What have I been doing?

Well, I must say I'm eventually back.

What have I been donig? Having a kid :-)

I have been teaching and thinking and experimenting a lot as well, but I had definitely less time for writing!

Still, I spoke a lot these last couple of weeks. I kissed the Blarney Stone a bunch of years ago: did I get the Gift of the Gab after all?
...well, I'd have to say I've always been a good chatter!

So welcome back to me :-)

eTwinning: the educational fandom?

A couple of weeks ago I had the happiest reunion ever with friends from the US.
We sat in a bright spot of Piazza del Campo, had tea and cakes at a lovely Café, and basically kept chatting all together all the time.

There was a lot to catch up with - say, the last five years of our offline lives. We happen to be teachers, all of us. So after a quick overview on husbands/kids&pets, the conversation immediately turned to ‘The Topic’: school. We had a good time laughing at the tricks of our students (or admiring them), comparing our school lives – not so different after all, and trying to conjure up projects and ideas to work together despite the distance.
Yes, definetely having a good time.
That is, until Tina asked me "So, what’s this eTwinning you’ve fallen head over heels for?"
Pang of disillusion - I could remember talking about this before hundreds of times. But obviously being not that convincing. However. Enthusiastic and proud, as a good Ambassador is supposed to be, I proceeded to describe eTwinning, its opportunities, its world, its projects, its potential. I paid attention not to be boring, so I tried to sum it up in less than 15 minutes. And put all of my energies smiles and jokes in it, as usual.
When I got to the end there was a pause.The girls looked at each other, then Tina said “I see. Sort of an educational fandom.”

Had we been in an online conversation, I would have probably taken it as an offence – or at least a verrrry negative remark. But we were sitting face to face, drinking tea and laughing and eating ricciarelli… and it was clearly impossible something less than nice was meant. [Note for Italian readers: I know, ricciarelli don’t go with tea and don’t go with this time of the year. Still, foreigners love them all year round, and I do as well.]

So, while hordes of Little Monsters, Directioners and Selenators came to my mind, I kept my cool and smiled the subject away, taking a mental note of googling “fandom” as soon as I got home.
The day turned out to be one of those you want to keep among your best memories. One of those you keep referring to in emails, in your facebook status, in your tweets, for years – that is to say, till the next face to face reunion.

But I couldn’t forget the fandom thing… 
That same night I sat in front of my pc reading about fandoms in Wikipedia. And here it is (I quote the beginning of the article, but if you’ve got time, read it to the end, some aspects are truly interesting in an educational perspective):

Fandom (consisting of fan [fanatic] plus the suffix -dom, as in kingdom, freedom, etc.) is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the object(s) of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices (a fandom); this is what differentiates "fannish" (fandom-affiliated) fans from those with only a casual interest. A fandom can grow up centered around any area of human interest or activity. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or more widely defined, encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions.

Ok. Less intimidating than I thought. And now I know I’m in a lot of fandoms myself, even if I seldom used this word before. I’m actually a pretty active Whovian and Ringer, a Trekkie and even if I am maybe too old to be one, I think I could make a decent Potterhead.

But what has this to do with school? and with eTwinning in particular?

Well, to be honest I must say I saw the connection almost immediately
.
However, I quickly moved to the next step. That same night I launched an online survey involving most of the ex-students I have among my fb contacts (I don’t want any current students among them, but that’s only my personal policy, plus my students are 11-14, so formally too young for fb). I told them I was working on a research and asked them to name their fandoms: no explanation given, no other info.
I expected few replies and lots of “dunno”. But that was not what I got.
Out of around 120 students, an average 80% answered, and all of them could name at least a couple of fandoms they are involved with, mainly dealing with sci-fi or fantasy sagas (i.e. reading !!!!), tv series, and bands or singers.
Not too difficult to see the educational potential of these fan worlds. It looks like our students spend a lot of time reading, watching, writing about (even dressing up as) characters and stories they feel they can relate to. They discuss the story, they imagine alternative endings, they interact and learn from each other, no teacher involved.
I am sure we, as teachers, could and should work with all of this potential. Which doesn’t mean entering their worlds, but we make the effort to get to know them at least, and try to take advantage of this huge self practice and this huge involvement.

