This year, 2017, eTwinning is focusing on the topic of ‘Inclusion’ - eTwinning supports students with fewer opportunities and contributes to mainstreaming inclusion in education. In the Creative Classroom Group, members shared different kind of resources :videos, lesson plans, pictures that can be used in the classroom and in eTwinning projects. The sub-group moderator, Tina Consolo Onnis, has created this page with all the material they sent. Help make people feel they matter, make them feel they count and they will blossom like flowers .
Inclusion = the act of including :the state of being included - "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." American Indian Chief
A group activity based on self-learning and the pleasure of discovery, with the aim to stimulate the discussion about social inclusion and the creation of a group definition of it.
Ms Kougiourouki offers us a toolbox to assist youth workers, educators and trainers in acquiring knowledge on the subjects of diversity and anti discrimination. It offers practical advice on how to train groups and provides examples of the activities.
Khatuna Kumelashvili, Georgia - Why eTwinning - project-based learning?
1. Because project-based learning is filled with active and engaged learning.
2. Students obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying.
3. They retain the knowledge gained through this approach far more readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning.
4. Students develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both team-based and independent work.
5. Students explore real-world problems and challenges
Students develope cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative
Karol Barriuso, Barcelona
In our school, it is very important to work on Social and emotional learning (SEL). What is is? It is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Every week, our students do different activities through what we call "Emotional Education". Also, once a week, every tutor makes an assembly to let students express their emotions towards their peers. They use this space to show positive feelings to the rest of their peers.
As an example, each class, from an early age, they start working on the name of the emotions and how to express them. When they are in Pre-K, these are three basic ones and the list keeps growing as long as the grades comes. There is an activity we cal "I-message" which consists in making a message directly to the class or a classmate who's behaving unproperly. The kid says "When you xxx (name of the kid or group of kids) do this, I feel xxx (name of a feeling). Could you please stop doing it?". This has helped a lot in stopping many negative behaviours in a pacific way and specially in the case of kids that might have felt bullying or other similar situations instead, because not only they have grown empathy for the rest but also make them more communicative and less agressive.
In her etwinning project Theodora Chandrinou illustrates how “Diversity is our greatest strength” celebrating the diversity of peoples in European schools. We are living in an increasingly diverse world and this is a wonderful gift. Our pupils attend schools with children who are much different and with special needs. Diversity is a normal condition, non a special condition, so we have to teach to our students to accept differences. Learn about differences help us to seek out cultural activities in our school and to explore the strength and value in diversity. We have to teach about differences of point of views. Accepting differences should be how we live our lives -Theodora Chandrinou
Technology doesn't recognise disability
"Our Colourful World":
The overall aim of our partnership is to foster equity and inclusion, enabling high quality learning for all pupils. Within this, we aim to develop strategies, within a 'Cultural' theme, to increase competences in digital technology and foreign language acquisition for all pupils.
The main outcome is the "Inclusive Stories from Europe" documentary that promoted deeper learning opportunities through thought-provoking topics (e.g. immigration), asking and answering questions and finally, interviewing and filming each other. It contributed to promote an inclusive school and education, where individual differences were experienced & taught, to support a democratic school, where equality is respect of diversity & diversity is considered as an added value, to promote increased inclusion in future environments through appreciation & acceptance of individual differences. Students have caught the connections among the stories, the blending between their relatives’ past as emigrants and that of their parents' as immigrants in other countries. Students have learnt that there are as many differences within cultural groups as there are across different cultures. This has helped them break down cultural stereotypes in society as a whole. Working together for a common aim, making a product, following the same rules, using the same tools and technique, sharing materials, videos, pictures, experiences have given to every student an equal opportunity to achieve his/her full potential and prepared him/her to participate competently in an increasingly multicultural society. One of the main objectives of the project was to teach teachers and students and also people indirectly that it is possible and necessary to think independently together and share ideas and rules. This is clearly stated in the strong messages of inclusiveness, welcoming, respect, tolerance, empowering diversity, openness, dignity, joy, healing by kids in England when in the documentary they say about the immigrants "We should give them a house, some food, some clothes...", or comparing experiences of life such as friendship and love, so an Italian boy tells his love story "Our relationship was broken off because I was so boring!" or feelings such as happiness and fear connected to the grandfather's death or to the earthquake or by adults from Finland, Greece, Italy, France and England telling their experience of emigrates for job or for a better place to live for his/herself and his/her family.
“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” – Blackfoot
Sophia Kouzouli, Greece has chosen the following video to demonstrate her idea of Inclusive education
Sophia Kouzouli also provides us with ' A guide for ensuring inclusion'
and equity in education
Gratiela Visan reminds us that this is not a project but a way of life - "When we start the day with a smile, when we work together, when we know that we will be appreciated for what we are, without distinction - this is our permanent project on inclusion.
Snezana PVB Novi Sad Serbia who has been working in a primary school in Serbia for 21 years tells us that "Several years ago, inclusion began in Serbia. My school attends several physically disabled children, a couple of blind people, and there are also several students with autism."
ISPIR IULIANA SI VLAD, ALEXANDRA, ROUMANIA VALCEA
Collaboration with parents - a good opportunity for successful integration.
For preschool children, it is quite difficult to integrate a child with special edu- cational requirements into a group of normal children.
The most concrete case I can discuss, in terms of the story of a girl (who has an observable problem after the behavior), but which parents do not want to recognize. It took us a semester to succeed in integration.
The best method I experienced with my classmate was the mother's involvement in the little girl's kindergarten program. In the first three weeks, the mother accompanied the little girl to the kindergarten for three hours, at the time she just stood at the door, so she would not get involved in the girl's games but only be seen permanently.
After that, Mom shortened her time to half an hour a day for a week.
When she could not stay away from my mother, we called her mother to take her home.
This increased confidence in mother, that she would not leave her in the kindergarten, but also in the teacher: listening to her, and sending her home.
During the activities we tried to involve her in all our activities, and if she had refused everything and was crying, she could still get used to our program with time.
We have organized a lot of activities together with all the parents to see the behavior of the other colleagues.
I did not try a standard program - strictly; but more flexible, collaborative, and I say I succeeded, because in the second semester I was fond of kindergarten, even if she did not always want to work. We will have time this year to work on full integration into our activities.
Creative Classroom member sends us this beautiful video on what they think is Inclusion.
Lead fearlessly, love hard
Principals play an important role in making schools real schools where every single child finds their place and feels loved.
Chara Liakou, German teacher, Greece
Inclusive educationn
Primary school students- promote understanding and empathy on persons with disabilities
We show in class the following video. Afterwards, we gave each student post it papers and let them answer the last question of the video"Why it's wrong". Then we post the papers on the wall/board and the students one after the other read all the answers. A discussion is necessary to be made in class. A poster could be made as a result of the descussion, talking also into account the answers on the papers with the title "We respect persons with disabilities" or similar.
Angeliki Kougiourouki, Greece has provided an excellent site which shows how inclusion can simply become normal procedure through experiential education.