LTTA2 EVENT ŚLEMIEŃ, POLAND

7-11 MAY 2018

Working days: Monday-Friday, May 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th  

Time: 09:00-17:00

Duration per day: 9 hours

Attendees: 37 participating students and  20 accompanying teachers

Agenda: Overview of the aims and structure of the LTTA2 of the “My Smart School” project.

Executive Overview: The LTTA2 of the “My Smart School” project was hosted by Szkoła Podstawowa im. ks. Jana Twardowskiego w Ślemieniu, Poland from the 7^th- 11^th of May 2018. The partners in this project are: Italy (the coordinator), Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey and the host of the event Poland.

The goals of the exchange were:

1. to involve students in their own learning with a view to attaining better results and becoming more motivated;

2. to develop students' transversal skills - computer literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability;

3. to develop intercultural understanding and acceptance;

4. to develop communication skills in English;

5. to promote European values and develop cohesion among European citizens.

The exchange presupposes two parts:

1. Introduction and team building

2. Topic-related activities using ICT tools (PowToon, GeoGebra, Edmodo, Learning Apps, Mathplayground.com, Prezi )

Introduction and team building

First day

1. Welcoming the guests by the School Principal and the Head of Ślemień Municipality
2. Talent show prepared by the school coordinator and the students of Erasmus+ project group
3. Presentations of partners (school, education system, city and country)
4. An interview for ESKA Beskidy radio conducted by the editor Agata Chmielowska
5. Presentations of 4 partner countries prepared by the students of junior high school classes together with their form teachers: Małgorzata Ślusarz, Izabella Kałuża, Beata Kościelniak and Edyta Słonka
6. Team building activities
7. Making international teams
8. Team competition
9. Teachers meeting

Topic-related activities:

Second day

1. Workshop on GeoGebra prepared by Andrzej Pietrzyk; Maths lessons prepared with GeoGebra
2. Lecture given by an excellent student Maurycy Piech who presented the methods of optimization and acceleration of the operation of mathematical programs with the use of various programming languages
3. Visiting the Brewery Museum in Żywiec

Third day

1. Maths lessons prepared by Italian students
2. Maths lessons prepared by Portuguese students
3. Maths lessons prepared by Macedonian students
4. Maths lessons prepared by Turkish students

Fourth day

1. Visiting Kraków and the Salt Mine in Wieliczka

2. Working online on the Edmodo educational platform

Fifth day

1. International teams’ logo presentations
2. Selecting winners
3. The test checking the students’ knowledge on the Maths lessons prepared for LTTA2 done with Learning Apps
4. Certification
5. Evaluation questionnaire prepared with Edmodo
6. Traditional Polish food table prepared by the Ślemień Association of Pensioners
7. Visiting the Ethnographic Park in Ślemień; Creative workshops on glass painting
8. Farewell party.

DETAILED MEETING MINUTES - FIRST DAY (MONDAY, MAY 7TH)

Introduction and team building

First day

1. Welcoming the guests by the School Principal and the Head of the Ślemień Municipality
2. Talent show prepared by the school coordinator and the students of Erasmus+ project group
3. Presentations of partners (school, education system, city and country)
4. An interview for ESKA Beskidy radio conducted by the editor Agata Chmielowska
5. A short trip around the school
6. Presentations of 4 partner countries prepared by the students of junior high school classes together with their form teachers: Małgorzata Ślusarz, Izabella Kałuża, Beata Kościelniak and Edyta Słonka
7. Team building activities
8. Making international teams
9. Team competition
10. Teachers meeting

The first day of the LTTA2 was opened by the Principal of Szkoła Podstawowa
im. ks. J. Twardowskiego w Ślemieniu, Mrs Edyta Gołek and the Head of Ślemień Municiplity, Mr Jarosław Krzak, who gave warm welcome speeches for the guests.