And as for eTwinning? is it an educational fandom, after all? I suppose the answer is yes, it is.

It’s a part of our professional life, true, and we enter it as professionals. But how and why do we go on? Why are we still eTwinners after five, six years or more? Why are we still part of this world?
I used to say: because it works. Projects work with students: they learn. Which is great. But it’s not all here. After years, we apparently don’t get bored of the same tool. So why are we still in eTwinning? isn’t it because of the people as well? isn’t it because of the social network? because of the conferences, seminars, events that allow us to meet each other? (could we call them fandom conventions?) isn’t it because of the games we make up, the groups we created on other socials, the “educational family” we’ve been building together?
Just like our students, we work for free, out of passion and curiousity: they read their stories, they write their essays on, say, Katniss Everdeen, without any assignments, we read and write our eTwinning articles on thenewTwinSpace/ thebugsofthenewTwinSpace/ theTeachersRoomspotential/ theeTwinningAwards and we post in TRs, blogs and forums without being paid for and without being forced to do so. Because we like it.
Both categories – the students and the teachers – act as learners in this process. We learn by discussing something we like with someone we like. That’s all.

And while we are not exactly fangirling or shipping eTwinning couples, it’s true that eTwinners also have their own slang. Plus, I must admit I share with Monika Kiss some nice memories of eTwinning cosplay and even some fan fiction writing...

So, thank you Tina and girls. After much thinking about it, I like this idea of the educational fandom, with its pros and cons of course. I’ll be thinking about it some more. And I’ll be working on this, for sure. Definitely, there’s a lot more to come, lots of worlds to explore. Friends and colleagues of the eTwinning fandom, keep on board.

[and yes... it's actually bigger on the inside :)]

Partners across Europe: emagazine n.6 "eTwinning e la realtà"

I built myself a house of glass:
It took my years to make it:
And I was proud. But now, alas!
Would God someone would break it.
...
Edward Thomas

Sometimes I wonder how many teachers, especially at secondary level, still live in their personal “house of glass”, still feeling proud of it.

Maybe in the past you could call them “good teachers”: after all, they do care about their students, they spend much of their out-of-school time to prepare tests, correct them, make up new exercises, they make polite conversation with their colleagues and… they are desperately isolated.

But in a time of global crisis, with more and more unemployed families, with growing social tensions all around Europe, with schools lacking money for ICT equipment/ substitute teachers/ books/ paper / younameit, with misinformation often running through the web, at easy reach of our students… isolated teachers cannot be “good” enough anymore. They have to collaborate and share. They have to teach themselves how to become good partners.

I think eTwinning is the ideal starting point for this. Projects, Teachers’ Rooms, Learning Events, Workshops and seminars are the European meeting point for individuals who are willing to share in their profession and in their life, and become members of a community.

I thank all of those teachers who lured me in eTwinning - and in Europe - and let me try to be a good partner for them as they were for me. I’m proud of giving up my house for a condo!

I thank all of the eTwinners who contributed to this ebook, thus giving evidence of what being “partners across Europe” really means.

And I thank Mrs Fiora Imberciadori, who was the first to make me understand - and care about - what being an European citizen and teacher could mean to me.

eTwinning e la realtà n.6

Publish at Calameo or read more publications.

Zen and the Art of Teachers' Rooms Manteinance

Hi everybody, I'm sharing this time a great resource we created together during the eTwinning Learning Event "eTwinners go social: creating and managing a successful Teachers' Room".

I ran the Learning Event in December 2012, together with a great team of co-managers: Antonella Ciriello, Elena Pezzi, Maria Rosaria Fasanelli, PAola Arduini and Monika Kiss.

It was a wonderful thrilling experience, not only for what we taught and learned concerning Teachers' Rooms and our place in the eTwinning geography, but also because, once more, we experienced the power of teams.
And then, it was a special experience because of the people we had the opportunity to meet.

Believe me, whatever you are doing, if you do it together it will come out a lot better - often in an unespected direction.

