CONTEXTThe current technological era in which our adolescents were born has provided them with the necessary tools and knowledge that are needed in the current general profile of the graduate. However, schools fiind it difficult to keep up with their ever-changing needs and interests. This is why, students currently tend to tackle the school subjects superficially, as they consider books and traditional teaching methods outdated and tedious. Another need identified in our schools is for students to become more involved in the life of their communities. There are only few students who are currently active in the field of volunteering. This is how the project idea started.The parnership includes 5 schools – RO, PL, IT, LT, TR. It addresses a target group of students aged 15-18 and teachers English, ICT, Humanities. It involves 3 essential dimensions - cultural, educational and professional.AIM: to improve digital competences and language skills through movie-making, intent on tackling social issues, highlighting differences and similarities and putting emphasis on fundamental values.OBJECTIVESThe project will enable students:- To enhance practical skills related to film-making- To develop creativity and critical thinking skills - To develop communication and interpersonal skills - To determine students to actively approach social issues- To recognise different cultural marks and analyse similarities and differences- To improve level of English and acquire basic level of other languagesACTIVITIESThe project’s main topic is divided into 4 sub-topics distributed to the five partner countries. Therefore, there are 4 exchanges of pupils:C1- SHORT FILMS WITH IMPACT: The participating students discuss the films’ contents and message. They attend workshop on the stages of film-making, write storylines.C2- SHOOTING SHORT FILMS: Students work in multicultural teams on assigned topics, to write storylines and create a short film. C3- EDITING SHORT FILMS: Students learn to use film editing applications, create and edit new films in teams.C4- EUROPE UNITES US: Students create films centred on the European characteristics of each country and put them together under the title Europe Unites Us. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS- Direct participants 64 students (aged 15-18 from general secondary education), some of whom come from challenged social and economic backgrounds and 36 teachers (English, ICT, Social Sciences/Humanities) attend the LTTAs;- Indirect participants: 1400 students and 280 teachers from the partner schools.METHODOLOGYThe project is designed to cover 5 main areas:A1. Project management – includes monitoring and evaluation, risk management, financial management, cooperation and communication strategy that will be applied throughout the project. 2 TMs are included, 1 at the beginning, and 1 at the end of the project.A2. Implementation of activitiesBefore each LTTA, teams of students work on the topic of the exchange, under the supervision and coordination of implementation team members. Out of these students, 4-5 students are chosen to participate in the exchange.After the LTTAs, participants organise workshops in which they share with their peers the skills they developed in terms of film-making during the event.A3. Ellaboration of a collection of materials related to film-making applications – „Tips for making the most of film-making”The process of ellaboration starts in the second year of project. Each country contributes to it with materials presented during the LTTA hosted. The output will contain a methodology for running a film club. A4. DisseminationDissemination will be a continuous process. It starts in Sep 2016 and ends after the project end date. The project website and e-twinning space are created at the beginning and updated monthly or at least after every major event in the project.A5. Follow-up and sustainabilityEach school starts a film club in the year after the end of the project. They cooperate and organise online common actions and attract new schools in their areas.RESULTS AND IMPACTStudents will improve critical and analytical thinking skills, level of English, ICT and film-making skills, awareness of social problems and similarities and differences between countries, interpersonal and communication, team work, negotiation and organisational skills, values like tolerance, respect and acceptance of alterity. Teachers will have the chance to exchange good practices, teaching methods, opinions and will improve English and digital skills, organisational skills, teaching methods and tools.Institutions strengthen their cooperation with other European schools and gain more experience in managing Erasmus+ projects, benefit from better relationships between teaching staff and students, among students and among teachers, which will lead to a better cohesion inside the institution; continue cooperation with partner institutions through film clubs.