After the official welcoming speeches there was a talent show presented by the students of Polish Erasmus+ project team. The talent show was to present what the students know about „My Smart School” project and what they learnt about their partner countries. It was to be an interesting form of showing the most important information about our project and countries participating in it, as well as what we do in our school apart from learning (waste fashion shows, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, graphic designing, painting, drawing). Nursery, primary and junior high students presented their talents and passions, our folk costumes and traditions. All of them were the winners of this year’s talent show held annually in our school. The show was presented in the form of a famous game show "I Love You Poland", loved by Polish viewers.

Next, all the partner schools gave short presentations of their schools, education system, city and country.

Meanwhile there was an interview for a local radio ESKA Beskidy conducted by the editor Agata Chmielowska. The interview was given by the Principal of our school, Edyta Gołek, the school coordinator, Edyta Słonka, the assistant coordinator of the Macedonian school, Verica Nikoloska and two students, Martyna Górna (participants of LTTA1 in Macedonia) and Agata Dominiak (chosen to participate in LTTA3 in Portugal). First of all, the principal gave a brief description of “My smart school” project and its participants. Following the school coordinator described the project activities as well as the successful cooperation with students. Then, in the second session of the interview, one of our guests and the representative of the Macedonian school hosting LTTA1, Verica Nikoloska, described the organisation of the first Learning Teaching Training Activities held in her country, her impressions about the Polish, the similarities between us and feelings after coming to Poland. Finally, two Polish students gave their perspective of participating in the project. The third grader of junior high school, Martyna Górna, talked about the stay in Macedonia and the second grader of the same school, Agata Dominiak, expressed her opinion on the project, its aims and purposes, underlining how great results the project produces.

After the partners presentations, each partner group was taken by its assigned attendant to the classroom in which there was a presentation about their countries. The Polish students made great effort to find lots of information on our partner countries and the information was exhibited in four classrooms. There were several things presented about each country, for example: general information, traditional outfit, cuisine, monuments, traditions, customs, famous people. The Polish students displayed also the PowerPoint presentations on our partners and led the discussion which was to be the answer to the following questions:

What gestures are characteristic for your culture?

What does your wedding look like?

What are the rules of gifting in your culture?

What is your feeling about punctuality?

How do you perceive eye contact and touching in communicating? Are they offensive or neutral?

What is your attitude to the concept of family?

What are the forms of greeting in your culture?

What stereotypes have you heard about the Polish?

After the break, all the participants were split into two groups, the students and the teachers. The participating students of all the partner countries attended team building activities held by the professional children entertainer, Marta Kolanko. The participants of the activities were acquainted with numerous integrative, movement and educational games for students including cocktail games, mini disco, integration games and dances for teenagers. Marta divided the students randomly into international groups by initiating an activity of selecting colours for grouping the students into teams. The students were divided into 5 heterogeneous groups with representatives from each of the partner countries. All the groups were required to work together on a name for their group and later on present it in front of everyone else. Then they competed in several categories to get the certificates for the best at dancing, the best cooperation, the funniest, the fastest, the most precise.

In the meantime, the teachers of the partner schools held a project team meeting.

Attendees:

• Assunta Mastroianni (Italy, English teacher)
• Stefano Di Sisto (Italy, science teacher)
• Verica Nikoloska (Macedonia, English teacher)
• Ilcho Vitanovski (Macedonia, IT teacher)
• Celia Maria Da Conceicao Dias (Portugal, maths teacher)
• Carlos Jorge Peixoto Monteiro (Portugal, IT teacher)
• Gulistan Aykal (Turkey, Enlish teacher)
• Harun  Kilic (Turkey, the School Principal)
• Edyta Gołek (Poland, the School Principal)
• Edyta Słonka (Poland, English teacher)
• Joanna Glas (Poland, English teacher)

The agenda discussed on the meeting was the following:

1. Polish National Agency
2. Communication
3. Local plan, monitoring every three months
4. eTwinning
5. eTwinning on-line courses
6. Preparing the students before LTTAs
7. Agenda for LTTA2
8. Workshops after LTTAs
9. Europass
10. Invoices
11. Date and plan for LTTA3 in Portugal

Concerning the first point of the agenda, the Polish coordinator presented the name and  the logo of the Polish National Agency and its requirements towards the Erasmus+ project beneficiaries.

