Heroes and Cultural Identity Project

Project meeting: Trondheim, 16-21 October 2007

REPORT OF THE COMENIUS 'HEROES AND CULTURAL IDENTITY'
PROJECT MEETING HELD IN TRONDHEIM, NORWAY, 16-21 OCTOBER, 2007

Tuesday 16 October

Participants arrived. The following teachers were in attendance during the week:

From Scotland	Donny Gluckstein	Penny Gower	Harry Kogon
	John O'Neill	Gordon Plews
From Norway	Astrid Myskja	Ivar Sognli	Einar Stølevik
From Slovakia	Renáta Kelemenová	Henrieta Martincová	Andrea Macáková
From Italy	Marzia Zabbatino	Cristina Fuga	Michele Minenna
From Turkey	Serkan Erenler	Serpil Doğanyiğit	Şenay Vanlı
	Aysun Öztürk
From Poland	Oktawia Gorzeńska	Aleksandra Szczepińska

The following students were also in attendance:

From Poland	Adam Kowalczyk	Malgorzata Pietrzyk	Karolina Grobelna

Wednesday 17 October

All the teachers in the project team and the Polish students convened at the host school, Brundalen videregående skole. The meeting commenced with a presentation by Harry Kogon about the project aimed at Norwegian teachers who were not yet involved in the project.

The head of the school, Jan Erik Vold, then gave a talk describing the school, the types of students it has, and the work that it does.

We were then given a guided tour of the school and the opportunity to go to some of the classes and meet the students and their teachers.

Thursday 18 October

The meeting opened with a welcome from Astrid Myskja, on behalf of the school. The purpose and plan of the meeting was then outlined. The first session was for reporting on the project activities carried out since the last meeting and to evaluate how the first year had gone. The second session in the afternoon was to develop the theme of Cultural Identity and to plan activities on this theme. The aim of the final session on Friday would be to reach agreement on the activities that would take place in the next phase and to discuss administrative aspects of the project.

Each school then reported on what had been achieved since the last meeting in April:

Turkey

On return from the last project meeting in Gdynia, Serkan Erenler had given a report to his school on the progress made in the project. A school web site had been constructed with information about the project. The teachers and students prepared a stand and went to an exhibition demonstrating national and international projects carried out by 250 Turkish schools. A learning game based on the free software "Hangaroo" had been adapted for use with students in the project to help them learn the names of the heroes that had been chosen by others in the project and to motivate them to find out more about the heroes.

Slovakia

The Slovakian National Agency were very impressed by the project and asked Renáta Kelemenová to give a presentation to other schools in the region. On the theme of Cultural Identity, some of the Slovakian students were asked to give a presentation about their country. One of the student presentations "Slovakia - a little big country" was then shown

The students also tried to make contact with students from other countries, mainly from Poland, using the online forum. There were two problems with this however: first was the problem of timing as this was close to the summer holidays; the second was that it was difficult to make real-time contact using the forum. If this is to be repeated, it was suggested that students make use of real-time software such as Skype or MSN instead.

At the school, a noticeboard was used to show project activities, and the Slovakian students that went to the last meeting in Gdynia wrote an article about their experience for the school magazine.

Poland

The project is being used in classes for the teaching of Polish, English, German, French and History. Although several classes are directly involved, other students are encouraged to contribute in some way to the project. Plans are being made to have competitions involving all pupils in the school.

In Polish lessons, students have worked on "Great Inventors" and have prepared performances, presentation, films, blogs, diaries and posters. Another class prepared material on "Mythological Heroes" and took part in an excursion to Warsaw where they learnt more about them through seeing paintings and sculptures. In history lessons, students discussed anti-heroes such as Polish noblemen and also went to Warsaw to learn about the culture of nobility. In English lessons, one class prepared several shows about their favourite sit-com hero and showed that "hero" can be understood in many different ways.

Some students in the European School Club conducted a poll about heroes amongst the inhabitants of Gdynia and are now organizing a photo exhibition on "Women who changed the world". The schoolgirls will show photos of themselves dressed up as heroines such as Cleopatra, Coco Chanel, Marilyn Monroe etc.