This time, together with the participants, we decided to share our reflections and opinions with a wider public of eTwinners - and not only. We believed our ideas, tips and suggestions should go further than the closed space of the Learning Lab.

That's why, at the end of our journey, we created this Teachers' Rooms Handbook.

Have fun everybody, keep on travelling the eTwinning world, keep on sharing, meeting, imagining, chatting, teaching and learning...

A big THANK YOU to all of the contributors, enjoy your handbook

Laura

Zen and the Art of Teachers' Rooms Manteinance

Publish at Calameo or read more publications.

Lesson plan - Copyrights: whose rights?

I'm sharing here a lesson-plan on copyrights I've created with friend & eTwinner Paola Arduini during the eTwinning Ambassador course 2012.
Since at school I'm at the moment addressing this kind of topics, and in the web-age we're all involved in sharing vs protecting ownership, I think it can be useful to others as well.
Title of the lesson: Copyrights: whose rights?

Age range of pupils targeted by this lesson plan: students 10-12 years old (last year of Primary School, first year of Secondary School)

Description:- First steps in the world of Copyrights.

The students at this age are usually already familiar with the web. They can work on their own assignments/homework, both alone or in a team, using ICT tools. Anyway, they don’t know anything about copyrights: for them, what’s online has no owner. When they need an image, or music piece, or video, they just google it, copy and paste. And then forget it. At the same time younger students may not know how to find images, music and videos and just copy what their older friends do.

This lesson, that can also suit the beginning of any eTwinning or international project (the “introductions” part) can trigger a discussion and reflection on the use of web materials and the importance of copyrights.

Activities:
At the beginning of any international project, the partners usually introduce themselves. That’s when we ask our students to create a video, or a ppt, about our school and area, in order to share it on the TwinSpace.

We can start from here, following these steps:

1. divide the class into four groups (approximately, 6 students each)

2. the first three groups are asked to prepare a presentation, in video or ppt, respectively of their country, town, and school

3. the fourth group will be the judges: they will evaluate their classmates’ work; for this reason, they are asked to agree on a set of parameters in order to assess their classmates (they will probably agree on: text, visuals, music, presentation… or sth of this kind)

4. the groups work on their assignments (at school or at home, it depends on how much time you want to devote to this part)

5. the presentations are showed and the judges give a mark from 0 to 5 in all of the chosen parameters to the presentations

6. the best presentation is proclaimed

7. the teacher gives to the first three teams a paper to fill in, asking the groups
- where did you find the images?
- did you take the pictures yourself?
- if not, do you know who did?
- how did you choose the music?
- who is the artist?
- etc.

8. the answers are read and a debate on copyrights, guided by the teacher, follows. Is the best presentation as good in respecting copyrights? What about the others? (most likely, they won’t as well).

9. At the end of the debate, the teacher asks the students “now, do you think we can publish those presentations online (in the public TwinSpace/blog, etc)? What can we change?”

10. Let the students make the changes – hopefully, they’ll think about choosing materials more carefully next time

11. After the changes the members of the jury vote the presentations again: are the updated presentations guilty or innocent of stealing copyrights? :)

Materials needed:
Computer lab, electronic board of projector, a reliable internet connection

Verification:
You can check if the students have understood by looking at the changes they make to their presentations. Also consider the jury’s vote: by the end of the lesson, they should be able to double-check their classmates’ work.

Time allocation:
You’ll need about 4 lessons, 1 hour each.

Results:
Students won’t forget for sure (unless they choose to forget, which may happen). Next time you give them any ICT-related homework, they’ll probably choose to produce their own materials (paintings, drawings, pics etc) instead of just downloading them.

Final notes:
It can be interesting to compare different behaviour in primary and in secondary school: mainly children at primary level like to draw and use their own drawings. A follow up can be organized with older pupils who help younger ones in editing their original material (drawings, photos, music played by themselves) and creating a folder where useful material can be shared and used.


...now, just try it and let us know, there's aways room for improvement!

Teaching Teams: the safe net

As many of you may know, I'm one of those teachers who are actually happy to be one, despite the crisis, all of the red tape, the stressful routine, the neverending meetings, you name it. Now, I think that's because I've found in my career a safe net that provides me from falling at times, and that keeps me motivated and supported at all times: that's teaching teams.

