My Story – Our Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

My Story – Our 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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Creativity and culture; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

Context
Stories represent holistic approaches to teaching and learning that allow children’s involvement with rich, authentic material. Stories are an essential communication tool for experiential learning because they have the power to safely move participants from their comfort zones to encounter something totally new. They offer a whole new imaginary world created by language that children can gain access to and learn to enjoy, while also acquiring language on the way. More than anything, our children need something to spurt their creative capacity.
The project idea was developed as a result of the needs identified in all partner schools – that of helping students to get to know their cultural heritage and the European cultural heritage, while also boosting and exploring their creativity through the medium of stories.
Our students came from a wide variety of backgrounds – mainstream, minorities, students with SEN, students with behaviour problems, high achievers. The main priority of our initiative was to create a culture of acceptance and respect among these. By involving them in activities related to stories, they were able to acquire values and principles in a non-threatening environment. The world of stories is a world without boundaries or frontiers.

Participants
The target group consisted of 200 students aged 12-15 in all the schools. Among the students in the target group, there were students at risk of dropping out, students of Romani ethnicity, abandoned children, students with disabilities, immigrants, students with integration problems and mainstream students. Those who faced difficulties represented almost one quarter of the target group. There were 52 guest students who attended the meetings, among whom four with special needs/financial, social or economic obstacles and cultural differences.
The participating teachers consisted of English and literature teachers, mainly, but also teachers from ICT and other subjects, who worked collaborativelly to create the project outputs and were involved in the organisation of project activities. There were between 2-4 teachers per country accompanying the students in each exchange.

Objectives:
1. to involve students in their own learning and motivate them; (minimum 50% of target group)
2. to develop students’ language skills, literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability; (min. 60% target group)
3. to develop intracultural and intercultural understanding; (minimum 70%)
4. to promote European values and develop cohesion among European citizens. (measurable by analysing students’ and teachers’ attitudes to other cultures during LTTs)
5. to create an atmosphere of non-discrimination and mutual acceptance in each partner school;
6. to produce sustainable materials which will be used on a regular basis in the schools – collection of materials for teachers, set of adapted materials for SEN students, collection of stories illustrated by children.

Activities
M1 – coordinator meeting (planning) – Portugal – December 2017
C1 – Romania – May 2018; Topic: Stories from around Europe
C2 – Italy – November 2018; Topic: European stories to develop critical thinking skills
C3 – Portugal – March 2019; Topic: Developing creativity through stories – Creating the story map of Europe
M2 – coordinator meeting (evaluation and sustainability) – Turkey – May 2019

Results and impact
Project results include the website, Twinspace, Facebook page, calendar, initial and final evaluation surveys, progress and final reports, dissemination materials, certificates of attendance, Europass certificates, collection of stories from all around Europe, collection of activities for developing interpretative skills (special activities for SEN students), collection of creative activities starting from stories around Europe, collection of activities and tasks developing critical thinking skills, map of European story characters.
The impact was observable at the level of students (cultural awareness, acquisition of European values, development of skills, acquisition of knowledge, improvement of school results, self-confidence), teachers (better cultural awareness, improvement of leadership, communication, presentation skills, experience in projects), institutions (improvement of human resources, increased group cohesion, positive image).

Long-term benefits
The results can be freely used during class work by English teachers and the schools can set up story clubs, in which students can cooperate with their peers, read common stories, discuss them, create artwork based on them. Schools improved material basis and earned Erasmus+ management experience, so that they can apply for new project in the future years.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 95930 Eur

Project Coordinator

Agrupamento de Escolas Professor Paula Nogueira & Country: PT

Project Partners

• Colegio Cristo Crucificado
• Scoala Gimnaziala nr.1 Perisoru
• Istituto Comprensivo Parco della Vittoria
• Ozel Egitimde Rasyonel Acilim Beylikduzu ortaokulu