During teachers' meetings, an agenda was planned for the coming year which included competitions for best presentation/poster/flim/story and meeting successful people such as the former minister Izabella Nowacka. The school motto for the project is "An ordinary (but) extraordinary hero".

Scotland

In History classes, students were taken to Glasgow and asked to take photos relating to Heroes and/or Cultural Identity. On the Cultural Identity theme, students were also asked to consider what makes Scotland what it is. In Science classes, a study of great scientists, such as Jenner, Simpson, Watson and Crick, etc was built directly into the curriculum as students are being asked to write reports and produce presentations as part of their coursework assessment.

In classes on Early Education and Childcare, the study of Heroes and Cultural Identity has been used to help develop research techniques. Students were encouraged to debate what the cross-cultural common characteristics of heroes were and they will go on to look at four categories of hero: those involved with Civil and Political Rights, those who concerned themselves with Economic and Social Work, Environmental "heroes" and Cultural heroes. Students will be conducting interviews and devising questionnaires and will be free to choose their own hero.

Norway

The project has recently been introduced to a first year Media class, and will also be tried with 22 students on a new International English course which will include looking at cross-cultural understanding and English across borders. The project will be used again with the class that worked on the project during the first year. Last year, this group worked on personal heroes; this year, they will cooperate on a joint project that might also include students from one of the other schools in the project.

Italy

The head of the school was invited to a national meeting at which the project was presented to heads of other schools and the response was very favourable. Students in the 4th and 5th years (the last two years of the upper school) presented the results of their work on heroes for part of their English and History exams. One of the students working on the project won a prize for the best presentation of his hero, Enzo Ferrari. Links to the work carried out were put onto the school web site; some of the work was carried out by groups of students and some by individuals. on their school web site

Discussion groups - Reflections on the Heroes Project

In the second half of the morning, the participants split into 3 discussion groups with a mix of nationalities in each group. One group looked at the use of the project as a vehicle for teaching language, both native and foreign. The second group reflected on how the heroes element had been used to educate students, either in particular subject areas or with general skills such as team-working and ICT. The third group focussed on how well the actual operation of the project from the preparation of material, to voting and prize-giving worked for the students and the teachers. In all groups, the participants discussed how the successes of the first year could be improved and built upon. The key points from each group are reported below:

Group 1 - Language
In Italy, for the teaching of English, it was easier than the teacher had imagined it might be when the students discovered that the request for writing heroes summaries was only 200 words. In the national language, some students worked on it but generally got tired very fast and didn't always want to work on the same things. In Poland, many students considered it a challenge to produce material in English but made very good presentations using PowerPoint or film. Now they are working on local heroes such as families and friends. In the Polish classes, students are also making presentations on local heroes using diaries; the presentations will later be translated into English. In Slovakia, for the teaching of English, there was some concern about the students' initial reaction, but the response was excellent when they discovered they were allowed to choose their own heroes. They wrote about their heroes and presented it to the class orally, and in doing so, improved their vocabulary and grammar. Students were not used to working like this because they have a very strict curriculum, but it was a very positive experience from the English language teaching viewpoint. The project was not used in the teaching of local language in Slovakia. In Scotland, the project was only used in the local language. One group used it while studying William Wallace as part of the History curriculum. All students made a very good presentation in small groups and even the worst made a very good product in terms of quality. It was suggested that, for this coming year, we might use what last year's students produced and use that as a starting point.

Group 2 - Choice of heroes
In Scotland, students are supposed to identify heroes in the science and technology curriculum or find connections to the subjects they are studying. For one group of students who returned to school after a long time, the project helped them gain confidence as they started to realise how they, themselves, made a difference in terms of the contribution they made to society. The point was made that many young people are rather cynical about society and history, and that this type of project helps them to think more and express their attitudes. In Poland, young students don't have much knowledge of history, so searching for information and visiting museums helps a lot; they learn how history has been created. Slovakian students are usually given facts about historical or other personalities/heroes; the project makes them think about other aspects such as which positive qualities appeal to them and why. They also start to think about heroes as complex personalities, not only about their positve impact on society.

