Second seminar, Opole
The seminar started with a warm welcome from the headmaster and the team of advisors of RZPWE to partners from Spain, Lithuania and France.
The headmaster of RZPWE Mr. Lesław Tomczak gave a speech about the institution, its role in Opole region. He also said about the importance of international projects as a source of new knowledge and a very good way for improvement, for new ideas.
Following the agenda, the team of advisors at RZPWE together with the rest of the project team members visited RZPWE offices, classrooms where workshops are lead.
Then started the team work on the document "Advisors profile”. This workshop was lead by using the world cafe method. Each information was written on the flipcharts. Finally each person had the opportunity to look at each answer, read it and even ask a question. All material is being used to create the comparative document in Google Drive.After lunch the lecture "Students Behaviour Management” was presented by Ms Małgorzata Ruzik, the hedmaster of Primary School in Dytmarów. She together with other teachers from school told us about innovations led in the school. One of the most important is using the tool Class Dojo like a source of good students behaviour. She told us how it works in particular class, how to create an account.
We saw that it is also a very good way to communicate with parents who can look at the photos took by teachers or students during lessons. The headmaster told u salso that almost each parent has an account and uses this tool to observe what happened at school and how his/her kid behave during lessons. It turned out that the tool Class Dojo was not known neither by French team nor by Lithuanian. Ms. Ruzik answered questions about innovative activities, participation of teachers in training and introducing new activities to the school.
We saw that it is also a very good way to communicate with parents who can look at the photos took by teachers or students during lessons. The headmaster told u salso that almost each parent has an account and uses this tool to observe what happened at school and how his/her kid behave during lessons. It turned out that the tool Class Dojo was not known neither by French team nor by Lithuanian. Ms. Ruzik answered questions about innovative activities, participation of teachers in training and introducing new activities to the school.
After such intense working day we enjoyed a guided tour around Opole.
This day we spent outside Opole. The first point was Primary School in Dytmarów where Ms Małgorzata Ruzik was a headmaster. We observed two lessons. The first one called "Spring in Music" was lead by her. She discussed with students (3rd class) what spring meant for them, what vocabulary was typical for spring time. The students listened to three pieces of music and the task for them was to recognise which was related to spring. Then the students listened to "Four seasons" by Vivaldi and tried to draw what they had hear. They drew sun, flowers, trees, rain and even rainbow. Then the students danced according to the choreography prepared by the teacher using props related to spring like paper butterflies, the symbol of sun, paper flowers, green ribbon. The last point of this lesson was the evaluation sheet in which students pointed which activity they liked theest-music, drawing, dancing.
During break we met with the leader of parents, the leader of association that lead the school and with mayor of this region.
The second lesson that we observed was about coding and programming. Students used Photons the robots to program the movements and to solve the tasks hidden in the envelopes. The tasks where dedicated to order of activities in mathematics. Students were divided into four groups and each group had different tasks but related to the topic. We had the opportunity to observe the group work and we also saw how Class Dojo mentioned by the headmaster on Monday’s lecture functioned.
After lessons we could look at the classrooms and at the interactive carpet in one of the corridors.
From Dytmarów we went to Moszna Castle, the most beautiful castle in Poland similar to Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. Around the castle azaleas grow and in May they bloom and smell beautifully to delight all visitors. We visited the castle with the guide who told us about the history and future of this place.
After visiting the castle we went for lunch in one of the most famous restaurant near Moszna castle.
At 4:20 p.m. we visited Piast Tower in Opole, the oldest and the only part of Piast Castle. It is the symbol of Opole and at the same time from the top we can see the view of the city. Opole is the oldest city of Poland so we going up the stairs (about 300) heard about the history of Opole and at the same time about the beginning of Poland.
The last point of Tuesday was the workshop about Opole region pottery. We received the mug and our task was to paint it. It was a really relaxing activity after very busy day.
During break we met with the leader of parents, the leader of association that lead the school and with mayor of this region.
The second lesson that we observed was about coding and programming. Students used Photons the robots to program the movements and to solve the tasks hidden in the envelopes. The tasks where dedicated to order of activities in mathematics. Students were divided into four groups and each group had different tasks but related to the topic. We had the opportunity to observe the group work and we also saw how Class Dojo mentioned by the headmaster on Monday’s lecture functioned.
After lessons we could look at the classrooms and at the interactive carpet in one of the corridors.
From Dytmarów we went to Moszna Castle, the most beautiful castle in Poland similar to Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. Around the castle azaleas grow and in May they bloom and smell beautifully to delight all visitors. We visited the castle with the guide who told us about the history and future of this place.
After visiting the castle we went for lunch in one of the most famous restaurant near Moszna castle.
At 4:20 p.m. we visited Piast Tower in Opole, the oldest and the only part of Piast Castle. It is the symbol of Opole and at the same time from the top we can see the view of the city. Opole is the oldest city of Poland so we going up the stairs (about 300) heard about the history of Opole and at the same time about the beginning of Poland.
The last point of Tuesday was the workshop about Opole region pottery. We received the mug and our task was to paint it. It was a really relaxing activity after very busy day.
The participants of the seminar were welcomed to the Marshal Office, the leading body of Regionalny Zespół Placówek Wsparcia Edukacji to meet with the Marshal of Opole Voivodeship and the Headmaster of Education and Labour Market. They appraised the project and the partnership and pointed out that the regional policy and priority areas are cooperation of teacher Training Centers with foreign partners. They also highlighted that our teacher training center is the leader in projects realisation. Thanks to tchem the teachers and the students have the possibility to improve their knowledge and skills.
