This Twinspace will be used to share results of the Comenius Project with the same name. Students embark on a joint adventure with other European fellow students to find out what it means to grow up and be a teenager in different European countries. They will acquire an understanding of cultural, ethnic, religious, social, economic and societal determiners that have an effect on their sense of belonging. Students have already chosen those aspects that are important to them in describing their lives: Life at school, Life after School (including lifestyle choices in a globalised world, pocket money, hobbies, risks), dawning Adulthood (including welcoming rituals, future visions, participation) and Youth Culture (including youth scenes, teenage language, aspects of identity). Project based learning assignments will allow students to express their visions, hopes, experiences and knowledge in these fields. All investigations are presented in digital form to share with the enlarged learning community: Image galleries, PPP, videos, an online dictionary, a digital cookery book, a Wiki and blogs encourage students to share and compare their work and appreciate the diversity in Europe. As “music transcends barriers and appeals to what we have in common” (Herbie Hancock, Jazz musician), a hymn will be written, composed and recorded to combine all the findings and reflections on teenage life. They will be reflected in the style of music, the content expressed in the verses, the choice of dance and movement in choreography or the clothes worn in the video. Students contribute material in English and in their native languages. Each project meeting has the hymn as its recurrent topic. Besides that participants consolidate their knowledge of topics already completed by the students at home and they get the chance to participate in the other European cultures.

• Subjects: Citizenship, Cross Curricular, Economics, European Studies, Foreign Languages, Geography, History, Informatics / ICT, Media Education, Social Studies / Sociology
• Languages: EN
• Pupil's age: 13 - 16
• Tools to be used: Audio conference, Chat, e-mail, Forum, MP3, Other software (Powerpoint, video, pictures and drawings), Project Diary, Twinspace, Video conference, Virtual learning environment (communities, virtual classes, ...), Web publishing
• Aims: - provide students with an exhilarating and inspiring assignment that fosters students’ motivation for learning, offers opportunities to excel, fulfil... read more- provide students with an exhilarating and inspiring assignment that fosters students’ motivation for learning, offers opportunities to excel, fulfil one's full potential and is relevant to students (and we believe that this project offers all that); - offer opportunities to apply innovative ICT capabilities and ICT tools to share information, disseminate achievements and communicate with each other; - encourage foreign language learning by offering meaningful communicative situations in which English is needed; - understand the range of European cultures, languages and values when comparing aspects of youth culture in different European countries; - achieve a sense of one's own identity; - understand the determiners that affect the shaping of the variety of European cultures and landscapes; - learn about what it means to be a teenager in different countries of the EU; - appreciate the idea of a European community and become aware that they are part of this international community in which their contributions and participation is recognised; - compose, write and record a song; create a choreography, video and CD booklet; - raise the quality of teaching through sharing best practice hide
• Work process: The project will concentrate on project based learning. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively and independently. They are actively involved... read moreThe project will concentrate on project based learning. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively and independently. They are actively involved in all stages (planning, implementation, evaluation) of the project. Students document both the working process and the end products. Their work is ICT driven (Wiki, PPP, video, blog, statistic, photo gallery...) since all experiences will be made available on a common website. All results will again trigger discussions and new tasks when students compare their work and learn about differences and similarities. All learning is task based and cross curricular. Tasks are learner centred and depend on students' contributions since they are all about students' experiences, hopes and expectations. Project meetings allow personal experiences of other cultures.Our partnership activities shall be remembered as innovative, inspiring and engaging learning events. They are exciting and ambitious ways to put the curriculum in action and help to develop our students’ strengths and passions. Thus we expect to raise students’ motivation, foster an understanding of the relevance of learning, continuously develop talents and personalities and enhance scholastic endeavours. Students are dared to attain higher- creativity, innovation and personal talents - which school and curriculums often don’t appreciate enough- gain importance and will boost self confidence and self esteem. Positively participating in a project that brings together people from various European countries, working together towards a common goal and travelling to visit each other sustains the idea of Europe and widens our students’ horizons. The project promotes life long learning and helps to give students insights into the practical meaningfulness of subjects. Students are motivated to learn foreign languages thanks to real communicative situations. Their writing and speaking skills improve. Students will master digital media and other forms of ICT. The project helps to implement an intercultural dimension in education which is an interdisciplinary objective. The partnership will promote the confident practise of intercultural competences such as empathy, solidarity, tolerance, democracy and international understanding. Students consider heterogeneity as an enrichment in our society and are willing to interact with people from different backgrounds. They negotiate an understanding between self and other when meeting and working together. The European partnership is a valuable resource for professional development. Teachers use the opportunity to exchange ideas on teaching methods, teaching materials, school management and students’ participation. Insights into different school systems widen our perspective on everyday school life. Within each institution, a project fosters cooperation, offers opportunities to involve many subjects, gives meaningful opportunities to use ICT and raises awareness of the European dimension of teaching. Schools will gain recognition for their involvement with European partners. We hope that students and teachers alike will be inspired by the opportunities made possible by Comenius and educationally encouraged by their achievements. Tasks are distributed evenly among partners. (A) Each country will be supervising one of the subtopics. (B) Six countries will host project meetings. (C) Each country is involved in management tasks. Germany will be coordinator. The role involves the supervision of the implementation of the partnership according to our objectives, overseeing that schedules are being followed and deadlines kept. Germany will host the first meeting, monitor the