The coordinator of the host partner expressed her satisfaction so as to the excellent communication between the partners (Email box, Facebook project site, Project website my.smartschool.pl, WhatsApp, 3 Messenger groups: My smart school, Erasmus+ and Poland, Edmodo LTTA2).

The following point was the Polish way to monitor and present local activities every three months. It is a document that includes:

• Project activities
• Dates
• People responsible
• Expenses
• Resources (that we have, that we need)

DONE EVERY THREE MONTHS AND UPLOADED ON GOOGLE DRIVE IN POLAND FOLDER

The fourth and fifth points to cover referred to the eTwinning platform. The Portuguese partner mentioned the fact that they have already dealt with creating the eTwinning space of the project, and they feel obliged to upload all the necessary documentation, and register the students. They have committed to sending the eTwinning join-in instruction for students who should be registered on the platform. The Polish coordinator presented the on-line courses done by the Polish teachers within the framework of “My Smart School”:

November 13th –27th; eTwinning, Edyta Słonka

January 15th -21st; Google tools, Edyta Słonka and Joanna Glas

January 15th -21st; eTwinning, Marta Krzak

January 29th – February 5th ; TwinSpace, Edyta Słonka

January 29th – February 5th; Class Tools, Marta Krak

February 19th – 26th; Emaze, Picturetrail and PowToon, Edyta Słonka

March 5th – 12th; GeoGebra, Edyta Słonka

The sixth point to discuss was the students preparation before each LTTA. It has four stages according to the project application form and they are:

• Trip preparation
• Social-skills preparation
• Topic-related preparation
• Language preparation

The project host partner presented the preparatory steps of the Polish students before LTTA1 in Macedonia as an example:

• On February 26th there was a talk about Macedonia in the eyes of tourists, a preparatory meeting preceding the student exchange to Macedonia, the students discussed the presentation created by Mrs Monika Feruga, the Geography teacher. It included basic information about topography, politics, traditions, habits and culture of Macedonia. The students found out some information about Tetovo – the city they were going to, as well as its attractions.
• On February 28th there was a talk about the ways of dealing with stress and facing a new, unfamiliar situation, another preparatory meeting preceding the student exchange to Macedonia. The students chosen to participate in LTTA1 presented their concerns, expectations as well as their attitude towards cultural differences. The meeting was held by the school counsellor, Mr Andrzej Mazurek.
• Powtoon presentations, Mr Andrzej Micor, on February 22nd the students taking part in LTTA1 in Macedonia were familiarized with PowToon. They created presentations on our country, school and area we live in. The presentations include information about our traditions and habits.
• To improve students’ motivation to learn foreign languages and their command of English, we started extra-curriculum English conversation classes.

The following point was the agenda activities for the subsequent days. The Polish coordinator indicated that all requirements of organizing LTTAs stated in the project application form were taken by the consideration by the host school while planning the visit.

• Team work (multicultural groups)
• ICT in learning Maths (Edmodo, GeoGebra, Powtoon, Prezi, LearningApps)
• Project activities relevant to teaching programs (Maths lessons)
• Students involved at all 3 stages (planning – Edmodo, realising – results CERTIFICATES, evaluating – poll on Edmodo)
• Ice-breaking, sports activities (time spent with an entertainer)
• Information exchange (Maths classes)
• Training (GeoGebra)
• Artistic workshops (Ethnographic Park)
• Organization of events (Talent show, project partner lessons)

Next, the partners discussed the post LTTAs workshops. It was agreed that after every LTTA, there will be the workshops for 30 students organized by each local team disseminating the knowledge gained during the LTTA meetings. Each team is to select an experimental group and a control group of students. The experimental group will be taught using the digital lesson, while the control group will be taught the same contents in a traditional manner. The results will then be compared through tests, questionnaires and direct observation by involved staff. The required documentation for justification the workshops the participants’ lists, pictures and materials used (the report comparing the results of both groups of students) will be sent to the Polish partner and uploaded onto the project website.

