Newsletters and Online Meetings
Planning the project and the first tasks.
Summary of the tasks. Details shared in the Newsletter.
0. Introduce ourselves: bitmoji presentation
Tip: bitmoji extension and remove.bg
1. Introduce the topic and projet: Welcome presentation. You can use it as a guide to show what the project is going to be about.
Introduce students to eSafety and Netiquette. Please read carefully the section concerning Parents’ Consent as well. Finally, remind your students of Copyright issues that they need to bear in mind during the whole project.
2. Present your class. Rename the SCHOOL NAME Class Introduction Template.
Tip: FILE > MAKE A COPY
Each class will pack 1 suitcase and share it in this Wakelet collection.
3. Getting familiar with TwinSpace. Update profiles tutorial.
4. Who does it belong to? Pairing schools document and forum thread for guessings.
Material to be used for the guessings included in the Class Introduction presentation:
- A list of the partner class members with links to their profiles. Encourage students not to write their surname, use just initials (privacy)
- A class suitcase
- Individual suitcases with numbered slides
15th September Online Meeting-Minutes
Not everybody has started yet. Some schools have just had one class or are about to start. Some partners have different timetables each week or changes and alternate F2F lessons with remote learning.
We have discussed the tasks and tools. For example, bitmojis could be used by students if they are allowed to. We will share other tools and tips by editing the pages and adding ideas.
Follow-up activities decided during the online meeting
- Dissemination: #eTwTRAIN hashtag, social media, school web pages.
- Welcome on board (SLIDE 3). Results of the introduction (speaking/writing activity) could be added in the Class Presentation.
- European Day of Languages: Home page
How to participate
- International Train Dictionary: basic words or phrases document: Link to page
- Short videos with messages like Bon Voyage etc. A short video from our classes less than 10 seconds saying in native language one simple sentence
- Wakelet invitation to collaborate and tried it has been shared. Click here. Add your name in the pop-up window. Log in is not compulsory to collaborate, but we suggest you create an account. It's a very easy tool to organise your links, collaborate, etc.
Decisions: We will try to keep the deadlines. We are flexible and we understand that dates can be changed. We will share how we are managing with the deadlines in the Teachers' Bulletin.
Tip: Bring students ideas and suggestions to the next meeting, especially after the formative assessment. We may be locked again and we need to know if the timeline is right or they find it hard to follow the activities. Check Schedule-PLANNING PAGE for timing.
We need to finish with the SUITCASE presentations. Some of you have already uploaded them in Wakelet. Check the doc to pair your class and find the appointed thread. Most of us are still at school, but there is a thread to be locked again.
Study your partners' suitcase and profile and reflect on the solutions: Who does it belong to? in the forum. Some of you have already started. Well done!
Check the SCHEDULE-PLANNING PAGE again. Check timing and ideas with students.
Logo competition and information shared in Newsletter 1.
Guidelines for the logo:
- The logo must contain the title of the project
- It may be drawn by hand or created on the computer
- If a picture is included, it must be taken by the student
- Keep it simple
- Use the Twinboard to share it and we will create a Tricider with the selected logos. When we collect all the designs, a voting for the best logo will be held.
We think it’s a good idea to prolong the deadline for the logo competition as some partners are still working on the first tasks and students mention they need more time. We would also like to include the European Day of Languages activities as some partners have more time to work on “the STOP”. We suggest 18th October as the new DEADLINE.
Eu Code Week activities. You can join here. Join the Code 4 All Challenge using this code: cw20-wkIF6
This year Code Week falls on 10-25th October so please try to involve your students in coding activities during the period of time. We can get certificates later on, which will also enrich our project. To be able to get one, you need to register your activity.
We are going to share the activities we prepare in the ART STATION Page - STOP! Eu Code Week. You can already find one activity there you can use with your students.
Most of the schools at teaching remotely, so the next tasks have been designed and adapted to work in an asynchronous way. Teachers have shared a document to contribute to the creations of the tasks. Students say that they will be fine to work remotely, so we will take into account the different rythm of each international team. We will include STOPS to wait for others as optional activities. Check doc SCHEDULE-PLANNING.
After working in international paired teams, now our students will work according to the preferences they mentioned in the warming up activity. We have ten carriages and students from each school will be distributed evenly in the teams.
Task 1 and Task 2 are explained in the newsletter and there is a sub-page for each activity.
10th November Online Meeting-Minutes
We have revised how to decode a photograph (Task 1) and how we are going to work on T-Tolerance (Task 2). Students will work in international teams to illustrate the ideas shared in the forum after watching and reflecting on Stories that Move. We will create a joint eBook with the results.
Students who have tried Jamboard say they liked the activity and wouldn't mind to use Jamboard again. They find it easy to collaborate with the stickers.
Therefore, we have added a Thankskigiving activity using Jamboard as a result of students suggestions.
We have talked about the formative assessment and how we are going to distribute the tasks. The first badge is ready and we have completed the tasks successfully.
We have shared a document to add new challenges for the ART STATION. Christmas is round the corner and Beethoven will get on the eTwTrain. The shared Wakelet collection is growing with resources.
Some schools have scheduled the first live sessions. Templates with questions have been shared on the dedicated page and students have contributed to adjust the document with new questions to ask their partners.
Topics for the online meeting:
- Assessment and mid-project evaluation. Second badge.
- Talk about adjustements and pages to be updated if needed
- Task 1 and 2 Current Event Station and SID2021
- Final products we have created during the first stations.