I’ve been teaching for 15 years now, first in private schools in Italy and abroad, teaching Italian as a foreign language, then in the Italian public schools, as a secondary teacher of Literature, History and Geography.
And all the way, I’ve been fond of team working (both among teachers and students), of international cooperation, and of edu-tech.

Every single year of my career has been marked by a different kind of collaboration with my colleagues, my pupils, and my international partners. And year after year, the net – the virtual dimension of “being together” – has gained a central role in my teaching. That is to say, I’m more and more involved into teaching and learning together with people (teachers, students, experts) that are actually not in my classroom.

But let’s see the steps of my team-building process in the public school:

1. First - edUtopia: at the beginning of my career in the public school, teaching in a Lower Secondary school, back in 2000, I taught in a course with extended time. This means the students had 36 hours/week: 5 in the morning (mon-sat) + 6 in the afternoon (two afternoons of 3 hours each). It was a paradise, as teamworking was officially recognized: in fact, in the afternoons there were hours of teamteaching – Mother Tongue + Foreign Languages and Mother Tongue + Maths/Science. Our Ministry of Education understood how important it is for teachers to work together in order to have the pupils learn (understanding the connections between different subjects) and, but I’m not sure the Ministry was actually aware of this, the teachers actually learnt a lot from each other by being together in the same class. Teaching Teams were a great professional development tool at zero cost (think in terms of teaching styles, assessment, etc.). We made our first steps in the world of European projects together. We worked with our first partners and started sharing online. Do I need to say that our best projects were born here? out of collaboration among colleagues off- and on line?

2. Next – why paying two for one? The edUtopia period lasted some five/six years, enough for me to learn a lot and to miss them badly now. Then of course, as everywhere in the world for what I know, governments decided to cut on “unessential expenses” – read: education and services. Paying for two teachers at the same time was considered to be crazy, so if we wanted to go on in our collaboration, we had to do this in our spare time. Or we could do it – we were lucky at the beginning – with the support of Local Authorities that paid for extra hours of co-teaching. It was no more official, still we had some hours to actually share in the classroom. By now, we had partners throughout Europe and having them with us, during our lesson, quickly became something normal. So, in order to learn from other professionals, we could not only turn to each other, but also to our net-colleagues. We run lots of successful projects (and as you know, by “successful” I mean those projects where students learn & enjoy, not only those actually awarded) and we learnt a lot ourselves.

3. Today – praise the “safe net”. In a time of crisis, and of spending review, do you think there’s any room for two (or more) teachers being together in the same classroom? Do you think we can invest on education? So, just forget teaching teams, unless you want to do everything in your free time (which we often do, because we care!). But here’s the good news: after years of sowing, we can now harvest. And our crops are our partners, a net of colleagues scattered here and there in the world, who share, and discuss, and learn, and teach with us, every day, through the web. This net of teachers, met through eTwinning, Comenius and other international projects, is today our safe net. I think it is correct to say that LLP is today for any European teachers the best provider of professional development opportunities: formal ones – Comenius in-service training, eTwinning PDWs and LEs … - and informal ones, mainly through eTwinning. And then, there’s the web, and fellow teachers and edubloggers all around the world. So, teaching teams are today wider and wider nets, that can turn into safe nets at times.

At least, that’s what happens to me every day. In this blog first of all, and then in eTwinning (in Groups, in the "eTwinning e la realtà" teachers' room, etc.).

So I thank my colleagues, those I meet every day in my school, I thank my colleagues and partners troughout Europe, I thank my friends blogger, met online, here and there, in the strangest ways, and I thank all of the students I’ve met in my life. I thank you for what I keep learning (and teaching) every day with your help.
Luckily, we are each other's best resource in a time of crisis.

Learning is a social process, and I’m happy to “go social” with you.

Global Junior Challenge 2012 - Projects to share the future

The Global Junior Challenge is the international competition that rewards the innovative use of technology for the education of 21st century and the social inclusion.
Promoted by the Municipality of Rome, the GJC is hosted every two years by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale under the High Patronage of the Italian Presidency and the sponsorship of the Italian Foreign Affairs Minister.