Regarding the choice of heroes, some students don't differentiate between hero and celebrity. They also question whether some celebrities have had a more positive impact on society;.for example Bob Dylan and John Lennon, whose lyrics expressed deeper ideas. The "point of view" was also important: for example Bill Gates is a hero and anti-hero at the same time. The selection of religious heroes might be controversal in that today's terrorists might be tomorrow's heroes for certain groups of people.

Objectivity was also considered an important question. Students can consider people as the whole personality with negative aspects; for example, their private life doesn't correspond with their contribution to society. Students also don't have to idealise heroes but should realise that heroes are just people.

The group felt that the project provided very helpful, interactive and practical methods of approacing their subjects and helped them develop ICT skills.

Group 3 - Processes
A concern was expressed that in the process of hero selection, the winners were not necessarily the ones that had produced the best piece of work. Very different formats for presentation were used and, in some cases, students were voting for the most polished presentation rather than focussing on the content. Some suggestions were put forward as to how teachers could provide criteria for selecting the best two presentations from their school to go forward to the International vote. The constraints set for the summaries at the first project meeting were also discussed; some felt that more images should be allowed as the amount of text to read can prove tough for students that find English difficult. An alternative view was that the amount of text in the summaries should be increased to allow the better students to develop their argument as to why a particular hero should be chosen. The general consensus however was that the process of summary forced students to think more creatively about the wider process and that it was better to stick to the current limit (200 words) for the summaries but allow any number of web links to extra material stored on the local schools' web sites.

It was felt that the dual method of voting using either online or paper balloting made it easier to enable maximum voting participation. This was particularly true for those schools or classes that had difficulty with ICT support or gaining access to the Internet. Although Turkey did not have a web site at the start of the project, it now does and this will mean that all schools now have a place to store locally produced project materials.

Cultural Identity

In the afternoon session, the meeting resumed with a presentation by Penny Gower about her experiences of working with two groups of students, one consisting of Trade Union representatives and another of prisoners from a local Scottish prison, on the subject of culture and cultural identity. Donny Gluckstein then showed some photographs that demonstrated the difference in the "tourists" view of the culture of Scotland with the view that many local inhabitants might have. He also discussed the results of a Cultural Identity questionnaire that he gave to his students, and that could be used suitably modified by schools from other countries.

Discussion groups - Cultural Identity

The meeting then divided into three smaller discussion groups with a mix of nationalities in each group, to focus on the theme of Cultural Identity. Each group was asked to consider what was meant by "Cultural Identity", how we can use the concept of cultural identity to work with our students, what sort of materials we can generate through this process, and how we can develop this concept on an international basis so that students from one country can learn and think about the cultural identity of students in other countries.

On the question of what was meant by Cultural Identity, some key issues that were raised included external and internal cultural identities and how people conform to them; generalised and globalised cultures; the historical roots of cultural identity; common features across cultures such as music, folk tradition, dress and religion; the evolution of cultural identity; how we look at life, our hopes, beliefs and fears which form part of our culture; the identity you give to yourself, not just roots but a belief system; the differences in culture for "new" and "old" countries; the effect of TV; "National" Identity (popular stereotyping) vs the Real identity vs International Identity (Globalisation) vs Multiculturalism.

On the issue of how we can use the concept of Cultural Identity with our students and what materials can be generated, suggestions included working with questionnaires (such as Donny's - see above), presentations on a typical day in the life of a Slovakian/Turkish etc student, studying National dishes and costumes, studying how cultural identity evolves and looking at diversity.

For working with the concept on an international basis, suggestions included interviews between students from different schools, using online "chat" and a discussion forum with questions designed to generate responses from students in all the particpating schools.

Friday 19 October

In the final session of the meeting, delegates discussed a number of proposals for the activities that would be carried out with their students over the coming year.

