Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2014 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It all started like an EFL class project, and the
teachers had already created the project outline
with the aims, the objectives, the work process and
the activity pages in the TwinSpace: “Our Political
Party”.
What really triggered the project was a discussion
on a cartoon in which a teacher asks a class what
some of the timeless values worth dying for are,
and a student says “Money”.
The class was asked to create a mind-map in
groups of four whether they agree, think of timeless
values related to democracy and share it on the
blackboard.
Then, the students researched certain web sites on
five written worldwide documents that refer to
timeless values of democracy from the Greek
antiquity to recent times, commented and decided
on the most important core values of democracy.
Each group presented its core values in a
collaborative google doc based on a different
document, i.e., Politics, by Aristotle, the Magna
Carta, the Declaration of Independence.
A debate – a non-googlable question – was given to
students to write about it as a class, corrected by
the teacher and discussed in the group in order to
agree on the two most important values, then
shares in a forum.
An evaluation sheet about what they had learnt and
enjoyed most in each activity was filled in by the
students.
publishing it in the Municipality website and
worldwide via eTwinning public site and
blogger.com. Both teachers and students felt
thrilled and proud of its successful outcome.
To achieve such a goal was not enough to carry out
just another project, and get it done. It took time,
effort, and my own enthusiasm to involve students,
parents for consent, teachers and head teacher for
collaboration and communication with international
partners. When my students lost interest, as young
teenagers often do, I had to stimulate their
imagination by going beyond what was obvious, by
experimenting, and implementing new ideas and
techniques.
As an EFL teacher, the involvement in eTwinning
has been a challenge for me that has opened up a
new, fresh approach to a variety of subjects, such
as that of environmental issues, art, politics and
democracy through a new perspective. It has led
me to a more creative and motivating teaching and
learning, adding that sparkle of resourcefulness and
imagination that often lacks in the ordinary
classroom teaching. I feel that both my students
and I myself have been inspired and inspiring in the
end.
Overall, the importance of such causes as
democracy and citizen initiative can be carried
through creatively via eTwinning project treks
boosting personal and professional growth for both
teachers and students who aspire towards a better
world.
Thus, each activity was based on six steps: a
stimulus for discussion, mind-mapping, research,
presentation, debate-forum and evaluation. The
uploading was taken over by 11 out of the 22
students and was carried out at the school lab
equipped with 11 PCs.
Every activity page in the TwinSpace was mainly
made with a wiki, with title and steps, a web
content with a Padlet for presentations or/and
mind-mapping, a forum for the debate questions
and a blog, for comments and fun. It had more or
less a similar pattern to facilitate interaction and
collaboration.
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This is the link to our TwinSpace:
http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p93826.
The project was presented in the school community
and disseminated in the local community by
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