(ee) J.V.Veski nim. Maarja Põhikool

EVALUATION SUMMARY Back to OUR Future ErasmusPlus 2014-2016

Name of School:

Country:

Each of the following boxes requires a summary statement linked to the results of your evaluation. Each statement should be approximately 150 words (about 10 sentences).

Please use the self evaluation words in booklet 4 (from the Romanian meeting).

1. Teacher Evaluation Sheet

As a small, rural school, this project has enabled us to connect with the wider world in a meaningful way. The children have been very motivated to learn about our partner countries and their languages. This has had a particularly positive impact on the teaching of Spanish, introduced as a new language in our curriculum. Writing to Spanish pupils in the first year of the project has encouraged a high degree of motivation in learning the language.

Teaching has been inspired by ideas from partner countries, through our shared website. The Erasmus + Back to our Future website has proved to be an excellent way of connecting children to their Erasmus partners and has fostered a real sense of European citizenship, particularly the interactive element, whereby children have been able to comment on the work and activities of partner schools, and exchange supportive messages.

Because of frequent changes in teaching staff within the two years of the project, it has been difficult to involve all members of staff, but they have all expressed interest in project displays and participated in special events, such as our ceilidh and Robert Burns’ lunch. Community involvement has come about through working with ancillary staff and parent helpers, who have worked with us to support ideas and provide opportunities for craft project activities. Our previous art specialist – in spite of moving on to work with other schools – has made time to continue her association with the school, has attended meetings, engaged in professional dialogue and provided workshops for the children. We have been able to involve the whole school – as well as other teachers – in special events, such as soup tasting and decorating cakes for the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations.

Certain activities have led to inclusion of some pupils who have found mainstream education challenging. They have discovered they have skills in making items, and have been proud to take a leading role in helping others, such as making kites for the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. By the end of the project children and staff were pleased that the evaluation work showed a very real difference in their responses, compared with the beginning.

During our work on this project many ideas have come from the children themselves. They have instigated certain project activities and members of staff have learned to let the children lead the development of project investigation rather than imposing our own ideas. This has led to the children being more fully engaged in their own learning.

 

 

 

 

2. Pupils (and Teacher Sheet)

Pupils have been very enthusiastic about this project, which has involved them in a wide range of active learning situations. They have developed new skills, such as making vegetable soup and elderflower cordial. They are more ecologically aware, thinking about using locally produced ingredients and sustainable resources. Recycling bottles to make fish and gardens, rugs out of rags and saving bottle tops for Spain has linked with our national promotion of the use of renewable energy sources. Our gardening work has enabled the children to work outdoors to help save a neglected garden and make up wildflower seed balls to help reintroduce vanishing wildflowers to our neighbourhood.

The children have the confidence to sing songs in Scots Gaelic, dance Scottish Country dances; older children showed a sense of responsibility by helping teach younger pupils and demonstrated leadership skills by teaching a new member of staff, demonstrating that they could pass on their skills: they started to see themselves as a link in the chain, passing on skills which they had learned since the start of the project.

Children who were involved in the workshop in Austria loved the experience. Some of them had never flown in a plane before, or been out of the UK. They were motivated to learn some German and grew in confidence, because they were representing their country. Meeting teachers from other countries and building relationships helped a pupil with attachment issues, who flourished and visibly grew in confidence.

Using the camera to take photos/film, download results to share with others, using the website for ideas and communication with others and the collaborative writing of a class newspaper to share project news with parents and the wider community helped demonstrate good ICT skills.

The Craft Club has now got so many members that additional helpers are needed to provide support, as it is now running at full capacity, having become an important part of our school community.

 

 

 

3. School Improvement Action Plan

Although we were unable to link up with Austria, due to technical problems, we have been able to communicate with our European partners, via the website, as well as communicate through letter writing. Being part of the website community has given our pupils a real sense of being part of Europe. Pupils were very pleased to discover that our tin whistle playing had inspired the Austrian school to learn, and we have been similarly inspired by the Turkish art work and German games day. We have been able to involve younger pupils through craft club, gardening and food tasting days.

We have managed to connect learning about the problems of the past to how we can change by reusing, recycling and repairing in the context of improving school life. We have been gardening in an environmentally friendly way, creating areas for wildlife and trying to re-establish wild flowers in our area.

Healthy, active lifestyles have been promoted by the use of traditional active games and making healthy, economical soups using locally grown ingredients.

