skills

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: 
No
12. Transferability
Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere: 
No
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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Globaldreamers- Peace project

Fri, 17/04/2009 - 13:17

A team project that engages children‘s creativity in exploration of peace.

1. Project summary
Summary: 

The Dream a dream project was developed by Mrs. Marsha Goren of Ein Ganim School Israel in 2001 and first met the Internet in 2002. The idea started as a vehicle to encourage children and educators to share in a learning environment that would lead to global communication and tolerance. Dream a dream at Ein Ganim prompts students at Ein Ganim and around the world to join in multicultural projects that capture student’s thinking in a visual way. It inspires children to take a deeper look at the world by exploring, exchanging ideas and using research tools, supporting a positive learning environment and a shared learning experience. Because of the war between Israel and the Palestinians which began in December 2008, we decided to invite schools to join in our peace project. The children felt the need to express their feelings on the subject together with many of our partners around the world. Our peace project aims to encourage cross cultural communication and promote global understanding, while helping children to expand their knowledge in technology, support the use of new educational technologies. The educational value of teaching about peace was essential and the results of the work we received from our partners is indeed heartwarming. More than 25 schools from around the world have taken part in this project as of today.

2. Country (City / Region)
State: 
Israel
City: 
Petach Tikva
3. Company/organization/institute presenting the project
Organization: 
Ein Ganim School
4. Type of organization
Select type: 
School
5. Project coordinator
Name and Surname: 
Marsha Goren
E-Mail: 
gorenmm@zahav.net.il
6. Website
The website of the project: 
http://www.globaldreamers.org/09peace/index.html
7. Please select the category in which you candidate your project
Youth Education Project. Select Project Users by age: 
Up to 15 years
Helping youth step in the job market: 
NOT Helping youth step in the job market
Creativity and Social Innovation: 
Creativity and Social Innovation
8. How long has your project been running?
From: 
31/12/2008
9. Targets and Elements of Innovation
Please explain the targets and the background of your project: 

1. To encourage and inspire student involvement which strengthens the curriculum and allows learners to become active in the process and in real life exchanges. 2. To engage in an effective global collaboration amongst youth, authentic language use, and the promotion of learning towards positive cultural exchanges 3. To educate and train children to practice communication skills and provide abundant learning opportunities in an online environment 4. To have students use their English for authentic communications with a global audience of peers. Partners receive updates about the current projects. The website, which is a meeting place for all, allows students and educators to take part in varied activities, exchange ideas, and promote global collaboration. And finally the Globaldreamers peace project and its vision is to encourage peace among all nations and to educate a more tolerant and understanding individual.

What does it try to achieve and how: 

The project encourages global and cultural exchange among all who register. The project answers to the requirement of the curriculum, children are the center of attention and the learning is active. This projects allows children an educators to take part in this important and meaningful project, exchange ideas about peace and allow for global communication.
We were even given the opportunity to take part live on a radio program in the United States where children from the USA asked their colleagues in Israel about the war and they could express their opinions about the war and hope for future peace.

Which opportunities/problems does it address to: 

The peace project encourages children to work in creative ways of resolving conflicts and problems. Our dream is to create a global net work of schools working together in harmony and thinking of varied ways to encourage future peace. It is with each of us that peace can begin. There are many conflicts in the world. It is with understanding that the process of peace begins; the valuing of each person; the respect for cultures that are different from our own; the willingness to share our culture while appreciating those that are different.

Please explain what is unique or special in your project: 

The peace project is a very special project. First of all it helps to build cultural bridges among different countries. It also builds and unites relationships among the teachers, children and even their parents. When they ask other students from around the world for their thoughts on violence and peace, they really want to know and to share their ideas for solving these problems.
Another unique aspect is the fact that some of our partners shared their ideas on peace in their own languages. In addition, there are resources for the educators and ideas for teaching as well as the variety of materials we received from our friends around the world.

10. Results
Describe the results of your project as per today: 

The results are measured by the many schools and children who have joined us in our work for many years now. The work has received international and national recognition throughout the years due to the hard work and determination of our hard work

How does it fulfill the users’ needs: 

Children and educators are pleased as the results are put on the website for immediate feedback. In the frequent weekly emails I sent to the educators there is mention of the great work everyone is doing and contributing for the benefit of all. Children take pride in what they are doing and act as ambassadors for their schools and countries in promoting peace.

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

Dream participants take part in the online activities and contribute materials to the peace project such as artwork, drawings, stories, poems, graphic work and writings. This encourages creative skills as well as high thinking skills when having to share ideas on such a serious subject like peace. I believe between three to five thousand children take part in various activities.

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

It has improved English and technology skills as well as creativity skills. Many children in our project have learned to use graphic programs such as Photoshop, animation programs such as Frames and Flash as well as html skills. These are skills that have led the children to work in global collaboration thus encouraging the future workforce around the world.

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

Though there is much thought behind the peace project it is easy to participate in as this is done purposely to encourage people to step in. Once they see how great their part looks they do more. Suggestions made by students are taken as seriously as those made by their teachers.

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

Since the project requires use of the Internet and email, participants at the very least must become confident in this use. Then many move on to digital photography, animation, presentation building and more as can be seen on the site.

Describe how you measure (parameters) these results: 

I can measure these results when I see the materials my students prepare as well as the materials we receive from our global partners around the world.

11. Sustainability
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: 
The Petach Tikva municipality helps with funding of about $1000.
Is your project economically self sufficient now: 
Yes
Insert date: 
01/01/2007
12. Transferability
Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere: 
Yes
Specify: 

Yes, these project methods have been applied in many of the schools that are members of the Globaldreamers. Teachers and students from around the world are now contributing to the Globaldreamers project in many ways. Some partners have built their own websites or web pages which are linked back to our project. The knowledge is being shared by many people around the world. Teachers have provided positive feedback and remained in the project for more then three years. Globaldreamers presents a learning unit of global communication and a shared experience of cultural diversity. The information from the project can be used by schools anywhere in the world. The message of tolerance and peace which Globaldreamers is based upon can be suited to fit any class anywhere. We are here to assist and encourage others to join in our dream.

What lessons can others learn from your project: 

Children, youth, and adults everywhere share the same hopes and dreams for peace. Everyone wants to feel secure, be happy and have friends. No one wants war especially children who are not responsible for war as it is the adults who make these decisions.

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: 

I have written earlier about how the project came to be and the different learning units have been created as the years went by. Our work with Globaldreamers has been on the Internet since 2002.

Future plans and wish list: 

Future expected development- We want educators around the world to join our global dream for peace. We dream of creating a CD to send around the world encouraging teachers and students dreams for a brighter future. We dream of sponsored workshop in OCL for educators around the world. The share concept is one from which educators benefit. We dream of an experienced teacher community helping new OCL teachers, answering questions, guiding as needed through an online site. We dream of other projects, contributing these materials to educators everywhere so children could benefit from our work. We believe in virtually doing everything, continuing what we are doing to promote peace and tolerance for a better world for our youth. Children are the future.

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