awareness | Global Junior Challenge

Lacadalet Magazine

Tue, 07/07/2009 - 20:19

Lacadalet Magazine is a bridge over Mediterrian sea.

1. Project summary

Summary:

Democratic Republic of Congo comes through the third phase of large-scale civil war and genocide mainly in Goma area (North Kivu). We have contacted local organization ADECOP, engaged forthe maintenance of peace, development of awareness and education, fighting against violent crime and sexual violence. Within the newly created Project Poetry Helps to Needs in the Congo a public literary reading and discussion Is poetry solidar? was introduced, and this way we will continue with further public events at the turn of March and April. Contacting civic associations and organizations in the Czech Republic operating in the African environment in the future we may provide support for this project, which aims to not only get money for humanitarian aid from voluntary admission to literary reading and discussion (in the spirit of Poesia e solidarietà, central motta of Trieste Youth Forum 2008). We encourage local citizens and young people through media, radio, periodicals, we prepare student exchange, workshops and working in the territory of both countries.

The main way how we support the cultural diversity and yet the similarity, is provided by a magazine platform in which response is discovered by citizens (not only) of both countries. We would also organize an international literary competition and promote education through czech project Talnet, running in the Czech Republic for more than 6 years. Crucial role in this project a grant policy, the promotion of cultural objects and cooperation with other organizations such as Platform2 or Friends of the Congo play.

Our main area of work, Lacadalet Magazine, has started to run in March of this year (the readings were held in December 2008 for the first time), and now our growing readership also introduces itself by our sites because we believe not only Czech-Congo relationships could be mirrored by our platform. We host every issue international young writer, whose works are connected to some problem in one or the other coutry introduced in the current issue.

Firstly, our magazine hadn't stable internet form, but the last weeks magazine is fully electronized (it was more like correspondence before) and the selection blog is running where redactors choose the works published in the issue. But no work is lost and anybody could read anything we get, because awareness isn't bordered by "quality" or "topic". We would like to encourage readers to write also, to think about the meanings of authors published and we would like to support also electronical discussion.

We have wide readership around the globe - Brazil, Australia, Russia, Tanzania, Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, Spain,... our magazine provides connection and learning from each other. We can show how the literature bring us to one ship and how we become friend unless we have the same social background, life experience and language. Language is typically czech and French, translated into english and texts are always published in the original language with translation.

Not only literature - we speak out also about our language in the general, about our culture in the general (we share songs, news, spirit) - not only poetry, but mainly poetry connects us. We are displaced friends who believe in each other.

I'm student of highschool and this project I started on my own half year ago. I know that people are needed to success and I know that my goal - student exchange and competition - is too far for me now. But; I never let something gone unless doing my best. Now I think the number involved in the program I started as one person, is great. Please visit our sites at least. I hope that this competition will inform at least about our action and that we are there for you.

2. Country (City / Region)

State:

Czech Republic

City:

Trutnov

3. Company/organization/institute presenting the project

Organization:

Hana Sustkova

4. Type of organization

Select type:

Other

5. Project coordinator

Name and Surname:

Hana Sustkova

E-Mail:

MonCheval24@gmail.com

6. Website

The website of the project:

http://lacadalet.wz.cz

7. Please select the category in which you candidate your project

Youth Education Project. Select Project Users by age:

Up to 29 years

Helping youth step in the job market:

Helping youth step in the job market

Creativity and Social Innovation:

NOT in Creativity and Social Innovation

8. How long has your project been running?

From:

17/12/2008

9. Targets and Elements of Innovation

Please explain the targets and the background of your project:

Civic war in the Congo D.R. and societal problems in the common view. We want to let people learn and teach us what is the bacroung of people, what we do in the same way and is the word humanity.

Which opportunities/problems does it address to:

People don't believ that the other coutries have also problems and that tey are not ideal. Also we show young generation that war is not needed and fortune is unless when you haven't family and friends. We fight against unawareness where many problems like civic wars starts. We learn but are also teached to be tolerant and try to see the world by somenes' else eyes.