AFTER LTTA2 THE VIRTUAL EXPERIMENTS IN MATHS should be disseminated, in case anyone needs GeoGebra lessons, the host offered to upload necessary materials onto the Edmodo platform together with the rest Maths lessons plans sent by the project partners. The Macedonian team offered to send a template of a post LTTA report to the rest of the partners, so as to make the reports from each partner more standardized.

The following point covered the justification of Europass documents presented by the partners. Europass mobility documents were completed, sealed and signed.

The tenth point mentioned were the invoices for all the partners. The host arranged for all the invoices for the transport and accommodation to be given on the last day. The Polish host explained all doubts the participants had concerning financial issues connected with the organisation of LTTA2.

Finally, the last point discussed on the meeting was information about the following LTTA3 in Portugal and the date for the LTTA3 in Portugal. There was a proposal accepted by all the partners for the LTTA3 to take place from the 29th October to 2nd November. The Portuguese partners are to present the agenda for LTTA3 as soon as it is ready.

The meeting covered all the points of the agenda and was successfully finished.

DETAILED MEETING MINUTES - SECOND DAY (TUESDAY, MAY 8TH)

Topic-related activities:

Second day

1. Workshop on GeoGebra prepared by Andrzej Pietrzyk; Maths lessons prepared with GeoGebra
2. Lecture given by an excellent student Maurycy Piech who presented the methods of optimization and acceleration of the operation of mathematical programs with the use of various programming languages
3. Visiting the Brewery Museum in Żywiec

The second day of the LTTA1 started with the introduction of the daily agenda activities.

Then, the students attended a workshop on GeoGebra prepared by a Maths teacher Andrzej Pietrzyk, who explained the usage of the software. The first session of the workshops was devoted to the practical use of the tool in discovering theorems, stating thesis on the basis of the conducted experiments, confirming implications, searching for counter examples as well as combating hypotheses. The second session was a practical lesson with the use of GeoGebra on tangents, secants and the separable lines of the circles.

After Mr Pietrzyk’s presentation, there was a lecture given by an excellent student Maurycy Piech who presented the methods of optimization and acceleration of the operation of mathematical programs with the use of various programming languages.

 Then the students were given a task to train a point with the use of GeoGebra and create interesting graphic designs. The most interesting ones were used to finalise the logos for international teams.

Following was a sightseeing activity, a tour of the Brewery Museum in Żywiec.

DETAILED MEETING MINUTES - THIRD DAY (WEDNESDAY, MAY 9TH)

Third day

1. Maths lessons prepared by Italian students
2. Maths lessons prepared by Portuguese students
3. Maths lessons prepared by Macedonian students
4. Maths lessons prepared by Turkish students

According to the agenda, on the third working day the students presented the Maths lessons chosen from the list of Maths topics sent by the Polish coordinator after LTTA1 in March.

Topics of maths lessons:

1. Operations on rational numbers.

2. Operations on powers.

3. Calculation of the percentage of a given number.

4. Percentage calculations.

5. Types of quadrangles and their properties.

6. The concept of Pythagorean theorem.

7. Application of the Pythagorean theorem.

8. Application of first degree equations with one unknown to text exercises.

9. The surface area of the prism.

10. Calculation of the volume of prisms and pyramids.

11. Presenting data, presenting the results of statistical surveys.

12. Rotary bodies: cylinder, cone, sphere.

Subject 8 was taken by the Italian and the Portuguese partners, 4 and 6 by the Macedonian partner, subjects 9 and 12 by the Turkish. The partners have sent the plans of the lessons prepared for LTTA2 before the meeting in Poland. They were uploaded on Edmodo and used to do Maths quizzes on the platform.