- Reminders: schedules, organization, division of tasks, in line with the objectives and syllabus. Page for CURRICULAR INTEGRATION AND AIMS and sub-page for a COMMON FRAMEWORK.
18th January Online Meeting-Minutes
Most partners are still teaching remotely or face to face from time to time, but we managed successfully to continue with the project despite the difficulties that it implies.
We have decided to continue with the formative assessment and carry out the mid-project evaluation at the end of February. Each teacher will write a summary of the information gathered from their students and include it in the page for the evaluation.
Current Events Station:
R- Respect and Reliabilities (and Resolutions)
We will start with the activities on Flipgrid. Each teacher is in charge of an international team and will lead the topic in each grid in the Flipgrid activity.
New Year's Resolutions for Task 1. In Task 2 students will work in international teams according to the carriages they joined in the train. In both activities there will be an oral interaction and/or written responses among partners.
The asynchronous and synchronous events have been really successful. Students have appreciated the opportunity to talk to their partners and the assessment has been very positive. We have decided that they are going to be our virtual trips, so we have changed the name of the page.
We have already created the summaries of the first stations as we want to be updated and use the material in our school web pages for dissemination while we are carrying out the project.
Next, we will start with the SID2021 (Safer Internet Day Campaign). A presentation has been shared and games have been created to revise the topic of Copyright and Authorship. We will create a summary of the main points after playing the games and it was suggested to translate the conclusions into our native languages.
We have decided on the deadlines for the first SID2021 activities and they have been included in the dedicated page: #STOP! SID 2021. We have decided to share a lesson to deal with Fake News later in February not to feel overwhelmed with too much information and too many tasks. We need to see how we are managing with the online teaching in January first.
Collaborative Wakelet to prepare the Fake News Breakout and the link to the new page R- Respect Media Literacy Breakout. We can start with the preparation little by little.
- Adjustements and new deadlines.
- Fake News activities.
We have updated the R-Respect page. Study the course of the lesson provided that leads to the Genially Breakout and Fake News Detector Challenge.
17th February Online Mini Meeting
The aim of the meeting, attended by a Czech teacher and two Polish ones, was to prepare the live session for the students. Thus, the teachers agreed on the content of the session and practised how to use Teams breakout rooms.
- Flipgrid summaries by facilitators of each team.
- Fake News Detector Guide national and international voting session.
- Mid-Project Evaluation form
- Final product Trivia Game
- SLOW STATION
23rd March Online Meeting-Minutes
a) DECISIONS:
Deadlines
9th April
- Genially (Flipgrip summaries) - Arantza will make the joint product
- Teachers' form-mid-term evaluation.
20th April
b) SLOW STATION
Final task: each teacher will be in charge of the International team appointed so far and a topic. Students will make a summary of the ideas to create an international city.
- Adjustment and evaluation of activities
- Farewell party
- Evaluation Forms
- Quality Label
May 4th Online Meeting-Minutes
END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR
Partners have different school ending dates, so we talked about how we would manage to finish the last tasks and get to the final destination. Those schools ending in June will create the final joint product of the Slow Station since they will be able to devote more time to this station, whereas those partners who finish the school year in May will adapt the activities to get on time to the farewell destination and complete the final evaluation. Being flexible is one of our main strengths.
STUDENTS' ASSESSMENTS
Most partners commented that students liked the Flipgrid activity a lot. We have assessed their oral communication skills and students have been really active and enthusiastic. They have completed the questions in their international teams and we have to finish the edition of the Trivia game. We have to check if the partners who couldn't be in the meeting need more time for the international voting competition of the Fake News detector Guide or if we can close it together with the Trivia.
Deadline: 8-9 May
EVALUATION FORMS
We agreed that the questions shared so far are ready to be published. Therefore, the final evaluations for both students and teachers are ready.
Deadline: mid-June (we need time to comment the results and create a presentation). Austria will have to present the QL by May 15th, whereas the other partners' deadline is nearly two months' later.
FAREWELL STATION
We agreed on creating a mosaic and adding a Twinboard for final bye-byes.It has already been shared on the dedicated page.
FINAL PRODUCTS
Each partner will create a final product. So far, apart from the joint results of each station, we have these suggestions:
Some partners will create a presentation from their country view/participation and some others from the team persperctive as a whole. Therefore, we have created a page to gather everything.
- Austria: ebook
- Poland: Site
- Czechia: Wakelet
- Basque Country: Genially-timeline
QUALITY LABEL
We created a page and the new checklist has been included. Gertraud mentioned that the presentation shared by Idoia, the translation of the Spanish checklist, was really useful, so we will also include it. As Austria has to start with the form asap, Gertraud and Kasia will work on the first draft of the joint QL document and we will help with the suggestions to enrich the document if needed.
Suggestion from the team: if there is not a tied deadline for the QL, let's try to send the form when we all have finished the joint/final results and the commented evaluations are ready.
NEXT MEETING
We agreed on meeting back in June.
- Final evaluation reports and QL
- Ideas for the next project
- Checklist and deadlines for the final tasks, farewell, evaluations and final products.
- Next online meeting: June
- Commented final evaluation reports and QL
- Next year's project
June 14th Online Meeting-Minutes
- We have presented the results of the students' and teachers' evaluations.
- We have shared the final products for dissemination.
- The infographics are ready.
- We have new ideas for the next project! The document has been shared to