After this meeting we went to the Primary School number 8 in Opole where we observed one lesson about coding and computing thinking. The topic of the lesson was "Spring in the garden" and students using coding chart and plastic cups built the graphical patterens of the flowers like tulips, daffodils and snowdrops. Then on the board they coding the path from the photo of the flower to the name of it using arrows. The last task was revision of vocabulary practised during the lesson in the form of wordsearch using the interactive board. The lesson was very well organised each student had the possibility to do something to learn new words. The students were very involved in solving their tasks. After the lesson we had the opportunity to observe the school TV team with Ms Hanna Bartnikowska the originator of school TV, how they prepare their news, what tools they use and how interesting it is for them to be a part of this team. Then the teacher of English told us about the school, its projects ( e.g. eTwinning) and we received the last number of paper school magazine written by students.
After the visit we went for lunch to the most popular pancake restaurant in Opole called "Grabówka". During the lunch the owner of the restaurant told us about this fascinating place.
Then we had workshops with Edyta Bieniek, the Ambassador of eTwinning in our region about ICT tools used in eTwinning projects. She told us about her projects and the tools she used to realise a very good ones. She mentioned about "Mentimeter", "My simple show", "Slide Talk", "Festisite" and "Funny Pho.to". As the workshops took place in the computer classroom we had the possibility to look at the tool and try to prepare some examples using Edyta’s explanations. The last point of Wednesday was the official dinner with our headmaster Mr. Lesław Tomczak in Szara Willa restaurant.
After this meeting we went to the Primary School number 8 in Opole where we observed one lesson about coding and computing thinking. The topic of the lesson was "Spring in the garden" and students using coding chart and plastic cups built the graphical patterens of the flowers like tulips, daffodils and snowdrops. Then on the board they coding the path from the photo of the flower to the name of it using arrows. The last task was revision of vocabulary practised during the lesson in the form of wordsearch using the interactive board. The lesson was very well organised each student had the possibility to do something to learn new words. The students were very involved in solving their tasks. After the lesson we had the opportunity to observe the school TV team with Ms Hanna Bartnikowska the originator of school TV, how they prepare their news, what tools they use and how interesting it is for them to be a part of this team. Then the teacher of English told us about the school, its projects ( e.g. eTwinning) and we received the last number of paper school magazine written by students.
After the visit we went for lunch to the most popular pancake restaurant in Opole called "Grabówka". During the lunch the owner of the restaurant told us about this fascinating place.
Then we had workshops with Edyta Bieniek, the Ambassador of eTwinning in our region about ICT tools used in eTwinning projects. She told us about her projects and the tools she used to realise a very good ones. She mentioned about "Mentimeter", "My simple show", "Slide Talk", "Festisite" and "Funny Pho.to". As the workshops took place in the computer classroom we had the possibility to look at the tool and try to prepare some examples using Edyta’s explanations. The last point of Wednesday was the official dinner with our headmaster Mr. Lesław Tomczak in Szara Willa restaurant.
This day we spent observing the youngest students in kindergarten and nursery schools.
We were invited to the non-public kindergarten and nursery school called "The dreamland”. This is the only kindergarten in Opole in which the bilingual project is realised. They are located in two places. At first we were in nursery school. The students were about 2-3 years old and then we were in the kindergarten where the cildren were about 4-5 years old. The groups of children are called according to the heroes of the programme they realised- Tick Tock, Zoom, Ring Ring, etc. In each group work two teachers one has qualifications to teach English. Children learn by listening to the songs, rhymes. The kindergarten realised the programme written by Claire Selby called Baby Beetles for the youngest and Tom & Kerry for the older ones. In nursery school it was very difficult to look at what the children do because they were very interested in our presence but in the kindergarten it was easier. We observed activities in English and in German languages.
The had also the opportunity to talk to the owner of this kindergarten. He explained what it meant non-public and what is the difference between private and non-public kindergarten. We also invited the children to play with us and they sang songs in Spanish, Lithuanian and French.
After these visits we had a free time and then lunch in Opolska Biesiada restaurant famous for serving local cousine.
The next point of Thursday was very short visit in RZPWE library and then we went to the Centre of Science and Experiments. This is a place where students together with teachers come and have classes in our laboratories. We spent two hours in four laboratories: Musicum, Roboticum, Gardenium and Opticum. In each laboratory an animator told us about the equipment that is used with students activities. The laboratories are places where in funny way, sometimes using experiments the students can acquire knowledge. Each day there are about 40 students. They are divided into groups of 12 and from 9:00 to 2:00 p.m learned in laboratories. Each laboratory equipment is closely related to core curricula of subjects such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology.
After that we could observe the workshops lead by our teacher trainers. We observed two workshops: The first one about storytelling for early school education teachers and the second one for German teachers about active methods of teaching like using of Kamishibai theatre.
The had also the opportunity to talk to the owner of this kindergarten. He explained what it meant non-public and what is the difference between private and non-public kindergarten. We also invited the children to play with us and they sang songs in Spanish, Lithuanian and French.
After these visits we had a free time and then lunch in Opolska Biesiada restaurant famous for serving local cousine.
The next point of Thursday was very short visit in RZPWE library and then we went to the Centre of Science and Experiments. This is a place where students together with teachers come and have classes in our laboratories. We spent two hours in four laboratories: Musicum, Roboticum, Gardenium and Opticum. In each laboratory an animator told us about the equipment that is used with students activities. The laboratories are places where in funny way, sometimes using experiments the students can acquire knowledge. Each day there are about 40 students. They are divided into groups of 12 and from 9:00 to 2:00 p.m learned in laboratories. Each laboratory equipment is closely related to core curricula of subjects such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology.
After that we could observe the workshops lead by our teacher trainers. We observed two workshops: The first one about storytelling for early school education teachers and the second one for German teachers about active methods of teaching like using of Kamishibai theatre.