The coordinator of the Polish school founded the LTTA2 group on the Edmodo platform before the project meeting in Poland. The access password and join-in instruction to the LTTA2 group on Edmodo were sent to the partners before the meeting, so that the participants could get acquainted with the materials prepared for the maths workshops. Several students from schools in Poland, Portugal and Italy took an active part in solving mathematical tests on the Edmodo platform in the preparatory phase of the meeting.

The students of all partner countries were prepared very well. They were delivering their presentations effectively and efficiently with an apparent ease to use English. They were very self-confident and seemed not to have any fear of public speaking. There were many tools used to present the Maths lessons, for instance: PowToon, GeoGebra, Mathplayground.com and Prezi. The lesson prepared were interesting, the theory was put into practice by all the groups. The listeners were given a number of mathematical tasks to solve and they did very well. The presenters proved to have great communication and social skills.

The participating students were satisfied with the training activities, they very cooperative and eager to learn and share their ideas and contributing for the effective completion of the workshops.

Each group was given an award in the form of a certificate:

For the most efficient group – the Italian team (excellent group work and well distribution tasks among the members)

For the most creative group – the Macedonian team (lots of creativity put in preparing innovative PowToon presentations and the lessons plans reach in content)

For the best at speaking – the Portuguese team (the group that was the most influential on the listeners)

For the best at spatial imagination – the Turkish team (the group that prepared many posters of mathematical figures, like prisms, cone and cylinder)

For the best listeners – the Polish team (the group that listened carefully not to respond but to understand, they proved to know the importance of attentive listening, which plays a vital role when we work on projects).

The groups were to be presented with their awards on the last day of the LTTA2.

DETAILED MEETING MINUTES - FOURTH DAY (THURSDAY, MAY 10TH)

Fourth day

1. Visiting Krakow and the Salt Mine in Wieliczka
2. Working online on Edmodo educational platform

The fourth day was appointed for sightseeing, visiting cultural and historical monuments and tourist attractions of the host country as a part of the intercultural understanding and acceptance process of the exchange. The agenda of the day covered:

• Old Town in Krakow,
• Basilica of the Virgin Mary  and the Cloth Hall,
• Wawel Royal Castle,
• Wawel Cathedral (Royal Graves, Zygmunt's Bell, the Chapel of Silver Bells, Dragon's Den)
• cruise on the Vistula with the opportunity to see Krakow from a completely different side,
• the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine, which is one of the largest tourist attractions in Poland, registered on the UNESCO list and visited by over a million tourists every year.

The guests visited Krakow with its The Old Town intact with its large medieval square. They had a chance to follow the most popular route taken in there, from the top of Wawel (Hill), the Castle that guards the city, to the cruise on the Vistula River offering great views and a truly relaxing experience.

Another important thing was a chance to feel the spirit of John Paul II above Krakow. Before becoming Pope, in fact, Karol Wojtyła has been a bishop of the city for about 15 years.

After visiting one of our most beautiful cities, our guests were taken to Wieliczka, where they were wandering along the remarkably beautiful undergrounds of the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine. That place took the heart of our guests, many of them expressed their gratitude for the possibility of visiting the salt mine.

On that day, all the participating students were assigned to get acquainted with the materials presented on Edmodo. Especially the Maths lessons plans, which was to be helpful in better understanding the working session planed for the last official day of the stay.

DETAILED MEETING MINUTES - FIFTH DAY (FRIDAY, MAY 11TH)

Fifth day

1. International teams’ logo presentations
2. Selecting winners
3. The test checking the students’ knowledge on the Maths lessons prepared for LTTA2 done with Learning Apps
4. Certification
5. Evaluation questionnaire prepared with Edmodo
6. Traditional Polish food table prepared by the Associations of Pensioners
7. Visiting the Ethnographic Park in Ślemień; Creative workshops on glass painting
8. Farewell party.

The last day of the LTTA2 was to sum up the exchange and its contents. A morning session started with the presentation of international groups’ logos comprising of groups’ photos, groups’ names chosen by the students and the best graphic designs created by the students during the GeoGebra workshops.

