” Modern Odysseus in the arms of Europe” Erasmus Project

Project Title

” Modern Odysseus in the arms of Europe”

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: Inclusion – equity; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

With the project “Modern Ulysses in the arms of Europe” we are trying to enhance the European identity and at the same time preserve our historical and cultural conscience as they are formed in the multicultural and ever-changing background of contemporary Europe.
Οur town, Katerini has been, and is once again, a refugee reception area with refugee support structures since 1922. The notion of today’s Ulysses who is seeking for his home, is not only familiar but also well-timed. Our school hosts pupils of financial refugee origins and many pupils’ relatives are
also refugees in other European countries. Our school is new (3 years in operation) and has not had any such transnational cooperation, unlike the majority of our staff.
The mythical Ulysses is an attractive hero and the symbol of the endless traveler. His journeys are a lesson for all of us, because at some point in our lives we can all ourselves become “Ulysses” and so must be ready for our new social role and the augmented demands of the modern world. Realizing such a project, our aim was to get in touch with other European schools, exchange
experiences, modern teaching methods and good practices regarding creative writing, English, as a second language, emotional resilience and digital literacy. Our teachers acquired the necessary knowledge through learning and teaching activities to cope with problems that might arise in modern multicultural classes so as to improve their teaching methods, cultivate tolerance for “the Different” and help with the smooth integration of “the Foreign”. Similarity: versions of a portrait of Ulysses like as :The portrait as a miniature of the world of Europe: cultural works (archaeological monuments, works of art) that aspire to depict their model runway, to imitate the specific real person of Ulysses. The alleglorical portrait: works that see their model in addition to the symbol as the concrete example of general behaviors and phenomena related to the axes and thematic unity of our enemy (search, adult migration, search for better luck, foreign concept).The psychological portrait: works that attempt to penetrate the inner world of the protagonist, Ulysses, to capture their personality outside its form. Deconstruction of form: works that dare to ‘break up’, disintegrate their model with the awareness that they cannot recreate it, copy it. The indirect portrait (the Enigma portrait), works that use other persons, things and situations to get closer to the hero Ulysses, sometimes reaching the point of abandoning Ulysses himself. Removal and stylization – the universal and for us the European portrait: works that in their search of the essence of our hero, Ulysses, insist on its essential features and simplify him to the point, not to be recognized. The conceptual portrait: works that use the specific form of Ulysses, which sometimes get ‘ready’ from various sources (you have been given both electronic and printed activity book) as food for thought and reflection. Thoughts and reflections will accompany the portrait as creative writing technique or poetry (the techniques have been presented during our seminars in Greece and you have been provided with supporting material) Do not hesitate to contact the coordinating school for any clarification!The exhibition with the cultural portrait of each participating country is related to modern Ulysses and will be developed by our next meeting in Portugal. There it will be presented and registered on line to the coordinating school of Greece so that it will be included to the produced outcome (in the form of a banner or poster) so that they can be It would be nice to bring to Portugal part of the exhibition(in banner or poster form) so that they will be displayed at their school- if possible (for example / a trireme /a modern boat / shoes) but also anything that can be related to modern Ulysses) Let’s not forget that we want to make the portrait of modern Ulysses – which we all have in our own countries – as a puzzle with cultural elements from each one of the participating countries.Contemporary Ulysses will definitely need to correlate the elements of all countries in order to survive in moder Europe The participants in this project were five partners selected carefully with the criterion of being situated at the intermediate stations of the travels of the legendary Ulysses and of hosting modern immigrants-refugees in Europe. Some have transnational cooperation experience while others will be helped through a mentoring process.
The 19th Primary school of Katerini Greece, the coordinator of the project, organized activities concerning the acquaintance with Ulysses both in time and place, by means of oral texts and the internet. Activities of creative writing and emotional resilience were also organized. In addition, there were workshops in a camp and both a written report and digital educational materials were produced.
Escola Pericot, in Giron Spain, organized drama teaching sessions with the Waldorf method which included: Exploring, Cooperating, communication, making and Reflecting on drama.
Zolitude Gymnasium, in Riga Latvia, developed a questionnaire for the assessment of the project and create a manual with the title “Help students to enter a new college in another country”.
Agrupamento de Escolas de São João da Talha Portugal, organized activities about interactive learning, learning approaches based on PLB program and presented the Moodle platform.
Osnovna scola Majstora Radovana Croatia, presented teaching methods regarding integration into society and the culture of Dalmatia for the first and second generation of war refugees.
The teaching scenario used was the “project” method, based on the principles of teamwork teaching as well as relevant sociocultural theories. Furthermore, this scenario relied on the theory of multiple intelligence which promotes the multisensory approach of learning (Gardner). In effect, it led to the final objective, acquiring knowledge through interactive and experiential approaches, via field research and camping experience, with the help of discovery and Célestin Freinet methods. Within this framework, the cross curricular approach was based on group work in the classroom and on the cultivation of acceptance and solidarity climate, which enhance individual competiveness and characterize the traditional school.
The implementation of IT which combined teamwork activities, interaction of pupils-teachers, by means of computer and self-motivation of the pupils, maximized the benefits of the use of new technology in the classroom. Participation in the project resulted, as expected, into the transference of the European dimension in the school curriculum, the improvement of the teaching quality, linguistic and communicative skills, digital literacy and the change of the profile of each country in the conscience its citizens. Written and digital educational material were also produced. An effort was made to achieve an impact of the project on as many teachers as possible both within the participating and other regional schools.
Through dissemination, by means of seminars and written material, more schools were able to implement the innovative and good practices, achieving, in this way, the improvement of teaching. Moreover, school graduates were better qualified to further develop in an educational, social, professional and integrational level in a variety of cultures.
In the timespan of the three years between 2018 and 2021, our school participated for the first time in a European program. This was received with great enthusiasm by the school community because we were given the opportunity to spread our wings to the world and to escape from the narrow confines of our city. Eventually, we managed to get in touch with colleagues from Europe, to get to know different education systems, to compare them and adopt or reject relevant data.

