The Governing Day at School

The main idea of this project kit is to provide students and teachers an opportunity to practice democracy in their day to day school life.

Gagliardi Photography via Canva.com

Leading Idea: The main idea of this project kit is to provide students and teachers an opportunity to practice democracy in their day to day school life. The project develops students’ understanding of democratic values such as Freedom of speech, Liberty, Equality, Justice and promotes a democratic dialogue that is governed by openness and accountability. During the preparation and follow up activities, participants will be encouraged to practice democratic decision making and collaboration in international groups.

Objectives

To improve communication in English and ICT skills, • To enhance pupils’ decision making and problem-solving skills • To practice and develop citizenship competences • To develop a sense of responsibility • To investigate student's views and experiences of democracy in everyday school life • To give students a platform where they can express their voice and concerns. • To develop governing and leadership skills

Introduction of partners

1. Forum discussion: Students are asked to answer a question posted in the TwinSpace Forum “Why would you like to participate in this project?” According to the answers everybody will have different goals for attending this project, this reflection can help teachers and students to design the Governing Day according to their specific perspectives and discuss the differences and similarities between participating schools Tool: TwinSpace - Forum 2. Twinboard: Students introduce themselves in a Twinboard and write about the things they like at their school, they can post photos of their favorite school corners or activities. Students from the partner classes choose one of the descriptions/photos and comment on it by posting one or more questions in a dedicated forum.

Orientation

1. Imagine: The teacher in each class asks students what democracy would be if it was a picture. Students draw a picture or choose a copyright free image and upload it together with a description why they chose this image on a dedicated page on the Twinspace. Students from partner classes are asked to provide comments and vote. These pictures can be used later for voting and choosing the project logo. Tools: Befunky Flickr 2. Explore: In international teams’ students should research and prepare a presentation about various aspects of democracy, each group works on a different question/aspect. An online session, where all groups present their findings should then be organised. Questions/aspects to explore: • Where and when was the concept of democratic governance born? How was it practiced in the ancient times? • What is a current (modern) definition/form of Democracy? How is it different from the one in ancient times? • In which countries is there a democratic regime? And in which countries is there not a democratic regime? • What are the ways young people can participate in Democracy? 3. After researching in international teams’ students should answer the question: “What is democracy in school for you?” You could use Answergarden for this question as it produces a word cloud of all the teams contributions and feedback. This could in turn also be used as a logo of the project. Tools: Genial Answergarden

Collaboration

1. What is the Governing Day? Students work in transnational teams and create a shared document about the plan of “The Governing Day”. This day aims to provide students the opportunity to govern the school and practice decision making in a democratic way. Each team adds its suggestions and ideas about how to organize this day, how to elect the governance board, what is the role of students and how teachers contribute to this day as well. The document will be drafted and discussed in an online meeting between partners and will serve as a guiding document on how to prepare and conduct the Governing Day. 2. Manifesto- Divided in groups, in each class, students create their manifesto (similar to a political statement) of what they suggest doing if elected to lead the school in the governing day. Students conduct a campaign where they present to their classmates and teachers what their vision is and what they would like to do in the governing day. The procedure of selecting the governing board that will govern the school will be handled democratically, according to an election procedure. 3. The Governing Day at School- Students conduct their own governing days ateach school, they take up the roles of the principal, supervisor and teachers or any other member of the school administration governing the school. The elected group manages the school, makes decisions, solves problems for one day. The school staff supports and helps them in this work while observing the process and providing suggestions when needed. 4. Suggestion following the Governing Day- In each class separately, all students, draft a document where they present their ideas, requests and suggestions they came up with after the Governing Day. Following this students should share with partners the lists they have created and review what others have written, as it might inspire them to add some of their peers’ suggestions to their list. 5. Collaborative video: Each partner school interviews each other in an online meeting (that will be recorded) by sending them in advance guiding questions such as: What have they learned about democracy throughout the project? Why is it important to understand how the school or any other organization is governed? What was their experience when governing the school? Which activity was the most interesting for them? What was the added value of having an international project? What did they learn about other schools? Are their schools similar or different from each other? How? And why? Would you like to participate in eTwinning projects again? A video clip made of segments of the interviews can be created by an international team as part of the dissemination and communication activities. The video could be shared with the entire school community and parents as an example of international collaboration. 6. Collaborative Magazine: Students create an online magazine on democratic participation based on the project. Students work in international teams; each team is responsible to draft a different article or section in the magazine. Here are possible a platforms to use in order to create the magazine: Lucidpress or Canva . The collaborative poster (activity 1) can be added to the magazine as well. Possible articles or sections for the magazine: description of the preparation for the Governing Day, results of the research conducted in international groups, photos and summary of activities held in each school and in international teams, reflections by students about democracy and how it is practiced in different countries around the world etc. Tools: Docs.google Canva Lucidpress Postermywall or Edu Glogster Fixounet

Evaluation & Assessment

1. Peer assessment: Students from each school evaluate each other`s work after the Governing Day. Assessment teams are formed prior to the Governing Day, as the team assesses and evaluates the work of peers throughout the project. The peer assessment will be guided by the teacher who will provide assessment sheets with an emphasis on constructive feedback. 2. Survey:Students share their thoughts on the project. The work could be evaluated with an online questionnaire and through the evaluation of the respective comments on the TwinSpace. Pupils could be asked the following questions: What did you learn from the project? What long term results do you foresee to this project? Short term results? How would you improve the democratic process in your school? What kind of challenges did you have during the project? How did you solve them? Have the activities of the project changed their perspectives at all? What is the most important thing that they have learnt while working on the project? What they enjoyed most and whether they are interested further collaboration with international groups. The evaluation will be accessible to everyone in the TwinSpace. Tools : Docs.Google Surveymonkey

Follow up

1. Documentation: The initial project plan along with a project task list should be published in a separate activity page created in the TwinSpace. Separate pages will be created for each one of the activities of the project. They should include a short description of the activity and the final products. Any communication that takes place in the chat room, the forum, or during a live session should be documented and when needed - recorded. All materials should be displayed in the appropriate activity pages. Teachers and students will regularly update theTwinSpace. 2. Dissemination: For all eTwinners:Online Event: The online event is for all eTwinners in eTwinning Portal is organized and links are shared in the events page. Shared documents, presentations, an online poster created by the students and a collaborative magazine can be promoted here if you wish. For school staff and parents:eTwinning corner: Partners could create a school eTwinning project board in every school to disseminate the project. It could be through an eTwinning corner where all resources and material will be shared with school mates and school staff. Photos of the eTwinning corners, if created, should be uploaded to Twinspace. For local community:Party: Students could organize a farewell party and invite their teachers, parents, Local Authorities and community. Students would then present the project to a wider audience. They would demonstrate the common magazine, poster, presentations and videos from the Governing Day. During the party, schools could connect to each other through the Twinspace in an online meeting, demonstrating to the guests how they worked together. Students could also address to the school staff and present their suggestions on how they see their school in the future and what problems they identified and solutions they found together with their international peers. After the party, each participating school could create a short video/PPT presentation of the highlights of the party. Press releases of the events, collaborative video and the online magazine created by all schools could be shared with local newspapers to share with the wider public.

Additional information

Age from:

14
Age to:

19
Difficulty:

Intermediate

The Governing Day at School

The Governing Day at School

Additional information

School subjects

Vocational subjects

Key competences