Bigger’ learning experiences and enterprise, such as growing plants to sell at sports’ day have taught the children about running a business, planning, keeping accounts, profit and loss, important skills for life. Events such as the ceilidh and Burns lunch built confidence in pupils, as well as a sense of responsibility. These experiences have been big whole school events which the children found exciting, memorable and motivating.

Having Spanish partners, and the exchange of letters has helped engage the pupils in learning a second foreign language, as has the workshop visit to Austria, when the pupils learnt some German.

We used ICT to enhance and improve the project experience by filming, taking photos, downloading them into a shared folder for stories using ‘Word’. We used ‘Publisher’ to create a class newsletter about the project. We also scanned paintings to print postcards of our artwork. But most of all, our project website became a tool to share information and ideas, and a communication hub.

 

Evaluation Summary / Pen Disc LA / Project Working

EVALUATION SUMMARY Back to OUR Future Erasmus Plus 2014-2016

Name of School: J.V.Veski nim Maarja Põhikool

Country: Estonia

Each of the following boxes requires a summary statement linked to the results of your evaluation. Each statement should be approximately 150 words (about 10 sentences).

Please use the self evaluation words in booklet 4 (from the Romanian meeting).

1. Teacher Evaluation Sheet

Most of our teachers are interested in project work and meetings. The English teacher help translate documents and materials for the website. All of the other teachers help to organise the project events and are very interested in the opportunity to attend meetings and workshops.

We held conversations in staffroom almost every month and this helped to engage us with the project. We also talk about project in our free time. If it's necessary we talk often when there are events to plan, etc.

Some of our teachers gladly invited our project partners to their homes.

Our staff and headmaster value our project very highly, because it add diversity to our school life.

Teachers have gained confidence and learned, independently, lots of new things to both organize and take forward project events.

Teachers talk English much more and with more confidence (better and boldly). They have gained lots of new knowledge about the partner countries. We have also received lots of good ideas from the teachers from the other countries.

We are all very proved of our project.

 

 

2. Pupils (and Teacher Sheet)

Almost all school pupils are very enthusiastic about the project. Almost all are highly motivated to participate in the project work. They are very happy when someone come to visit us. Pupils who have been to the workshops in different countries are very thankful and talk a lot about the experience.

Travelling and visitors have made our pupils more knowledgable. They have got lot of new experiences related to the partner schools and countries. They are interested to know more. They talk English much better, have more confidence to 'give it a try' and they can use language in real situations.

Our children have participated in lots of workshops, they have lots of new skills. After the workshops pupils taught new skills to other pupils. Some pupils have also organize events by themselves.

 

Children from our school are playing more games, especially traditional games, they now take part in dance and talk to each other rather than only running around and screaming during break time.

 

Lots of children can make rugs from t-shirts, can make things of beads, can weave the rope, can make fertile soil, can grow things, can make things of recycled materials.

Almost all have learned old traditional song-games and games.

 

They are very interested in craft. Pupils come to ask “Can we craft something?” very often. It shows that our school community has improved. Children are more active than two years ago.

 

Some of the pupils have made presentations, posters, instructions for workshops, videos, written stories- lots of new skills.

One pupil wrote two articles in our newspaper.

 

 

3. School Improvement Action Plan

 

Our project work is very important for our little country school. Our school is well known with our project in our parish and even in Estonia, because one of our pupils wrote an article in a Estonian Teachers' Newspaper and in the local newspaper. (It has been well read.)

This project gives us the opportunity to get know a better Europe. We can now think bigger than our little village.

Project work makes the children curious about other European countries.

 

During the project work we also worked cooperatively with a local eco-farmer, local firms Elistvere Zoo and playland Vudila. This was a very positive experience.

 

We have relearned and now remember lots of old-new skills. These skills give our children the opportunity to manage better in future life. This work has not ended. We have encouraged pupils to make and grow things for themselves. All the skills our students have learned are connected to nature. This helped to make the children understand the necessity of caring for our environment for their own future. Our school has Terra Preta boxes and we all can grow things and make fertile soil without chemicals.

 

We have also sitting pillows made by our pupils and they can sit on them at break times. This encourages them to relax and talk. Pillows are crocheted from old t-shirts.

 

Our school children are much more active and curious and since they have learned these new skills.