Please explain what is unique or special in your project:

People don't need to know anything, tehy need only access to internet or somebody who has and spread the magazine in paper version, and litteracy. Our project support litteracy also in the artistic way. We help people to grow their ego that they could change something in their lives to better, we are not a "group" or place where you have to go, we are there forever, everywhere, in your mind. We are friends' community and you are voluntary among us. You are informed very slightly about the surronding world and you'll find what for life is in Europe, in Africa, that it isn't any fairytale but colorful reality.

You could really be absolutely ungifted writer and artistic illiteral. You could be prizoner, you'll find that people are the same regardless they are rich or they have stolen something. And it will be first international comeptition which I will private support.

10. Results

Describe the results of your project as per today:

Our results are our friendship anc that we have growing community from schools in Congo, D.R, Italy Trieste University, Belgrade, New York, Tanzania and much more Young artists look for us to publish with us and we are one step far from the student-exchange..

People visit our sites and also public readings.

Our site http://laccacheletemps.as2.cz has reached 3000 visits in few weeks...

How does it fulfill the users’ needs:

We have only responses of the community. People write to the redaction:
"Moi j'aime les action comme les votres aussi pour aide' le congo.
je suis congolais vivant a Dublin, si nous pouvons etre en contact pour essaye' de travaille' ensemble avec vous cela me fera bien plaisir.

J'attend votre reponse.

fyotim"

"..Nous allons envoyé aussi des poémes et des photos des enfants que nous encandrons. Jevais aussi cooperer avec vous pour l'énchange des idées et experiénce...

Albert Wunda"

or texts in czech, and much more.

How many users interact with your project per month and what are the preferred forms of interaction:

Per internet, appr. about hundrets of income. We can show you Traffic map.

How has it improved the quality of educational and/or training services:

We speak, and that's the main stream of information income!

How has it improved the participation of professionals, children, youth and other stakeholders:

A lot - M. Guelord Mbaenda, ADECOP, Mojca Krajl, teacher,...international, but it is not so needed for our well function. But, our main source was Talnet and the psychologists there -

I have prepared this article, you can here the article here:

http://www.houndbite.com/?houndbite=12762

shorten: "

Education of young people is a problem for developing society. Talented children are not always mild and is not always possible to satisfy them by usual way of schooling. To diversify their lives - and not only their but also their parents - I speak from my own experience, are ready online courses at a high level, which literally inspire your children.

Talnet - online to natural sciences: Talnet is a project which focuses on education of talented pupils and students. The project is under the heading NIDM and realized by Laboratory of distance education didactics Physics Department Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University Prague, but works internationally.

“Working with talented students in the classroom at school is certainly not easy for individual access to talented individuals neinther in the subjects nor the time and space. Talnet may become a necessary resource for student activities, which are lacking in the academic teaching time. Your talented student which will develop Talnet activity in terms of their capabilities, the state may re-enrichment of their class and for your teaching, ” says management of Talnet to teachers.

Distance education, this is not just a “net”, it is an opening gateway into the world of knowledge to calm your children and let them sleep. Caring for gifted students has to be taken seriously, but also with love. The example of Talnet met this goals fully. Students are not due to online shape of courses benefited or disadvantaged for their residence, it does not matter whether your gifted child jumping for pear trees or roofs of prefabricated houses. Everything takes place online in the community as well zapálených pundit, avšakl child remains in contact with the real world. ” It is so completely on the “elitism”, which is sometimes criticized for specialized education. “The main activities are the Talnet T-courses,” explains project coordinator, “being primarily an online form. Courses begin initial full focus in September and consist of four teaching blocks. In the autumn of collective learning takes place the first block followed by a block devoted to individual work seminary student to work under the guidance of an instructor, the defense of the online college. The common concentration of winter in February presenting their work before the plenary. Jarní learning takes place under the same block diagram, as in the autumn. T-courses ending the joint třídenním concentrating summer in June. “

http://quazen.com/kids-and-teens/school-time/gifted-children-its-your-turn/

Describe how you measure (parameters) these results:

Society grown and letters to redaction. Also we monitor the online discusion and we are concerned in the amount of people who participate to public readings and discussions -

11. Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project:

More than 6 years

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in USD):

Less than 10.000

What is the source of funding for your project:

Other

Other:

personal contribution

Is your project economically self sufficient now:

12. Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere:

What lessons can others learn from your project:

Poetry could help impruve the world. It is not only word or piece of art. It is a part of truth.