Initial discussion focussed on whether the heroes activity should be expanded: for example by requiring students to look at the influence a hero can have on us, and how the personal development of students could be helped by studying the ideal of a 'hero' as an counterweight to the more self-centred values that many have today. The possiblity of an international discussion forum to enable this type of activity was discussed which then led to ideas such as comparing the heroes of today with the heroes of the past, for example by interviewing parents and grandparents. Some participants were concerned that unless the activity was widened, we would just replicate what we did last year. Other participants, however, felt that examining the heroes theme in greater depth was best done in the classroom environment rather than in an online discussion forum, and because the 200 word summary already said why a person was important, it was unlikely that a large number of students would take part in the forum on this type of issue given the type of students some of them had. It was finally agreed, however, that at a local level, schools could choose how to work, and at what level, on the subject of heroes, but at the International level, we would:

1. Conduct another round of work and voting on “Heroes”.

No limits on the amount of work that can be produced for each hero
For voting purposes, however, a maximum of 200 words + 2 pictures will apply to the summaries submitted for International voting
The summaries can contain any number of web links to additional material (audio, video, Powerpoint)
All the additional web-linked material (audio, video, ppt) will be stored on the local school web sites
Last date for submission of the two summaries: 29 February 2008
International Voting period will last from 1 March 2008 to 31 March 2008

This, including the timescales, was agreed by all present. In order to provide the opportunity for some extension the the heroes activity, the following additional activity was also agreed:

2. To host an online discussion forum comparing the heroes of the past with the heros of the present.

Contributions to the forum would be limited to 300 words for each posting.

The other proposals focussed on the theme of Cultural Identity discussed the previous afternoon:

3. Cultural Identity - Local activities

Each teacher can choose the activities they wish to carry out with their own students on the theme of Cultural Identity – no restrictions
As many products of the above activities as possible to be stored on local school web sites

4. Cultural Identity - International activities

A discussion forum, using the existing online forum capability, containing questions on the theme of Cultural Identity
The discussion period will run from 1 January 2008 to 31 March 2008
The best contributions will be included in an e-newsletter (produced by media students in Norway)

This, including the timescales, was also agreed by all present.

The best contributions will be judged by the project teachers at the next project meeting in Istanbul.

The questions that were proposed for the International activity were then discussed in detail. In particular, there was some dispute over whether "Americanisation" would be better understood as a term rather than "Globalisation". In the end it was felt that "Globalisation" was more appropriate, provided the meaning of the term was made clear. The final form of the questions were agreed to be as follows:

5. Questions for the discussion forum

Globalisation is a good thing and cannot be stopped. What do you think?
National stereotypes are always false. Do you agree?
In what ways does Multiculturalism enrich our lives?

In response to the last of these questions, it was emphasised that since one of the purposes of the project is to overcome xenophobia, it was essential that answers focussed on the benefits of multiculturalism and that negative or defamatory contributions would not be published.

The final proposal for an activity was that we should:

6. Conduct a survey (for example by questionnaire) on "What does being Turkish/Polish/Italian/Scottish/Slovakian/Norwegian mean to you?"

A representative from each country to collect a number of responses
A representative from each country to present the findings at the next project meeting in Istanbul

Dissemination

In Scotland, the project had received publicity in a local evening nespaper, on the college intranet and in the college newsletter. For the project meeting next October in Slovakia, plans are being made to have the project publicised on local TV. In Turkey, the project has appeared on a website for education and parents, other teachers and students have been told about the project. In Poland, local newspapers have publicised the project and in Italy the project has appeared in the school magazine and a meeting held to disseminate the project. In Norway, the project was discussed at a parent's meeting and a briefing was given in the auditorium on Wednesday to bring the project to the attention of other teachers in the school.

Project administration and funding

Since the funding for the remainder of the project was now fixed, it is now possible for all schools to make arrangements for all the remaining project meetings.

Dates of future meetings

The dates of the next project meeting in Istanbul, Turkey will be from 1 April to 6 April, 2008.

It was also proposed that the following project meeting in Nitra, Slovakia be held from 14 October to 19 October 2008.

Any other business

A vote of thanks was proposed and endorsed by all participants for all the Nowegian teachers at Brundalen.

For a shorter version of the report see the summary of decisions made