 

Making things and selling them in the Christmas market gave them experience of earning money (Financial Education and Enterprise). Calculating prices for self made things made children value their own work. They saw that it is possible to make things from newspapers and t-shirts and sell them. In the future they will value handicraft more.

 

Being able to use a foreign language to communicate with children from various countries was a great motivation to learn the languages for lots of pupils. Children talked a lot in workshops and while we had a guests here from our Romanian and German partners.

Some students now have penfriends. Lots of students have commented in the Back-to-Our-Future web-page. We also sent Christmas cards and small letters for partner schools. Some of our partners have praise ours pupils language skills and this message has made us feel proud to be in a European Project.

 

 

Evaluation Summary / Pen Disc LA / Project Working


BACK TO OUR FUTURE     SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND EVALUATION      REFLECTION TOOL FOR TEACHERS      NAME   Lii Toots

This sheet should be used to encourage reflection and discussion on the project work and how it impacts into your school and teaching .   The copies should be kept by the teachers ready for completion at the end of year two.  It may be useful to ask your school project colleagues to also complete this.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS  FOR TEACHERS

Start of the project responses  (Year One)

End of the project summary  (Year Two)

How does the project add to your teaching and learning experience in the school?

I have met new colleagues, learned new skills. It all has changed my thinking a bit, making it more open to old valuable practices and ways of thinking. As a language-teacher I have got many ideas about how to use real international and intercultural information in my lessons.

 

How do you share the project work with your colleagues and how does this involve them in the work of the project?

I talk about it with my colleagues, we discuss the ongoing project, plan activities, talk about the past and the possible future trying to find out, what was valuable in our and other´s past , what should we save and keep.

 

How does your school benefit from your European work?

The school – I hope, it means all the stuff. All right – principally – when even one member of the whole stuff gets more educated, learns something new, the whole stuff will be. But there are so many from us involved – and informed.

 

How does the project encourage pupils’ confidence, motivation and responsibility?

They get life-experience, they  test themselves in new situations. They can talk about it with their mates, they can probably make more responsible choices in and for their future.

 

How do you ensure that the quality of the pupils’ project work is robust?

They are informed about the principles, they talk with and they have certain responsibilities. They communicate, act, do really things, which  makes their project work strong and healthy.

 


BACK TO OUR FUTURE     SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT ACTION PLAN         SCHOOL  J.V.Veski nim Maarja põhikool

This sheet should be used to encourage reflection and discussion on the project work.  It is designed to look at how your school will improve through the two years of the project work.    It should enable you to engage the school community in active discussions around the main theme, ie, connecting the past with the future.  

KEY AREAS

KEY STRENGTHS

AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT / NEXT STEPS

Is developing European Citizenship, including this particular Project, a part of your school improvement plan?

(The EU would like to encourage this.)

List how you implement the project across the school community:

1. We organized musical pauses between lessons, which we filled with different genres of music from our different partner-states.

2. We organize meetings, where we share information about the ongoing project, the partners and the life-experiences we have made in each country with our students and teachers.

3. We share practical skills, learned at our meetings.

We will carry on learning and practicing old-new skills, communicating with our partners, collecting ideas about improving our students to be better, more educated citizens.

How do you aim to connect the learning about the past to the way that our communities should live in the future?

Life in the past differs from the modern life, we have other tools, other possibilities our technology has provided us, but there are, there have always been certain main principles, which were and will always be the same. That´s it, we should learn from the past. This project helps us to point at these principles, to stress their importance – just by talking about them and also acting them out in many different ways.

Some of the practices we learned about at our last meeting are really attractive. So we want to practice and encourage ecological way of living   producing some  compost the way we saw in Poland in March. We are going to fill with it some high-beets and grow vegetables and flowers in them.

We are going to dance old folk-dances and more modern line-dances we learned from our partners at our school-events and parties to create a good feeling of being together and belonging together.

How will you use the project to encourage awareness of how to develop healthy active lifestyles?

There has to be balance between physical activity and brainwork. Scientists have discovered, that physical activity helps to be a well-balanced person, to maintain a healthy life. Using arms, hands and fingers, our whole bodies circled by our friends, in a friendly community with the aim to create things we need keeps us confidence and happiness – in a very organic, natural way. We are forgetting some of the old traditional skills, which helped people to be happy and safe in the past – like old folk-dances, …. This project gives them a new “go”. Sometimes a new practice fills the gap which other, now forgotten, missing activities have left.  So Nordic walking is a very good tool for maintaining and developing a healthy active lifestyle.