For the students it was the opportunity to communicate with young people in Europe, to improve their learning skills with new innovative programs and to study and discover knowledge through different approaches. Also, they had a chance to express their creativity beyond the narrow confines of our own education system, to travel and get to know different cultures and to become aware of their diversity, to break away from stereotypes and prejudices.

Project-based learning was used in the project, emphasizing the skills we wanted to develop: critical thinking, collaboration, teamwork, communication, creativity.
Simultaneously with Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, learning was approached as a multidimensional process involving many areas. Students came in contact with different and innovative ways of learning (e- learning, skype classroom), got acquainted with new technologies, used several web 2.0 applications and participated in emotional resilience exercises in an experiential seminar on creative writing. hey have learned to use Microsoft image and video editing programs and applications with ease. The school organized educational days and experiential seminars for both teachers and students. Finally, they all saw that “the world is not so big after all, that young people in whatever country they live in have the same concerns but also (share) the same expectations for their future”
There were 4 actual teacher mobilities and one online mobility due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Our meetings were a focal point that added to the motivation of the participants and clearly set the level of activities.

The teams of teachers not only dealt with the practical / technical part of each activity but during the program some approaches were discussed, analyzed and even challenged as a result of the different culture and the educational systems. In addition, it soon became apparent that interpersonal communication was necessary in order to build a common approach with the program in the first place.

The eTwinning platform was used by the participants, providing the tools for discussions and exchange of materials and tasks. As participants gained more experience and confidence, the use of the platform go more increased and intensified.

The impact of the Erasmus + school partnerships on all involved was:

For the students:
• Intercultural competence / awareness: increase knowledge about partner countries and cultures.
• Increased language skills in the mother tongue and in foreign languages.
• Knowledge and awareness of different cultures.
• Improving self-confidence and taking initiatives.
• Increased ICT skills. Learning and familiarizing with applications.
• Teamwork, cooperation, communication.
• Acquisition of incentives for lessons and all cognitive subjects.
For teachers:
• Familiarity with the culture of other countries.
• Familiarity with the educational systems of other countries and application of new teaching methods.
• Deepening and exploration of scientific interests. Creating motivation for collaboration in an interdisciplinary team.
• Improving ICT skills.
• Improving project management skills.
• Development of lifelong cognitive skills.
• Creating strong bonds with partner partners.
• Improvement and development in foreign languages.
• Incentives for vocational training and skills development.
For our school:
• Improving the school climate.
• Enrichment of the educational program with innovative actions.
• Familiarity with the idea of European education and society.
• Ability to compare and evaluate the training provided.
• Ability to organize workshops. Development of interdisciplinary approaches.
• Changes in school organization and management support.
• Better teamwork among teachers.
For the parents:
• Their cooperation with the school and the teachers of the program was perfect.
• They were supportive in the implementation of the program.
• Their children came into contact with educational systems, traveled and got to know different cultures
Overall evaluation of the program.
• The positive attitude is found through questionnaires to teachers and students about the usefulness of the activities and their results.
• The degree of teachers’ and students’ satisfaction will lead them to undertake new innovative programs and with more active student participation.
• The dissemination of the results of the actions was successfully accomplished within the school community.
• The success of the goal is evidenced by the publication of the results and the large number of visitors to the school website (75564 users), participation in events and questionnaires distributed to teachers, students and parents.
• As a result, an increasing level of cooperation and interaction surfaced between teachers.

Project Website

https://19dimotikokaterinis.blogspot.com/2021/06/erasmus-modern-odysseus-in-arms-of.html

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 99310,8 Eur

Project Coordinator

19th Primary School of Katerini & Country: EL

Project Partners

• Rigas Zolitudes gimnazija
• HIGHGATE PRIVATE SCHOOL LIMITED
• Agrupamento de Escolas de São João da Talha
• Escola Pericot
• Osnovna skola Majstora Radovana