The fundamental idea behind this project is to ameliorate our learners’ educational opportunities for career and employability choices and prospects in a dynamic, constantly shifting Europe emasculated by the economic crisis. Our project aims to develop entrepreneurship and leadership while honing self-assurance, diverse local and European interdependent communication skills and higher order critical thinking strategies in our learners. The cornerstone of this project are our learners therefore the project will be carried out with an interdisciplinary approach and will involve different subjects and aspects of their set curriculum. We hope to establish a learner-centered approach where the teacher will act as advisor thus allowing learners to reach their own decisions about the set tasks. The project envisions a dynamic, forward-moving community of students and teachers - lifelong learners who are prepared for productive citizenship by promoting problem solving, teamwork, responsibility and personal accountability, self esteem and mutual respect. To promote this vision we need to take part in cooperative activities which involve other European cultures thus strengthening the European dimension and opening new doors to productivity and entrepreneurship. We aim to improve the quality and relevance of the learning process by opening our schools to real world career opportunities new and innovative approaches and supporting the dissemination of best practices; Our objectives are to promote key-competences, basic skills and transversal skills in simulated entrepreneurship situations, thus reinforcing links between school education and the world of employment; We plan to introduce new learning approaches, collaborative learning and critical thinking strategies needed by the 21 century learner particularly through the tactical use of (ICT), open educational resources (OER) and other innovative learning methods. The core of our project seizes the colors of the rainbow, a universal symbol of unity and diversity and uses them as imagery in specific modules that cover European history, environment, education and traditions. The rainbow, like the peoples of the EU, embodies collective action and collaborative work, much like our intentions in carrying out this project. Each color scheme will provide students with an opportunity to design an enterprise that deals with the module topic. The rainbow spectrum corresponds to our modules: Red , the colour of our blood thus our identity as pertaining to each of us and the way others see us Orange, reminiscent of cornucopia thus food. We'll examine shifts in eating habits and what we must be aware of in today’s world Yellow is for professions and job related issues as well as entertainment units Green is for nature so we will study issues that deal with natural and man-made environment Blue symbolizes- consciousness and intellect so we will study pedagogical development: educational systems, school diversity, use of ITC in the classrooms, equal opportunities and the integration of those with special educational needs in society. Teachers will compare teaching methods, use of social networks- web tools, etc class management / overcrowded classrooms / use of concept maps. Indigo –Leisure activities: sports, games and music. A study of the shifting tastes in traditional games and sports. Violet - Fantasy: Myths and legends national and local, fairy tales of our areas superstitions, folklore Through these ordinary, everyday topics we will offer students the chance to become involved in a unique opportunity to create activities that will develop their leadership skills systematically. For each of the project’s module themes (colors) we will create worksheets and lesson plans that will allow students to express their intelligences and discover their strengths so as to help them realist their potentials.
The thought behind this project was to introduce the idea of entrepreneurship to our students. Today’s economic market is changing rapidly so we wanted to familiarize the students with the idea of private initiative for economic growth. We decided to take everyday topics and have the students explore aspects of each in their daily routines. Once they had enough information they had to think of new ideas to set up a business so as to be able to make a profit. To achieve this, the students were introduced to the basic concepts of establishing a business. Thus, teachers created worksheets on business start-ups and templates which the students then filled out for each module completed as if they were setting up a business. We decided on topics that could also introduce European history, environment, education and traditions. These topics drew upon the colors of the rainbow, a universal symbol of unity and diversity and used them as imagery in specific modules. The worksheets created, attempted to focus on these issues both individually per student needs and holistically . The modules and activities planned, sought to develop a broad range of innovative teaching resources, that would improve teachers‘ use of ITC in the classroom and actually aid in their professional amelioration. Objectives; The main objective behind the project was to teach the students to understand their own personal skills and attributes and use them in potential future careers. We wanted the students to understand that liking a profession usually means that we are better at it. We used teaching methods that focused on strategies to expand students’ critical thinking skills. Many of us tried a flipped classroom approach for some of the tasks. Having studied the demands of career portfolios for potential employees before designing the project we chose assignment s which would enable students to hone modern-day skills . The aim was to develop among our participants during the course of the project specific skills in the areas of research, data collection, collaboration and cooperation, media literacy and management. The students were also encouraged to develop better communication skills, work in multicultural groups and develop civic and social skills. Our objective was equip our students and colleagues with the fundamental skills to meet the demands of potential employers by acquiring new employability skills The activities planned were designed so as to motivate and encourage students to perform the tasks while maintaining their interest. The objectives the project concentrated on were to equip our students with skills that will enable them to achieve long term competencies. We therefore used a multiplicity of study skills such as the ability to interpret and apply information effectively, to find innovative ways to problem solving and task production, to promote communication skills and to adapt critical thinking procedures. The teaching methods used were flexible, differentiated and diverse and employed a range of 21st century learning strategies. The project was composed of 7 schools as one of the partner school was not approved The 3rd Gymnasio of Kalamata was the coordinating schools, a lower secondary school, Tallinna Pae Gümnaasium, Tallinn, Estonia, a Russian-speaking school with primary and lower secondary classes Šilalės Dariaus ir Girėno progimnazija, also a lower secondary school in Lithuania, Publiczne Gimnazjum w Tarnogrodzie, Tarnogród, Poland, lower secondary school, I.C.S. Gabriele D'Annunzio, Motta Sant'Anastasia, is a primary and lower secondary school, Scoala Gimnaziala ''Lucian Blaga" Farcaa- with students from kindergarten to professional school, their age ranging from 3 to 17, and Menderes Ortaokulu, İstanbul, Turkey also a middle school with students aged between 10-14. Under the project activities we created questionnaires a project slogan and logo, Interviews of people in the community such as business owners, farmers politicians of the local councils and members of NGOs. Students used a different web tool. They completed worksheets on start up businesses. Meetings were held at schools to update our colleagues and workshops with our colleagues to demonstrate the ITC tools and web 3.0 tools we were using. As stated we created a book of lesson plans for other schools to use. We also created Self -awareness questionnaires (student-teacher versions)- -Guides of our areas- student art work and artifacts on the project themes- -Digital cookbook - Impact of the project: Students and colleagues gained knowledge of skills and dexterity ( use of web tools, building a webpage, writing a CV, research and presentation skills, etc Understanding of entrepreneurship and basic business terms through the project tasks. management and leadership skills Development of teaching methodology through the emulation of good practice.