We use different possibilities to talk to the students about this topic, we try to be good examples, we organize certain events to practice sports.

How will the project develop exciting ‘bigger learning experiences’ and enterprise?

To produce something, the future producer, entrepreneur has to study the needs of the persons he or she wants to provide with something. This project helps to study the needs, to fantasize and also to do some calculations, to foresee problems.

 

How do you plan to use the project to engage pupils in learning a foreign language?

This project gives us various ways to engage pupils in learning foreign languages. It´s always good to learn something new, to get some real information   by learning a new language. So we read texts about our partner-countries, listen to their music, study lyrics. We read and create manuals in English for making certain things, discuss, how to explain others what we do or want to do.

We do what we have already been doing and are open to new ideas.

How do you plan to use ICT to enhance and improve the project experience?

We use computers, tablets, cameras, phones when creating user-manuals for our project-workshops. We also communicate via emailing. We fill in forms electronically.

May-be we will use Skype or create a video-conference to shear ideas or discuss our further cooperation. There are many electronic tools, which help by brainwork and cooperation which should be organized collectively.


BACK TO OUR FUTURE     SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT ACTION PLAN         SCHOOL…Egle………………………………….

This sheet should be used to encourage reflection and discussion on the project work.  It is designed to look at how your school will improve through the two years of the project work.    It should enable you to engage the school community in active discussions around the main theme, ie, connecting the past with the future.  

KEY AREAS

KEY STRENGTHS

AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT / NEXT STEPS

Is developing European Citizenship, including this particular Project, a part of your school improvement plan?

(The EU would like to encourage this.)

List how you implement the project across the school community:

 

 

 

How do you aim to connect the learning about the past to the way that our communities should live in the future?

Give practical skills so that we shouldn´t buy everything at the shop.

  • Teach children to make new things from old things. Teach different working methods.
  • Teach children to grow plants as ecologically as our ancestors did.

Teach children long forgotten chants nd easier folk dances.

.

How will you use the project to encourage awareness of how to develop healthy active lifestyles?

  • Moving though playing
  • Concidering environment, recycling
  • Helthy food

Ecological food (self-growing, making preserves at home, from self-grown vegetables and fruit)

 

How will the project develop exciting ‘bigger learning experiences’ and enterprise?

  • Arranging workshops at school
  • Participating in workshops outside the school
  • Participating in workshops abroad, learning and teaching

Schoolchildren sell things made by themselves

.

How do you plan to use the project to engage pupils in learning a foreign language?

  • Students write letters to the students from other partnerschools.
  • Sending postcards

While travelling, students have to teach other students foreign languages, as they stay mainly together or at families.

 

How do you plan to use ICT to enhance and improve the project experience?

  • Pen-friendship
  • Writing reports
  • Writing work instructions for the workshops
  • Processing the videos

Processing the pictures and creating photo-stories.

 


BACK TO OUR FUTURE     SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND EVALUATION      REFLECTION TOOL FOR TEACHERS      NAME…Kersti………………………………….

This sheet should be used to encourage reflection and discussion on the project work and how it impacts into your school and teaching .   The copies should be kept by the teachers ready for completion at the end of year two.  It may be useful to ask your school project colleagues to also complete this.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS  FOR TEACHERS

Start of the project responses  (Year One)

End of the project summary  (Year Two)

How does the project add to your teaching and learning experience in the school?

1. Geographical knowledge, possibility to talk about what I have seen. Learning teaching methods from different countries.

2. The project enables me to share my knowledge about handcraft and cuisine.

 

How do you share the project work with your colleagues and how does this involve them in the work of the project?

1. Meetings, sharing the tasks among teachers with the aim to get all the teachers involved. Sending teachers to project-partnerschools, creating and updating of the info-board.

2. Intense cooperation between the science teacher, class-teachers and foreign language teachers.

 

How does your school benefit from your European work?

1. Acknowledgement of the local authorities.

Children have friends abroad, can practice English and German.

Teachers and students can travel and see the world. Their horizon gets wider. Project-activities make the daily life more interesting.

2. Students become aware of the traditions of other countries and of our old Estonian traditions and working skills.

 

How does the project encourage pupils’ confidence, motivation and responsibility?