Then the coordinator of the host country, Edyta Słonka, expressed her admiration for the students, their commitment during the implementation of training activities and the teachers for being supportive throughout the whole stay. The students were praised for dealing very well with such an ambitious project and developing such great relationships with their peers.

Next, all international groups were given fully deserved awards for their work during team  building activities held on the first day of the stay.

Following the awards for Maths lessons’ preparation was given to all partners’ teams.

There was also one individual certificate given to the leader of Portuguese students, Miquel Angelo Pimenta Vitorino, for his incredible social skills.

The head of the  Ślemień Municipality, Jarosław Krzak, honoured the Erasmus+ team by his presence and gave a warm farewell speech to our partners.

The next point of the day was a test checking the students’ knowledge on the Maths lessons prepared for LTTA2 done with Learning Apps. The test was prepared in the form of a famous game show known internationally “Millionaire Quiz”. Each international team drew a theme of the game from five topics prepared for the occasion based on maths lessons conducted on the third day of the stay in Poland. At the end, all groups were announced as winners and the money prize they got was exchanged into the certificates of successful completion of LTTA2 in Poland.

The certificates and congratulations were given by the Principal of the host school, Mrs Edyta Gołek.

The coordinator of the Polish school prepared an evaluation poll on the Edmodo educational platform consisting of 14 questions about the exchange and its contents, utility, ease of understanding, design and applicability and asked all the students who participated in the LTTA2 to complete it.

It was the end of school work, but not the end of the day full of surprises.

The time has come for a pleasant walk in good company. The whole group went to the Communal Culture Centre in Ślemień, where our guests were presented with a richly set table full of delicious delicacies that made up the Polish cuisine. On the table there were all dishes typical of our regional cuisine. The dishes were prepared by members from the Ślemień Association of Pensioners. In other words, by the specialist, the only and unique in the field of cooking, beloved grandmothers of our students. The meeting with them was very well received by our guests and deserved the delightful words of appreciation given by the assistant of the coordinator of the Macedonian school, Mrs. Verica Nikoloska.

At this meeting, one more nice accent took place unexpectedly. It was the presentation of the musical talents of our Macedonian and Italian partners. Our fellow teachers, Mr Ilcho Vitanoski and Mr Stefano Di Sisto, proved to be outstanding pianists. They performed a few songs outstandingly and were rewarded with thunderous applause. We also heard a wonderful performance of the song "Hallelujah" from the mouth of the extremely talented musician from Italy, Beatrice Nicodemo.

The next attraction was a visit to Ethnographic park in Ślemień, the place where the most important elements of mountaineers’ culture were gathered in one place, focusing on their authenticity. Our students had creative workshops on glass painting conducted there. It was a good thing to relax and calm down for a while by focusing on the efficient completion of the task. They produced wonderful paintings and took them as souvenirs back home.

At the end, all the participants of the project celebrated for the hard work and successfully completed activities by performing dances from all the partner countries. This event has proven as a memorable exchange of practices and an exceptional socializing experience for all the participating students and the accompanying teachers.

The LTTA2 hosted by Szkoła Podstawowa im. ks. Jana Twardowskiego w Ślemieniu held in Ślemień, Poland was successfully completed.

DETAILED MEETING MINUTES - SIXTH DAY (SATURDAY, MAY 12TH)

Everything good ends quickly. Saturday was a time to say goodbye to our Macedonian and Portuguese friends. The way the students were saying goodbye, showed how great friends they became with one another.

All project partners once more expressed their gratitude for the great organization of the meeting, warm welcome, lovely people and Poland.

In the afternoon, the Turkish and the Italian teams had a chance to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau (former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp), which has become a symbol of terror and the Holocaust all over the world. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis.

Our friends left Poland on the next day. All came back home safely and sound.

Minutes taken by the coordinator of the LTTA2 host school

Edyta Słonka