A constant worry that we have as educators is the difficulty of exposing our students to cultural opportunities that they would not normally experience in the context of their academic life because they do not live near major cities. We would like to instill in them the curiosity and the independence they require not only in school, but also in order to live as fully informed citizens. We feel that we have found a way to inculcate these ideas in our students with the Erasmus + program by initiate "Sharing the Mountain Tops" In accordance with a local club and in partnership with clubs in Greece, Italy, and Romania, our students will direct a documentary. A common goal unites these territories : the presence of a mountain, a volcano, or a nature preserve and a desire to showcase these attractions. The idea is that each school district will grow to understand its own territory, its own heritage, and also those of its partners, and to come to a mutual understanding through these documentaries. The film will emphasize this common heritage and what is at stake concerning sustainable development. This is why we are aiming for both a local and a European dimension. We foresee various encounters stretching over a two-year period between teachers and students. About 100 students will meet in various locations with their teachers, but also participate in digital exchanges with students from the other countries.The project will conclude with a gathering in Romania, during a local festival. This will allow the various partners to discover the films in a truly European context. These documentaries will then be distributed to and shown in local academic establishments, media libraries, and community centers.This will give students the opportunity to share their work with and see it appreciated by a wider audience, therefore revealing to them the quality of their own achievements.
At first, we dreamed of a project to make our students open up and grow, to open them to new horizons and to Europe. 7 teachers from Mariotte Middle school swung into action to find European partners. They managed to rally 3 other countries (Greece, Italy and Romania) thanks to the Etwinning platform and to some acquaintances. Each country shares a common point: a mountain top (Vercors, Apuseni, Olympus, Etna). Therefore, we decided to call this project "Sharing our mountain tops". This project aimed at discovering our own territories, both close and mountainous, and to make them discover to other European students involved. It also aimed at discovering new cultures, communicating, sharing and cooperating. Because Europe may sometimes seem far away or disembodied to our students, this project also enabled us to open up to a more European spirit. This way we compared and learned from our common points and differences. For people to have an overview on the project, we decided to make a film on our territories, about the activities we've done as well as all the different moments of sharing. This film aims at enhancing all the work done throughout these 2 years. The main idea was for the students to be active on the different sets and to make the film themselves. This film was made so as to be shown to the public (in our school, in public libraries...), to highlight our territories and the work done. 100 students were involved in the mobilities throughout 4 countries with a total of 30 teachers. All the students had very different profiles. As far as France was concerned, we chose to hold an ERASMUS+ Club lasting 45 minutes once a week, involving 25 students (7th, 8th and 9th graders) who were selected after an interview questioning them about their motivations and their knowledge about their territory. These students came from very different backgrounds and had very different school results. We organized a challenge for the creation of the project logo and 2 « Grandes Lessives » (artistic and collective installations in which all the students from our middle school participated – it also took place in our European partners' middle schools). We also made some research on our own territory and on the others. We created posters about our territory; a narrator came to our school to tell us about the Vercors history; we made a video in which every students from the 4 countries introduced themselves; we shared cultural information about Christmas celebrations for example, thanks to the Etwinning platform; we prepared our mobilities to Sicily and Greece and most of all, we prepared the French mobility of October 2018 (our students organized themselves in groups to prepare a guiding tour of our territory, each of them having in charge 1 particular place to introduce to our partners). We also organized 2 school trips to visit « sensitive natural areas »; we organized song rehearsals for the welcoming in France and for the final film. We wrote articles to explain our project and the students' mobilities. We sorted photos and videos for the final editing. We shot scenes about stereotypes and the benefits of such a project. Then, we prepared a special night for the projection of the film. This film gathers the presentation of the 4 countries, the objective of the project, the stereotypes of our country and of the others, the presentation of our territories (heritage, culture, mountain tops during the students' mobilities) and the meetings between students, the activities made in each country, the benefits of the project and the best moments shared together. Each country had 7 parts to shoot. 1 French teacher took in charge the whole film editing. We are quite satisfied of the results, concerning the communication and the sharing between the European students. They used Etwinning and also managed to keep in touch thanks to social networks. They regularly caught up on their European friends' news and didn't wait for the club to take place. This way, a certain cohesion happened rather quickly during the mobilities. Different languages were used to make themselves understood : French, English and Italian above all. The objective of getting a more European spirit seems to have been reached. Concerning the discovery of our territory, very few students get out of their own village or even visit touristic places. We gave our students a questionnaire at the beginning of the project so as to check their knowledge about their territory and very few of them knew their surroundings (Grenoble, the Vercors). At the end of the project, they took active part in the research and have visited the places. 2 years later, we gave them the same questionnaire and the results were far more encouraging. We think this project is a huge advantage in the long run because the great majority of our students would like to keep on traveling (half of them had never been abroad), visit their new European friends and discover other places.