Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2013 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What happened was the fact that this project
facilitated the passage from one mode of work that
focused on cooperation, in which everybody made
their contribution, to collaborative work, in which
each part deconstructed their own role in favour of
an effort aimed at building a universal path.
Everybody feels – reflections written down prove it
– that their role has come into play in relationships
with the classes abroad, but also in the
relationships between classmates and colleagues. I
myself have had fun, and for sure transmitted this
serenity to the students. This project changed the
climate in the classroom as a whole. It is more
playful, more relaxed, and it is not like work, yet we
manage to do so much more.
The students have begun to gain more confidence
in themselves, feeling more independent and more
important. The teachers’ styles have changed – the
traditional lecture-style was reduced, and a multidimensional way of communicating took over.
This path is nothing but beneficial, and a strong
added value of the climate the eTwinning project
has already managed to create in my classroom. I
look forward to the next school year when we will
continue our eTwinning journey. The road - with
trees for envisioning and creating – awaits us.
Daniela Bunea is a teacher of English at Colegiul
National Gheorghe Lazar in Sibiu, Romania and a
Romanian eTwinning ambassador. She is also the
coordinator of the Visibility of eTwinning Projects
Group and the editor of this Newsletter.
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This was also reflected in the organization of the
physical space in the classroom, the way everybody
moved within, and the image the students had of
these three teachers “running between the desks
and chairs”.
Advantages of Collaborative Work
by Carla Vieira Sampaio da Silva
The teachers say the students have learned to work
better in groups, to divide tasks, to plan regularly.
The process of helping and of asking for support
has changed too, and this has become more
evident and - more frequent really - during
individual work. Reproducing a classmate’s steps,
once considered copying, is with these teachers
thought as imitative representation and a source of
skill acquisition, and the students are happy to talk
more, ask for help, check first with group members,
then classmates, then teachers.
The experience of collaborative work among schools
at European level provided by the eTwinning
platform is revealed in the teaching profession as