings and online teacher exchanges. During the pandemic we only used online communications eg. Skype etc. Abasic requirement in our network was the constant use of modern technology eg IMovie, green screen, Puppetpals; TV studios etc, our collaborative approach- both oral and written work between countries and telling stories through art eg storyboards and pictures.
This project has changed the microcosmic world in our schools, and it sends a ripple effect into the outer world as well. It will have a positive impact on students, teachers, parents and their community’s because we expanding our activities to other schools in Berlin.

Project Website

http://througheurope.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 45128 Eur

Project Coordinator

Grundschule “Am Wasserturm” & Country: DE

Project Partners

• BEGOÑAZPI IKASTOLA
• College Saint Joseph
• Fridtjof-Nansen-Realschule Gronau