We are available to help others starting or working on similar projects:

We are available to help others starting or working on similar projects.

13. Background information

Background:

As everything was created

Democratic Republic of Congo is located in a state of civil war. Despite the turbulent history, which began to chronicle the country especially after independence from colonial powers, Belgium, to the first free elections only recently, even now found peace and true democracy and independence. The Conference Youth Forum 2008 Trieste was among a number of votes of countries around the world hear the voice of středoafrického Congo, and thus began our journey to try to fill subtitle of this conference, where I had to represent our country - is solidarietà Poesía, Poetry solidarity --
It is not easy to find in this case the phrase, we can actually fill out (it was also the aim of the conference, therefore, how can today to help in the world of poetry?). And although the countries and areas that were represented at the conference and would need a helping hand, is undoubtedly much more, I was committed to Mr. Mbaendovi of the local Congolese Adecop organizations that do everything in my power to help local young people who War takes the opportunity and space for learning and growing their own culture. We want to jointly create a project as a multicultural bridge between the Czech Republic and the Republic of Congo, where young people can find a mutual language and options, help each other and transmit the experience to life. We want poetry, which even today can be solidarity, not only wild words, but words, what hýbou continents.
We have options to stop killing or promote local culture so that everyone or at least a large part of girls and boys from the affected area has the necessary education and thus vytoužených dreams. So far, no foreign or our association did not support the resulting project, even one of their company in February to suspend aid organizations Adecop (Mr Mbaenda is its president), which came on the substantial assistance in the territory of North Kivu.
But we have enthusiasm and time, which we work. We believe in the power of human ideas, which have often proved that he can overcome even the greatest obstacles.
We believe in the future most of solidarity among young Czechs and Congolese. We believe in assisting Poetry After-třebným.

The first action

We have the first objective, which fell on the day with poetry, and the intercultural dialogue between the Czechs and the Congolese, the concentration of our lives to help the arts and perhaps even extend the learning
for all who need it.
Poetry Project Helping the needy in the Congo for the first time oživl Poetry solidarity in action?
from mid-December of 2008. After the whole campaign at a grammar school in Trutnov pre week expressed his opinion more than 15 young people and other students and teachers are invited to read a literary work and his own poetry. Thanks to this solidarity meeting laděnému
Humanitarian Action has received a fair and thus officially introduced to the life.

Barriers:

Amount of people intereted in program which was not spread was quite small. But it was growing because of the "oral advert".

Future plans and wish list:

student exchange and meeting
international competition
far future - end of civic war?

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WORKING WITH EMOTIONS: DELETING “I” AND BECOMING “WE”

Mon, 08/06/2009 - 15:31

A DEVELOPING PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN’S INTRAPERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

1. Project summary

Summary:

The 7th Primary School is located in a poor region of Athens and counts a great number of children from low socio-economic status, with various learning and emotional disabilities. Teachers of the school realised the importance of including these children in the general school setting and decided to design a 6 month e-twinning project focusing on emotional intelligence, hoping that teching certain emotional skills would help children achieve academic and behavioral growth. They developed a collaborative consultation team with colleagues from European schools, as well as from their own school who worked together to plan and conduct an educational program on emotional intelligence. This team consisted of colleagues who had some technical expertise (special education teacher, psychologist, gym teacher, Primary school teacher, EFL teacher) and tried to identify and resolve problems, as well as provide feedback regarding program implementation.Working together, the team established objectives, identified program content, developed program schedule, implemented program and conducted summative evaluation. The methodology focused on activities that promote students’ intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence in order to help them develop their self image and acquire positive attitudes towards the world outside their classroom. Each school implemented specific activities and published the results in the twinspace, while problems were discussed in the twinspace’s forum, chat and mail. The end product was an e-book that contained all information regarding program design, goal, objectives, methodology, timetable, activities, students’ photos performing these activities, as well as the evaluation questionnaires.