1. The students get more self-confident, especially, when they can travel. The possibility to travel and participate in project-activities motivates them to learn better.

2. New fascinating knowledge in handwork, cuisine and agriculture motivates them to work and increases their self-confidence.

 

How do you ensure that the quality of the pupils’ project work is robust?

1. Their skills and knowledge prove that. Self-evaluation formulas.

2. New skills learned trough practice are sustainable, the students can pass them to their siblings, parents.

 



BACK TO OUR FUTURE     SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND EVALUATION      REFLECTION TOOL FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS      Estonian students

This sheet should be used to encourage reflection and discussion on the project work.   The copies should be kept by the teachers and students ready for completion at the end of year two. Pupils can be given the support that teachers feel is necessary and a whole class discussion would be recommended prior to completing the form to engage the children with the main ideas.

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS  FOR PUPILS

Start of the project responses  (Year One)

End of the project summary  (Year Two)

What skills do you already have that would be considered traditional skills?

 

 

Osakan heegeldada ketti, küpsetada pannkooke, meisterdada, marju korjata. Puust võinuge teha, maasikaid korjata, taimi kasvatada, marjul käia, seenel käia, süüa teha

Leiva tegemine, marjul käimine, taimede kasvatamine, puutöö, keti heegeldamine

Regilaulu laulda, näidelda

Puutööd, marjul ja seenel käia.

Oskan õmmelda kotikesi, oskan kududa salli, oskan heegeldada ketti, oskan võileibu teha

I can crochet chain(3), make pancakes, pick up berryes(4), making wooden knife, picking strawberryes, planting(2),  pick up mushrooms(2), cooking,

Bake bread, making wooden things(2), sing a national songs, acting, I can sew little bags, I can knit scarf, I can make sandwiches.

 

What skills do you have that you think are useful today?

 

 

Küpsetamine ja heegeldamine. Arvutikasutusoskus, tehnika käsitlemine

Meili saatmine, taimede kasvatamine

Arvutiga kirju kirjutada

Tehnika käsitlemine ja asrvutikastusoskus

Söögi tegemine, heegeldamine

Backing, crocheting(2), computer skills(2), sending emails(2), crowing plants, using different technique, cooking,

 

What traditional skills do your family or neighbours have?

 

 

Söögi tegemine, hoidiste tegemine, heegeldamine, kudumine,

Loomade (sigade, lehmade) kasvatamine, lüpsmine, hoidiste tegemine

Kanade kasvatamine, taimede kasvatamine, hoidiste tegemine

Taimede kasvatamine, puutöö, söögi tegemine

Taimede kasvatamine, tikkimine, loomade kasvatamine

Ema oskab teha void, hoidiseid teha ja kududa

Ema oska parandada vanu asju, oskab süüa teha.

Cooking, making preserves(4), crocheting, knitting(2)

My father crowing pigs and cows, he can milking, crowing fowls, crowing plants(3), making woodwork, cooking(2), My mother can embroide, our family crow cows, my mum can do butter, my mother can repaire old things

 

List some things that you think could be changed for the better in the world today.

 

 

Loodust hoida, kuidas kokku hoida, kuidas looduses hakkama saada

Looduse hoidmine, teiste aitamine

Looduse kaitsmine

Kuidas loodust saaks paremini hoida

Kõik võiks olla rohkem sõbralikumad ja paremad

Protect the environment(3), how to save, how to manage in wild, helping each other, how to protect nature more effectively, people could be more friendlier.

 

What could we do in our project which could change things for the future?

 

 

Õppida kuidas kokku hoida, kuidas asju ise teha, kuidas vanadest asjadest uusi teha, silmaringi

laiendada, huvialade täiendamine

Võiks teha väljasõite

Learning how to save and how to do things itself, how to do new things from old ones, to learnd new things, get some new hobbies,

 

 

What traditional things would you like to learn or to find out about?

 

 

 

Tantse,  kombeid, rahvussööke. Puutööd, loodusest teada saamine, kerinevate riikide kultuuride kohta

Tikkimist, kudumist

Tahaks osata ise leiba teha.

Tahaks õppida tantse, õppida süüa tegema, tahaks näha ilusaid kohti.

I want to learn dances, old customs, national food, woodwork, knowledges about nature, learning abouth other countries culture, leraning how to embroide, learn to knit, I want to learn how to make bread, I want to learn cooking, I want to see beautiful places

 

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