The 2012 GJC encouraged the reflection on educational technology and its impact on social equity.

Among the challenges of the 21st century education there's in fact the link between educational and social innovation. Can ICT help us building a better future for us and our students? That's the main question.

I had the opportunity to take part in the competition both as a member of the jury in the "up to 10" category and as a contestant with my classes in "up to 15".

It was interesting for me to see the projects from within. I think I learned a lot about Primary School - not only in Italy, but in the whole world - by examining the projects I had to evaluate. There was much to learn for me, and I felt it was a privilege to explore and understand so many different pathways.

And it was a pleasure and a pride for me to be among the finalists with my students, with three projects - Comenius-eTwinning "Bridges of Water", eTwinning "BE TWIN - twinning up the everyday lesson" and "BIANCO ROSSO E VERDE".

We could travel to Rome and meet other schools, students, teachers and experts from all around the world. And coming from Casole d'Elsa - 4000 inhabitants - even just walking through the capital was an adventure for my pupils. Our journey in the underground was a sort of "Indiana Jones" mission, with much laughing, ooohing and ... trembling! But the whole experience was great, from our arrival during the plenary session, to the preparation of our area, to the "social integration" workshop for the pupils (great animator of the workshop, the pupils loved her!), to the interviews with TV and the photoshots. We felt like movie stars!

And the day went on with a walk through Rome, and a very special stop at the "Museo del Risorgimento", just to remember where we come from, and why we are here today.

In short, a fantastic experience, always with our Twins in mind: Hungary, Turkey, Slovakia, Spain... you were there in our thoughts!

Just a final personal note: in such a difficult period, with this huge crisis and more and more families facing unemployment, can new technologies really be considered a tool for social equity and integration? or are we going to see the rise of a new clique, that of the I-can-spend-on-ICT, versus a majority of ICT beggars?

Dissemination, Maths and Science... and lots of languages!

Here's the latest issue of the "eTwinning e la realtà" emagazine.

Once again, it's a multilingual emagazine: this time in English, French, Italian, German and Hungarian.

We decided to keep the multilingual structure, instead of sticking to the traditional "English only" feature, to underline the European dimension of our team, and our work. We didn't want to lose the feeling of our different identities and different competences.

Our differences are what makes our team so special, and so useful. To me, it has been sometimes a safe net in case of need.

So thank you everybody, thank you eTwinning, thank you enthusiastic European teachers.
Enjoy our emagazine!

LOVE TEACHING… AND LET THEM LOVE LEARNING

 I always wanted to be a teacher. When I was a little girl, I used to “play school” with my dolls, and after... here’s my first memory as a „teacher”: I visited my grandmother, and I asked her to let me meet the other children in the street where she lived. I am not sure if after the experience all those children were as enthusiastic as me, because about half an hour later, they found themselves sitting down around me, their new tiny teacher. What a summer holiday they had with me! J

And now I believe, as a primary school teacher, that the first experience of school is really important for children. It could depend on that, if our pupils come to school happily or not. As a primary school teacher, you can have your pupils love or hate school for life.

Luckily, my first teacher was a special one. The first day at school, I was nervously standing in front of the building, then somebody read my name, and I went to meet my future teacher. I remember her reassuring smile, and I remember I liked her from that first moment. We were her first class, she was enthusiastic. We learned, played, and when we were too tired (just imagine, since there were too many children at school, every second week we had our lessons in the afternoon, and we finished very late..) she read fairy tales for us. I liked school, and I wanted to be a teacher because of her.

After this first experience, I met a lot of other teachers. And now sometimes in the classroom, when I tell something to my pupils, I remember and just realize: it’s the same sentence I heard from one of my own teachers one day...

Do you have this experience? In those moments I realize how important it is what we tell our students... probably at the moment they are just words, but children won’t forget, they memorize our smiles, our great and not so great moments in the classroom, and the feeling we have together at school.

