domingo, 23 de marzo de 2014



You can find a lot of information on the Videoconference which was held on March 20th among the participating countries in the project "Democratic Values and Linguistic Diversity" if you click on this link: 
You are invited to continue our discussion on the topics discussed:
Videoconference 20-03-2014
Topics
1. Democratic Values Questionnaire Results (Poland)
2. School Regulations: a democratic instrument or a control toolkit

Procedure

1.     The coordinator from Spain opens the event - 3 min - opens the event, announces the structure and the topics

2.  Poland presents the results of the Democratic Values Questionnaire sharing with the participants the important observations and conclusions – 12-15 min

3.  Each school team presents their views and practices describing school regulations and the way democratic values live/should live in school communities. - 3 min for each team - 25 min total

4.    Then we open the floor to students and teachers sharing what they think about the guiding questions for both topics. 1.5 min per participant - ab. 20 min for this part.

5.    Team work on cases: Teams work on real life cases for 12-15 min. The teams are supposed to look into the case and decide as a team how to solve a problem using democratic strategies in a school environment.

6.    Each team presents their solution in 1.5 min – 12-15 min total

7.    Summary and closing from Bulgaria - 2 min


The whole event rounds up to between an hour and a half and two hours but according to us, it is more lively and allows students to speak their views spontaneously and not just present prepared information.
Videoconference 20-03-2014
 School Regulations: A democratic instrument or a control toolkit
A. Guiding Questions:
1. Who creates the school regulations in our school?
2. Who takes part in writing them and announcing them?
3. What is its purpose? Do we need it? Why/why not?
4. Who takes more space-the Rights or the responsibilities, the rewards or the sanctions?
5. Which is the greatest Challenge: a)to create it, b) to follow it, c) to control it
6. What Tools does democracy give us to improve school life in connection to school regulations?
7. How would the ideal school regulations look like? Be imaginative…
8) Do we need improvement and how can we all profit from it?
B. As a result of the discussion we will also be looping for the answers of the following questions:
1. What is life like in a well-functioning democratic school community?
2. School regulations- contributor to democracy?
3. Is there space for creativity and artistic expression?
C. The discussion is based on a conversational model aiming at:
1. analyzing and understanding in depth
2. extracting the valuable in all points in view
3. creating a constructive Communications
4. coming up with applicable solutions
Videoconference 20-03-2014
Cases Proposal
The teams are not supposed to prepare in advance, the challenge is to exchange opinion and come up with a short action plan 3-5 steps to solve the problem in a democratic way and propbly some preventive methods to avoid the same problems in the future if possible. The cases will be assigned to the teams immediately before the team work. /Item from the Procedure/
1.     You come to school in the morning and find that someone has painted graffiti on the school walls and some of the school sports equipment. It quickly becomes clear who is the graffiti student, the student is not hiding. What do you do with a student? How do you restore/clean the walls and the equipment of the school?

2.    A student often arrives late for the first lesson or after the long break. This breaks the concentration of the group and the teacher. Some of the students feel it is not fair to tolerate this behavior, others are tempted to follow the example. The teacher is also quite resentful of the situation. All this creates tension and energy leak in the classroom. What would you do to solve the problem?

3.    A student is often getting distracted with a mobile phone in class. When invited by the teacher to leave the phone aside and focus on the class task, the student neglects the teacher and goes on texting. The teacher wastes even more time dealing with the issue and the work of the group is disrupted. How would you cope with the situation in an efficient way?

4.    A student has become notorious for easily getting into conflict with everyone for no obvious reason. The student is always ready to pick a fight and even use violence. The others often scared and try to avoid contact. A few behave as if they like this demonstration of power and want be best friends with the aggressive student. How would you work with this problem?

When you think about each case, try to discuss it in perspective and find long-term effectiveness. Make sure your steps are directed not only to the person who creates the problem or demonstrates it, but also to the school community.
Enjoy your team work!
CASES