progress made on the hymn and coordinate the newsletter. Norway and Lithuania will be in charge of students' involvement. They will suggest innovative ways of giving students opportunities to excell and fulfill their potential. They will focus on ways to engage students more actively into the working process and to empower students more. Norway will host the second meeting and organize the digital cookery book. Lithuania supervises the digital representation of our hometowns. Italy and Poland will be responsible for the dissemination of outcomes. They will gather all attempts made to disseminate the results to the public and make them available on the website. They will research opportunities to disseminate efficiently and give their partners advise on possible ressources to draw from. Italy hosts the fifth meeting and coordinates the photo book on school life and Poland is responsible for the Wiki-entries on forms of youth culture. Evaluation will be monitored by Greece and Turkey. They will research creative and varied methods for evaluation (e.g. using MICE-T), oversee that evaluation is being undertaken, set dates for sharing evaluation results, encourage discussions of the data and collect them digitally. Greece hosts the third meeting and is responsible for statistics on globalisation and consumerism. Turkey hosts the last meeting and manages the surveys on drugs and addiction. Portugal will be in charge of ICT management giving advise on the usage and working of tools and applications on our Twinspace as well as other software packages or new media tools such as digital cameras, web cams and video conferencing equipment. They will coordinate the blog, video or diary on rituals. Romania ensures regular communication among partners with the help of video conferences, calls, emails or postal greetings. Competences required involve making appointments, inviting partners, summarising results and making them available digitally. Romania hosts the fourth meeting and coordinates the online dictionary. Regular communication and cooperation is crucial to sustain the motivation for and interest in the project. Only the continued exchange enables us to create a sense of community, a sense of being "in it together". Working together closely comprises the dissemination of good practice, the celebration of results and outcomes, the giving support, the addressing and discussion of problems and it offers a constant ressource for inspiration, innovation and stimulation. The project is designed to ensure a high amount of cooperation. For each of the project's subtopics, one participating school will be in charge to suggest a common framework, layout and content structure so that students and teachers share information which are comparable. Italy will be responsible for the photo book on school life, Lithuania will make suggestions for the digital representation of our hometowns, Norway will manage the digital cookery book, Greece will be in charge of the digital surveys on consumerism and globalisation, Turkey will manage the statistics on drugs and addiction, Poland will suggest ideas for the Wikis on different forms of youth culture, Romania will coordinate the online dictionary, Portugal will manage the blog or video on rituals and Germany will be in charge of the hymn. All the results and outcomes will be shared on a common webspace using eTwinning. The set dates are to be respected so that students can compare and evaluate each others work as well as leave their thoughts. The Twinspace will offer all the necessary tools to work cooperatively (Wikis, blogs, picture galleries, commentaries, chats or email). These tools allow different authors to contribute to the same file, gallery or document which demonstrate the idea of cooperation perfectly. Teachers will use the calendar and messaging opportunities as well as the virtual staff room to upload documents and files. A regular correspondance between partners will be established using Skype, e-mail or the Twinspace's staff room. Communication is encouraged among all teachers working on the project but contact teachers will additionally coordinate each school’s contribution to the newsletter that will report on our progress. The newsletter is a joint publication sent to every school to distribute or display every two months. While Romania will make sure communication is regular once a month by inviting participants to video conferences, conference calls or chats, Germany will coordinate the newsletter. Since the project aims at giving students' the opportunity to express themselves, reflect on their own culture and find out about what they are determined by, a high level of students' involvement is necessary to get an insight into teenage-lifestyles. Students are involved in the planning of the project. Some participating schools had opinion polls and class discussions to involve their students into the process of choosing a topic for Comenius. Other schools compiled ranking lists of the subtopics to find out about preferences. At each school there will be students' groups responsible for outlining the layout and content structure of the subtopics their school is responsible for. When topics are implemented, working on them is project based or arranged in cooperative learning activities. This approach fosters participation, motivation and personal concern, demands commitment and promotes success for all students involved. Students will be responsible for their own learning within the given guidelines. Only the students' input and their creativity will lead to the project's success. Students will compile a photobook of their school life, documenting major events, writing articles, taking pictures and arranging it digitally. They also prepare a digital presentation of their hometown which involves research and an indepth study of the towns historic and present meaning, its offers for teenagers as well as its attractions for others. When putting together a digital cookery book students become aware of culinary traditions, country-specific concepts of healthy food as well as influences of nutrition on lifestyles. Students carry out surveys on drugs and addiction. Students become aware of economic and cultural determiners when they write statistics on globalisation and consumerism. Students learn about the variety of languages in an online dictionary and exchange "hip words". Students research and write about forms of youth culture. They document country-specific traditions for being welcomed into adulthood in a blog, diary or video. They compose, write and record a song. Students are active evaluators when they comment, review, and assess their European partners' presentations. They develop a culture of constructive and critical feedback. They are encouraged to evaluate their own work and the impact the project had on them personally in a Comenius diary as well as in articles, speeches or other presentations. hide
• Expected results: Photobook on School and School life; Digital presentation of Hometowns; Joint Digital Cookery Book; Digital Survey on Drugs and Addiction; Statistics on Globalisation and... read morePhotobook on School and School life; Digital presentation of Hometowns; Joint Digital Cookery Book; Digital Survey on Drugs and Addiction; Statistics on Globalisation and Consumerism; Online Dictionary on Teenage Talk and Words in Native Languages; Wiki on Forms of Youth Culture; Blog on Welcoming Rituals to Adulthood; Project Hymn hide

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