This new school year is a special one for me. This is the fourth and last school year together with my first class. I remember how excited I was when I met them for the first time. I had doubts and questions in my mind: Will I be able to help them in their learning? Will they learn to count and read? And... will they like school? Or hate it, because of me?

No matter how experienced you are, you’ll always ask yourself these questions with a new class. They may seem silly questions, at least some of them... but you can’t help it: and after all, they show that you care.

Through the years, I’ve developed some simple rules that can help you grow in your students from the very first moment the love and pleasure of learning (and some no-nos as well!):

1.                           be yourself - in the long run, you can’t act a role every single day at school. So, don’t try to be the “model teacher” you have in your mind, but just be the teacher who you are

2.                           be consistent - the worst teacher is the unpredictable teacher. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Respect deadlines if you want your students to respect them. Pay attention to them if you want them to pay attention to you

3.                           don’t be bossy - that’s how it goes: you’re bossy – they are scared of you – they hate you – they hate school (and will, forever, unless another teacher manages to change things!). Bossy teachers are a shame for school and for themselves. Who can really believe we can teach through fear?

4.                           reassure & reward your pupils – tell them they will improve when they fail, and tell them how good they are when they succeed. Be proud of their little successes and they will be proud of themselves

5.                           love the subjects you teach, and love teaching – in time, they’ll hopefully grow to love learning.

At the end of this post I would like to share with you one of my first memories with my class.

We were at the beginning of the school year, and our first eTwinning project.

Our task was to prepare a poster about peace. I asked my colleague to draw a big dove to represent our team (I am not good at drawing, and probably my dove could be similar to Nessie J). After, I planned to go on creating a mosaic with children. My colleague helped me. She arrived with a very big dove.

But the dove wasn’t too convincing I guess, since as soon as she left, my pupils started asking: what is this?

„It’s a dove” I answered.

„Well, it could be an eagle” one kid said.

„Yes, maybe it’s a bit big, you are right, but it’s a dove.” I said.

„Or it could be a big duck.” Another kid replied.

They all went on guessing, when a little boy looked at the drawing, pointed to me and told the others:

„If she says it’s a dove, then it is a dove!”

No more questions.

I laughed a lot, but I was so happy, because I felt they trusted me. My pupils’ confidence is a treasure for me.

And who knows? Maybe some of them dream to be a teacher…

I wish you all a great school year, great moments together with your pupils (and with us!) 

Mónika  

eTwinning e la realtà - Europe Calling

Summer - as we said in another post, for a teacher it's time for friends, relax, holidays, and edu tech !

True, we couldn't stop exploring the web & meeting online, and given more time, lots of us eTwinners spent the hot afternoons trying out new tools, planning future projects and devising new ways to spread our ideas and experiences throughout Europe.

And, as for us...

The 'eTwinning e la realtà' teachers' room went on being our meeting point, and that's where Antonella first got the crazy idea of a multilingual issue of our e-magazine. "We can translate our articles... we can ask our partners for help... we will help each other... we will make it!"
We were a bit anxious at first, but she was right - we could definitely rely on the eTwinners' skills in collaboration.

So, a group of enthusiastic/crazy teachers spent some of their summer translating the articles, laughing when they got mixed up or when they needed some funny periphrasis because "I can't find the word", asking each other for help, and chatting a lot. We were thrilled: we could get in contact with teachers from different countries, going beyond the national dimension.

Here's the outcome of our summer collaboration: a special multilingual issue of the "eTwinning e la realtà" emagazine, with articles in English, Hungarian, French & Italian.
That's our eTwinning gift to celebrate the new school year.

We hope other eTwinners, throughout Europe, will read our stories and find them useful and inspiring.
And we hope we'll go on collaborating, and widening our circle.

I thank all of the teachers who created the ebook.

Welcome back to school everybody... enjoy our new emagazine!

EU citizens - Your rights, your future: consultation on the 2013 EU Citizenship Report

It is difficult to talk about the EU today without feeling sad, or at least concerned. To be honest, the EU we live in today is quite different from the one we dreamt of 20 years ago. I remember the excitement and the hopes after the Maastricht Treaty. Now, I know many EU citizens will say the Treaty (which led to the introduction of the Euro) was the beginning of the end.

