CONTEXT WE are five European schools brought together by similar needs. We want to offer our students the best possible alternatives, to improve their skills, motivate them and boost their creativity and self expression. We are all aware of the requirements of today’s educational systems, which promote the involvement of students in extracurricular activities so as to get them more actively involved in their own learning path, to enable them to thrive while doing something they are passionate about. Whether high or low achievers, our students are all united in the same desire to meet other pupils, share their hobbies, interests and passions, work together, communicate with them and find out more about the European cultures. We are well aware that there will also be challenges on the way, but we are determined to overcome them together, as a team. OBJECTIVES We have the following aims for students: - to improve their motivation and increase their enthusiasm - to improve their practical skills through photography - to improve intercultural awareness and sense of identity - to acquire European values like acceptance, tolerance, non-discrimination - to boost their language and digital skills - to develop communication, interpersonal and social skills - to enable self-expression, creativity - to increase self-awareness and self-appreciation At the level of teachers, the project aims to: - increase motivation - enable cooperation and collaboration among EU teachers - enable the exchange of good practices and application in the schools - improve expertise in running Erasmus+ projects - develop communication, interpersonal and social skills. ACTIVITIES In order to meet all these goals and attach a stronger intercultural component to the project, we have decided to combine photography with students’ daily lives, their culture, their problems, their views and artistic perception. Therefore, we intend to organize 5 student exchanges along the project: 1 – A day in my life - photography basics; 2 – My school - color, light and design techniques; 3 – My town – Principles of composition; 4 – My region - Capturing motion in pictures; 5 - My Europe – Learning to edit photos. Before each of these meetings, students will be assigned tasks related to the topic of each exchange. They will work in teams and will produce a photo story on each of these topics. During the exchanges, their works will be evaluated, they will receive advice and will attend workshops run by specialists in which they learn tips. They are also assigned a new task as a result of the workshop. PARTICIPANTS Students, who are our main target group, are pupils aged 12-14 in each school. They will be in the centre of all our activities and will benefit directly or indirectly from the project activities and result. Some of them, 6 for each exchange (24/country) will get the chance to travel to the partner countries and be directly involved in the activities. They will be accompanied by 2 teachers in each exchange (8/country). Therefore, overall 120 students and 40 teachers will participate directly. RESULTS Our concrete results refer first of all to the attainment of all stated objectives. Secondly, we aim to produce and collect all kinds of tangible materials, such as workshop materials, students’ photo stories, students’ photos on the topics of the exchange, students’ self-assessment forms, feedback forms, evaluation instruments, dissemination materials such as newsletter, photo exhibition, website, eTwinning platform space, assessment reports about each exchange, certificates of attendance etc. IMPACT All partner schools will gain valuable experience as a result of this project. We will learn from each other and observe the positive aspects in each system which can be adopted in our own schools. We will learn about the cultures of European countries and give our schools a European dimension. Consequently, we will be more confident in applying for future projects. Schools can continue their collaboration by creating a network of photo clubs which may extend to other schools in our countries or other countries. We will organize photography competitions among students in partner schools on different special occasions. We want to turn this into a regular practice. Therefore, the project will help our institutions become active on the European stage.
CONTEXT We offered our students the best possible alternatives, improved their skills, motivated them and stimulated their creativity and self-expression. We are all aware of the demands of modern education systems that promote the involvement of students in extracurricular activities, to involve them more actively in their own learning path, to allow them to grow while doing what they are passionate about. All our students shared the same desire to meet other students, share their hobbies, interests and passions, work together, communicate with them and learn more about European cultures. OBJECTIVES Our students achieved the following goals: - improved motivation and increased enthusiasm - improved their practical skills through photography - improved intercultural awareness and sense of identity - acquired European values such as acceptance, tolerance, non-discrimination - improved their language and digital skills - developed communication, interpersonal and social skills - had the opportunity to express themselves and be creative - increased their self-awareness and self-esteem Teachers increased their motivation, cooperated with teachers from the EU, exchanged good practices, developed communication, interpersonal and social skills. CLASSES In order to meet all these goals and give the project a stronger cross-cultural component, we combined photography with the students' everyday life, their culture, their problems, their views and artistic perception. Therefore, as part of the project, we carried out 5 student exchanges: 1 - A day in my life - basics of photography; 2 - My school - techniques of color, light and design; 3 - My city - Rules of composition; 4 - My region - Capture motion in photos; 5 - My Europe - Learning photo editing. Before each of these meetings, students were assigned tasks related to the subject of the exchange. They worked in teams and prepared a photo report on each of these topics. During the exchanges, their work received advice and took part in workshops led by specialists, during which they gained tips. PARTICIPANTS Our main target group was pupils aged 12-14 in each school. They were at the heart of all our activities and benefited directly or indirectly from the project's activities and results. Some of them, 6 from each exchange (24/country), were given the chance to travel to partner countries and get directly involved in activities. In each exchange they were accompanied by 2 teachers (8/country). In total, 145 students and 40 teachers directly participated in the project. RESULTS Our concrete results relate primarily to the achievement of all set goals. Secondly, our goal was to produce and collect all kinds of material materials, such as workshop materials, student photo reports, student photos on exchange topics, student self-assessment forms, feedback forms, evaluation tools, dissemination materials such as newsletter, photo exhibition, space on the eTwinning platform, reports evaluating each exchange, certificates of participation, etc. HIT Thanks to this project, all partner schools gained valuable experience. From each other, we learned to observe the positive aspects of each system that can be applied in our schools. We got to know the cultures of European countries and gave our schools a European dimension. Thanks to this, we will be more confident to apply for future projects. Schools can continue to cooperate by creating a network of photo clubs that can expand to other schools in our or other countries. On various occasions, we will organize photo competitions among students of partner schools. We want to turn it into a regular practice. Therefore, the project will help our institutions become active on the European arena.