CONTEXT The current technological era in which our adolescents were born has provided them with the necessary tools and knowledge that are needed in the current general profile of the graduate. Students in general have a passion for films and, as such, we believed that they will take a keen interest in the topic. Another need identified in our schools is for students to become more involved in the life of their communities. At the beginning of the project, few students in our schools were active in the field of volunteering. The 5 partners in the project were schools from RO, PL, IT, LT, TR. It addressed a target group of students aged 15-18 and teachers English, ICT, Humanities and a variety of other subjects. Through the activities developed, the project reached 3 essential dimensions - cultural, educational and professional. OBJECTIVES Therefore, our aim was to improve digital competences and language skills through movie-making, with a keen eye on social issues, highlighting differences and similarities and putting emphasis on fundamental values. The objectives of the project were: To enhance practical skills related to film-making; - To develop creativity and critical thinking skills; - To develop communication and interpersonal skills; - To determine students to actively approach social issues; - To recognise different cultural marks and analyse similarities and differences; - To improve level of English and acquire basic level of other languages. ACTIVITIES We organised two TMS and 4 exchanges of groups of pupils: 1. TM1 – Bacău, Romania (November 2016) 2. TM2 – Istanbul, Turkey (May 2018) 3. LTTA1 – Tychy, Poland (6-10 February 2017) 4. LTTA2 – Vasto, Italy (8-12 May 2017) 5. LTTA3 – Kaunas, Lithuania (9-13 October 2017) 6. LTTA4 – Bacău, Romania (12-16 March 2018) All the exchanges were interconnected and the work on the project was performed even in-between the 4 planned exchanges, as students had to apply what they learned in the workshops during LTTAs in order to create new or improved films tackling social issues. Each LTTA had a clear topic and purpose: LTTA1 - The purpose was to address the problem of national social issues and to learn about the initial stages of film production, mainly script writing. After LTTA1, participants organised workshops with their peers and taught them about script writing. They then had to prepare scripts and films for LTTA2. LTTA2 - The purpose was to evaluate storylines that address the problem of local social issue and to improve student’s film-making skills. During LTTA2, students worked in multicultural teams and made short films based on the scripts brought by each partner team. After LTTA2, students had to work with the future participants and improve the films made in Italy. They also had to make a new film on a social issue. LTTA3 - The purpose was to present the improved films of the second meeting emphasizing the main film edition aspects. Participants learned about elements of editing, editing applications and learned to identify problems of films which are not edited properly. After LTTA3, students in each country made a film on the topic Gender discrimination, in order to see the different approaches to the same topic, now having gained knowledge of film editing as well. LTTA4 - The purpose of LTTA4 was to offer students the opportunity to get together in order to present and evaluate each other’s work – the films on Gender discrimination – and to collaborate in the creation of the final product – a film entitled “Europe Unites Us". PARTICIPANTS Direct participants - 76 students (aged 15-18 from general secondary education, state and private schools), 25 of whom come from challenged social and economic backgrounds and 36 teachers (English, ICT, Languages, Geography, History, Maths, Social Sciences/Humanities) attended the LTTAs; - Indirect participants: over 1500 students and 200 teachers from the partner schools. RESULTS As apparent in the student observation sheets, 80% of students had a good level of involvement, improved their sense of initiative and communication skills. 89% improved team work skills and almost the same percentage improved interpersonal skills. 84% developed presentation skills and 71% became better problem solvers. As resulting from the self-assessment forms, the following percentages of students improved a series of skills: - Practical ICT and film-making skills 86% - Creativity and critical thinking 94% - Communication 98% - Interpersonal 84% - English 96% - Other languages 57% Tangible results: - over 20 films created by students before exchanges, 4 films created in multicultural groups, 1 film "Europe Unites Us", 15 scripts, 1 e-book, 1 website, 1 Twinspace, 1 Facebook page, 5 Erasmus+ corners, dissemination folders, management documents (reports, assessment forms, feedback forms, evaluation and monitoring plan, dissemination plan etc) The project will continue through the collaboration among our schools' film clubs.