2. Country (City / Region)

State:

Greece

City:

Athens/Attica

3. Company/organization/institute presenting the project

Organization:

E-TWINNING PROJECT

4. Type of organization

Select type:

School

5. Project coordinator

Name and Surname:

THALIA HADZIGIANNOGLOU

E-Mail:

xenodohidis@hotmail.com

6. Website

The website of the project:

http://7dim-ag-anarg.att.sch.gr

7. Please select the category in which you candidate your project

Youth Education Project. Select Project Users by age:

Up to 10 years

Helping youth step in the job market:

NOT Helping youth step in the job market

Creativity and Social Innovation:

NOT in Creativity and Social Innovation

8. How long has your project been running?

From:

23/11/2008

9. Targets and Elements of Innovation

Please explain the targets and the background of your project:

As explained, the project developed under the belief that affective learning should be an integral rather than supplementary part of the school curriculum, aiming at helping students develop their full human potential. Below, the goal and objectives of the project are presented.
Goal
This project aims at helping Primary School children develop their Emotional Intelligence (EQ), defined as a union of:
a) Intrapersonal intelligence (self smart) which is the ability to understand oneself, to know who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, your feelings and motivations.
b) Interpersonal intelligence which is the ability to understand others, interpret their behaviour, assess their emotions, motivations, desires and intentions and interact with them.
The project’s objectives are defined into three categories, according to Bloom’s taxonomy:
Cognitive
Students will be able to:
• Name, describe and write basic emotions (Knowledge).
• Distinguish, compare and discuss basic emotions (Comprehension).
• Examine and classify emotions into negative and positive (Application).
• Analyse and identify specific emotions (Analysis).
• Formulate sentences expressing specific emotions (Synthesis).
• Decide which emotions represent them in certain cases (Evaluation).
Affective
Students will be able to:
• Comprehend their own emotions and the emotions of others.
• Value their uniqueness.
• Recognise and promote their positive emotions.
• Develop their interpersonal skills.
• Learn how to solve conflicts.
• Become tolerant to individual differences.
Psychomotor
Students will be able to:
• Draw and paint pictures reflecting specific emotions (Artistic skills).
• Learn how to use the PC in various educational activities (eg. make Powerpoint presentations, create their own photo story)

What does it try to achieve and how:

The project tries to maximize students’ academic and affective growth through a series of activities that focus on emotional intelligence. It is based on research evidence showing strong correlation between a child’s self esteem/image and academic growth. The following timetable provides an example of the activities implemented in the 7th Primary School of Agii Anargiri, Athens, Greece, during the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) course.

Which opportunities/problems does it address to:

The project attempts to develop students’ academic as well as behavioral growth. It provides action steps that can be used successfully in different situations. Participating professionals in this project developed their own activities, expanded on the ones presented by others or used activities found in the literature review and implemented them in their own school settings.

Please explain what is unique or special in your project:

Affective learning combined with cognitive growth is the unique element of the project. Through a series of activities, students improved their cognitive as well as affective skills. The project followed the interdisciplinary approach (e.g. maths through EFL-through the Wanted poster the students learned how to covert metres to feet), the communicative approach to Language Learning (e.g students had to exchange views to design the book on friendliness), as well as the principles of collaborative learning (students had to work collaboratively to complete certain activities). Students also developed their critical thinking (eg. dividing emotions into negative and positive), creative (e.g. writing their own sentences when putting on the feelings hats), artistic (eg. painting mandalas), ICT (e.g.creating their photo stories) skills, as well as important life skills (eg. communicative skills).

10. Results

Describe the results of your project as per today:

Students improved their behavior and developed socially and academically. They developed a positive attitude towards specific courses and school generally. They were able to speak about their fears, strengths, talents without being afraid of rejection. They felt secure and confident in participating in teams. They developed friendships and valuable affective traits, such as empathy, understanding , acceptance etc. They developed their self awareness, learned how to cope with problems and valued their uniquness. The end product was the creation of three books: The friedship book/The book of my Friendly Acts/The book of “It’s all about me and my feelings”

How does it fulfill the users’ needs:

Many problems in education could be avoided if our main concern for a child’ s academic growth was balanced by an equally strong concern for his affective development and his feelings for self worth as a person. This project aimed at providing students with intellectual as well as social and affective growth.

