eTwinning project 2016-2017 “Ancient theaters echo in their silence” 1st Secondary School of Gerakas, ICS Palazzo Salinari, 1st Secondary School of Messini Students’ evaluation (72 students from the 3 schools) The students willingly answered the 5 questions prepared by their teachers from the 3 schools through the online tool of surveymonkey. What the students liked most was the cooperation and the communication with students from the other schools. Many answered that they liked most the fact that they took part in the theatrical play of Aristophanes and the fact that now they know more about Greek and Roman ancient theaters. Two answered that they didn’t like much the fact that they had assignments. The thing that they anticipated and it wasn’t realized was that the Greek students didn’t meet the Italian students in person and vice versa. Moreover they found their assignments pleasant, interesting and challenging. Two answered that they found difficult that they had to learn by heart their roles in the theatrical play. They mentioned many benefits by their involvement in the project: They acquired knowledge with regard to the architecture of Greek and Roman ancient theatres and that they realized their differences between them. They comprehended the necessity of protection and restoration of ancient theatres as unique samples of cultural heritage and they cultivated feelings of respect towards them. Also they acquired spirit of collaboration with each other and with the students of the other schools and they developed strong bonds among them.
Moreover they cultivated language skills (oral and written) and skills of communication. They were extremely fond of exchanging information through the forum of Twinspace, the padlet and the Skype meetings. They appreciated also the fact that the two schools, 1st Secondary School of Gerakas and 1st Secondary School of Messini, met in person and they presented their plays to each other and also that they guided each other to the archaeological sites. They were very satisfied that they worked with ICT tools such as prezi, padlet, tagxedo, issuu, powerpoint, toondoo, and therefore they developed more their ICT skills. At the final question whether they would join an eTwinning project next year with the same topic they all answered positively except for those that they are moving to the next educational level(e.g. lyceum). Some students’ answers: “I like the most that we cooperated with other pupils with the same interests”. “The thing I liked most about this project is that I had the opportunity to participate in a theatrical play, to commit myself to such a project and get to know other students from different areas in the world through the e-twinning project”. “I improved my english!!” “I'm better at ICT”
Teachers’ evaluation (15 teachers from the 3 schools) All the teachers answered - through the online tool of surveymonkey- that they are totally satisfied with the objectives, the management and the realization of the program. More specific they mentioned that the project was implemented according to the schedule that was defined from the beginning without major deviations. At management level, the scheduling of work and the monitoring of the results were very satisfactory. The cooperation of the three schools was perfectly smooth and efficient. They believe that that there were many benefits of the program for their students. They mentioned that their students not only learned more about ancient theaters, but also they broadened their horizons, they improved their language and their ICT skills, they overcame the fear of performing in front of an audience, they learned how to cooperate with other students from their school and from the other schools, they made new friends, they sensitized to the issue of protection of the monuments.
The teachers found that their experience with eTwinning program was useful because they learned a lot in terms of managing the project, communicating with the other partners, using ICT tools, using the Twinspace platform. It was their first time that they cooperated with European partners through an eTwinning project. The project had a great impact to the whole school community because it succeeded in cultivating, to the majority of students and parents, feelings of respect towards the ancient theaters, which are unique achievement of world cultural heritage. Last but not least all the teachers agreed also that they would like to get involved with an eTwinning project next year with the same topic. Some teachers’ answers: “The students did not only learn information about the ancient theatres, but they also - and most importantly- they communicated with other students.Many of the students said that the project helped them understand what they would like to do as a living when they grew older”. “The program was very useful for the students as it presented them with experiences that are hard to find in a typical school curriculum”.