It looks like we've lots of things to discuss, and much less to celebrate in the EU nowadays, but in 2013 we'll celebrate the 20th birtday of the EU as we know it today (- entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty - November 1993). And despite the problems, the crisis, the inequalities, I think we should celebrate: being together is to me a step forward in the growth of Europe. I still hope we'll manage to overcome these issues and develop a sense of belonging, not only to our countries, but to Europe as a whole. A sense of belonging that will guarantee peace, freedom, a shared attitude towards ethical issues (a widely recognized set of laws!) and why not, economical growth.

That's why I believe it's our duty, as European citizens, to take part in the public consultations promoted by the EU: when our opinion is asked, we have to answer. We have to give our opinion, which is our little contribution to the building of the EU we dream of. Because we still dream of a better Europe, don't we?

The European Commission launched in May 2012 the Consultation on the 2013 EU Citizenship Report "EU citizens - Your rights, your future". The deadline is 9 september 2012, so you must hurry up !!! :)

In their words "We want to know about any obstacles you might be facing in your daily life as a European Citizen living, studying, working, shopping or simply travelling within the EU. We would also like to hear your ideas about how to remove these obstacles and further develop EU citizenship."

I'm sorry this consultation was not as widely known as it could have: unfortunately, many of the European Commission initiatives are publicized only on official or specific websites. That's why we should regularly visit the official website of the European Union http://europa.eu/ .
And by the way, if you have a blog, or take part in forums, socials etc., please let the others know about the consultation: the more the citizens who give their opinion, the closer to our dreams the new EU will be.

We can change things. We still can have a better EU, not only for our students, but for ourselves as well. Let's try, together.

New projects: work in progress

Good Twins try to meet not only online, but also off line! That's why we decided to forget skype and the eTwinning chat for a while, and meet face to face in front of a nice traditional Italian meal (if you're interested: lasagne, carbonara & pici: look for them in your dictionary!).

Here are some pics of the happy Twins!

Note: it looks like we're just having fun, but in fact we're creating new amazing fantastic projects. Wait and see...

Laura

Mint Igazi Ikrek, nemcsak online, hanem off line is! Ezèrt kis idore megfeledkeztunk a skype ès az eTwinning chat hasznàlatàròl, inkàbb a szemèlyes talàlkozòt vàlasztottuk, ès mellè egy finom, hagyomànyos olasz ètelsort: lasagne, carbonara & pici: a szòtàrban megtalàljàtok mindkettot, ha szeretnètek! ).

és  jojjon nèhàny fotò a boldog Ikrekrol!

Figyelem: ugy tunhet, mi csak szòrakozunk, de valòjàban èppen csodàlatos, fantasztikus jovobeli projekteken dolgozunk.

Vàrjatok, ès meglàtjàtok...

Mònika :)

Una bellissima giornata da ricordare, un piacevole momento per rievocare progetti degli anni passati e per programmarne di nuovi ! Il tutto nella splendida cornice di Siena, in compagnia di due colleghe straordinarie.

Quale migliore incentivo per cominciare bene l'anno scolastico?

Fabio

I like it social

I often say I'm a very social person. Which means I truly enjoy the company of other people - and I'm not thinking of such a rare thing as friendship now - I just like talking, listening, having fun, laughing together. You don't need to be friends to have a good and fruitful time with someone.

My mother says she can remember me as a child chatting up people from my pushchair. And no surprise, I grew up as a friendly extrovert, always looking for like-minded people (and also for opposites - after all they're supposed to attract each other, aren't they?).

But as for technology, that's another story. As a young girl, I found it "unpoetic" and just kept away. At university I wrote my dissertation with a pc, but only because I had to. I was trapped in something between a posh pose and a religion: ice-cold technology didn't look artistic enough for a student of  literature and poetry, and what's more, all of the teachers made sure to tell us technology would be the end of human creativity.

But I was curious, and once out of school & University (i.e., thinking with my own head only) I cautiously began my make-friend-process with the web. Eventually, I couldn't resist the social aspect of Web 2.0.