How many users interact with your project per month and what are the preferred forms of interaction:

Students and teachers from participating schools regularly interacted using the project’s twinspace. Students were able to see the work of their partners and teachers to discuss problems and views.

How has it improved the quality of educational and/or training services:

The student evaluation questionnaire was based on Kirkpatrick’s model.
Students were given questionnaires aiming, among others, at providing answers to the following questions:
• Did they like the project? (Reactions)
• What did they learn? (Learning)
• Will they use what they learnt? (Transfer of knowledge)
• Will they change? What is the impact to the school setting? (Result)
• ROI (Return on Investment). How will the school benefit from the students’ involvement in the project?
Students provided answers to the above questions which revealed ways they would use their knoweledge and make changes in their behavior. Thus, we were able to evaluate how the school would benefit from the students’ involvement in the project (ROI).

How has it improved the participation of professionals, children, youth and other stakeholders:

All participants were able to benefit from the project: Students were able to develop academically and socially, receiving the best that a school, not a single teacher can offer them. Teachers were able to develop professionally, as planning and implementation of the program offered them the opportunity to be involved and think about their work. As a conclusion, we would dare to say that the whole educational and family system benefitted from the project.

How does it promote the use of ICT for the educational and cultural development by professionals, children and youth:

ICT was the medium of teachers’ collaborative work, as the twinspace was the area for project design, publication of results and project problem solving. Students and teachers used ICT to see each other’s product (e.g. e-book on activities), while students developed their ICT skills by learning how to use search engines, create photo stories, make powerpoint presentations, develop their e-book etc. We might say that ICT was proven an excellent psycho-pedagogic tool in our project.

Describe how you measure (parameters) these results:

The results are measured by two student evaluation questionnaires: One focuses on intrapersonal and the other on interpersonal activities, making an overall project evaluation, as well. Moreover, professionals involved in the project were able to make their own evaluation through the consultive collaboration scheme.

11. Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project:

Less than 1 year

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in USD):

Less than 10.000

Is your project economically self sufficient now:

12. Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere:

What lessons can others learn from your project:

The project gives information on how collaborative consultation can be implemented in school settings and how emotional intelligence projects can develop students’ academic, social and affective growth.

We are available to help others starting or working on similar projects:

We are available to help others starting or working on similar projects.

13. Background information

Background:

Our project came about through real problems taking place in the school. We wanted to develop a vision of the classroom as an inclusive community; a community where everyone belongs, where the needs of all members are met, and where people care about and support each other. Our goal was to help students understand, respect, be sensitive to and grow comfortable with individual differences and similarities among their peers. We wanted to teach them essential life skills that would help them cope with life difficulties and develop their full human potential. Similar concerns by colleagues from other European schools (Spain/Italy/Bulgaria/Romania) drove to the development and implementation of the project.

Barriers:

Barriers stemmed mostly by our lack of ICT tools within our school setting. Students had to work in large teams in front of a computer, while the teachers had to buy special computer programs to use in the program implementation. We also had to integrate the project in the curriculum and arrange our timetable so that we would be able to meet curriculum and project needs.

Solutions:

To integrate the project within the curriculum, we had to carefully implement tasks as a follow up of the school subject activities. For example, the character recipe activity was used after a course based on how to write recipes. The lack of computers was solved by forming small teams that worked after the school lessons on the computer, with the aid of the teacher.

Future plans and wish list:

Emotional Intelligence is a pre-requisite in a constantly changing world. Teaching young children intrapersonal (self awareness, self esteem, self confidence etc.) and also interpersonal skills (eg. conflict resolution) will help them succeed in life, develop healthy relationships and excel in their work careers. It is our wish that we could expand this project to the whole school and to other educational settings, forming an interdisciplinary team (psychologist, special education teacher, psychiatrist, social worker etc.) that would conduct research and disseminate results. Another wish would be the development of training programs for teachers to help them develop personally and professionally and become more effective in their jobs. These programs should be followed by teacher observation and support so that educators could discuss issues with professionals and thus avoid burnout. Finally, another wish might be the development of an e-pedagogy program on emotional intelligence and also an e-community of teachers designing and implementing similar projects in their school settings.

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