I started by chance, with the easyest place to exchange ideas: a forum. One day I googled the name of my favourite singer and there it was, a fantastic fan-forum with plenty of info, pics, lyrics, people and discussions. I was vowed and joined in. I quickly learned about profile pic, nickname, avatar, customize your page and stuff like that. I liked it. I liked reading and posting. Unfortunately, I also quickly learned that lots of people = frequent flames. Now, there's enough of squabbles we can't avoid in everyday life, but we surely can avoid those online. So when the place got too noisy for me, I did what I would in any noisy room: I left.

Anyway, that was a great start. I made true friends there (those who go from online to offline!), had a very good time, and learned a lot about interacting online. I was then - and still am - convinced there's no need of any special "netiquette": common sense and good manners are enough. You're dealing with real people, despite their nicknames and funny avatars, so just act as you would in real life. I know, it's not that simple. Some people are addicted to the "no name / no face" status, and they feel free to do their worst. Still, I wonder how it's possible to fight when talking of a common passion.

Since then, I've been here and there in different forums about my different passions. I definitely think a forum is the perfect place to exchange ideas. I like it better than the chat - too fast and too ephemeral for me :)
What I like in forums is that they are like rooms with a door constantly open - which means that you can come and go as you like, that you'll hopefully find "old friends" and also new faces (= new ideas), that you'll be free to leave for good if you feel so (but please, do it without drama!).

Now, can you see what a great resource a forum can be in education?
It took a while for me to realize it, but once I did, I got involved in all kind of communities about school / education / edu tech / professional development... you name it. Most educational websites provide a forum for professionals of the sector, and it can be very useful when you're dealing with specific needs.
Of course, if you're planning to create your own forum, there are lots of free forum hosts that can be useful. Just google it, and you'll find plenty. Anyway, remember it can be hard work, both for the setting up and the moderating. What's more, lots of free forum hosts keep your data from you, so if you grow and want to move, you'll have to start anew.
So, for working with students, I suggest either creating a simple blog (blogger and wordpress are excellent) or exploiting the eTwinning platform, setting a project and using the pupils' corner (nice forum & chat tools there).
True, blog and forum are two completely different philosophies: but you'll have to try for yourself and find out!

Going on with my story, from the forum experience I quickly went on to myspace and then to Facebook and Twitter. I found Twitter to be a great tool to keep you up to date about the subjects you're interested in (just be careful with whom you're following!), so I keep it for professional use only.

As for Facebook, I know it can be controversial, but I like it a lot. I'm struggling to keep it for friends only (I've been living and studing here and there in Europe a lot, and fb is a great place to keep in contact with distant friends) but of course it's difficult. What are you supposed to do with your colleagues asking you for friendship in fb? say "no thanks"? So it's a mix of the two, personal and professional. And it works.

Note: for students, I follow my personal rule "no fb friendship while you're in one of my classes". It saves me lots of trouble. Anyway, I know of colleagues who created a specific fb profile as a teacher, set fb pages for their classes and find them quite motivating for students. I would still prefer dedicated spaces, safe for children as well (i.e., eTwinning again!) but it's up to you.

Don't underestimate the power of Facebook as a professional development space, though: some of the specific pages can be very interesting.

Anyway, when particularly dealing with my profession, I use LinkedIn and I find it the perfect place to look for and exchange information. If you've never tried the LinkedIn groups, I think you should: lots of committed people, lots of ideas, lots of opportunities in the fields you like.

I'm at the moment exploring Google+ (I love Google!) but that's work in progress for me!

And if you're really brave (or a bit crazy, just like me), you may want to have a look at the new growing socials, like LetsLunch, the social dining, where you set up a profile explaining what you do, what fields and people you're interested in and when you are free to get together... and you eventually arrange a meal I suppose! Or you can try Pinterest , a virtual pinboard where you can organize and share images, videos and other web materials, or travel with CouchSurfing or... well, you should just explore the web on your own, you'll have much fun. What's for sure, is that lots of websites are widening today their "social" aspect. Getting together online is something we appearently like a lot.

Bottom line: believe it or not, I still have time for going out with friends & family and enjoying quality face2face time with those I love !!!