Scoala Altfel 2014 – Another year On

For this year’s “Scoala Altfel” (A different kind of School) week, the “Friendship Ambassadors” Association designed and proposed a variety of programmes for these following four schools in Targoviste:

Constantin Carabella High School

• coaching sessions  focused on the relationship between success and a quality education.
• insight from professionals from such fields as visual arts, media, entrepreneurs in a “career fair” type program.

Ioan Alexandru Bratescu-Voinesti  Primary School 

• Programs to support the appreciation of traditions and local values

Mihai Viteazul Primary School

• Students were exposed to citizenship education, urban education, arts and crafts education – with the participation of volunteer experts.

Coresi Primary School

• Students took one or many looks at their city from different angles under the guidance of  a local member  of the Romanian Order of Architects. Their final products were matches-cardboard-plastic models of their ideal houses.

All programs were developed in consultation with each school leadership or staff, and we would like to thank all those who have seen us as viable partners.

Also we would like to thank our partners, especially Mr. Cătălin Ștefănescu – from Garantat 100% show, Ms. Alina Goanta – Coaching Group Targoviste (www.coachingforchange.ro), Mr. Florin Ispas (http://fotoart-studio.ro) – professional photographer, Ms. Daniela Radu – rchitect, Curtea Domnească museum and all others who have help us develop thought provoking conversations with our partner schools and all those interested in bringing new points of view into our education system.

Most of all we would like to thank the students who participated and kept it real.

Week at a glance

Constantin Carabella High School

The start day of the “Coaching and Mentoring for defining success” was itself a success! Very interactive and well received by the Carabella highschool students. Here are some questions that brought lively discussions:

• What things you do that give you pleasure?;
• What things you do easier that others?
• What brings you joy?
• What is truly important for you?
• If anything is possible, what would you like to do with your life?

The students exchanged ideas about the importance of values, family, career, personal development, friends, contribution to society, health and finance. Sometimes they worked in groups.

In the following day we put the concepts to the test with real role models: The students heard about entrepreneurship from Stefan Ionescu who put the stress on perseverance; Ciprian Grigorescu – photography; Alina Goanta – entrepreneurship and coaching;  Andi Vasluianu – an actor who managed to persuade the audience of an important lesson – not to be afraid to make mistakes.

Day three was an extremely dynamic exchange: An open teacher- student dialog with Pompiliu Alexandru (Professor at Valahia University of Political Science, Language and Communication),  and presentations full of energy and creativity from the sport journalist Radu Naum, and two engaging actors Medeea Marinescu and Marius Manole.

In the final day there was time for lessons learned and drawing relevant conclusions. Thoughts from the students:

“passion is the backbone of success” ;

“success is firstly the balance from within and only then, external recognition”;

“courage and hard work are determining factors for success”

As a final conclusion, the students were asked to find two objects around them to illustrate their views. We hope they will share some of their stories on social media…so, stay tuned!.

The moderators – Corina and Teodora – are happy to have had the chance to work with a fantastic group of students and speakers and to be part of the spirit of harmony that emerged throughout the week.

Mihai Viteazul School

The topics:

• Transforming the issue of “stray dogs” into a tourist opportunity.

The students went through the stages of a public policies cycle concerning  the health and safety of citizens: they identified the need, found alternative solutions, took decisions and thought about implementation and feedback. This was the warm-up exercise run by Codru Vrabie (http://codruvrabie.blogspot.ro/) in the first day of the Project Citizen (see http://www.intercultural.ro/carti/manualul_elevului_rev.pdf). In the second day of the programme, the students decided to analyse other three ideas.

• Student-Citizen discussions: the proposals spread over a wide range of topics:  ”A Canteen of the School”, “An Eco School”, “An interactive school”.

For a canteen the students made great arguments in favor of healthy eating over the “popular” snacks.

For the Eco School the students proposed various green spaces and a vegetable and flower garden behind the gym. Drawings representing forests would be displayed in the school halls for students to feel a continuous connection with nature.

For the interactive school  the students suggested real, outside of classroom experiences to bring subject topics such as geography, technology, literature and others to life.

Given the energy of these discussions the teachers decided to draft them as formal proposals for Targoviste Mayor’s Office.

The two teachers in charge of this activity were very proud of their students who were inspired by the movie Pay it forward in planning social changes in small steps. They were very receptive to the input of the adults who participated in the programme and thoughtfully looked for important problems of the local community that could be solved with their own contribution. The skills and competences they developed during this week (group work, critical thinking, communication-negotiation, public speaking etc.) made the teachers believe that their students would be able to change their lives and community.

• The success that inspire (students from 5^th and 6^th grade) – Students interviewed inspirational people from the local community (from Columna TV, MDI TV, Radio Minisat, entrepreneurs) or people met during school trips to Bucovina and Ardeal.
• Travelling on my street (students from 6^th grade) – The “traveler” module allowed 26 students accompanied by their teachers, Anca Teodorescu and Emil Miresan to discover their neighborhood with a fresh eye: They were initiated in photography, discovering architectural elements and good civic and artistic spirit under the guidance of students from the School of Political Science, Letters and Communication of Valachia University coordinated by Prof Pompiliu Alexandru. The students selected those desired ideal “elements” and piece them like a puzzle to create their  “Ideal Street”.
• The pinhole photos (students from 8^th grade) – several students and their Physics teacher were assisted by a professional photographer (Florian Ispas) with taking photos with an unusual camera – the Physics lab. Without lens or real cameras, just by letting light in through a small hole, the students could put on photo paper some elements from their school yard (trees, schoolmates, fence, pavement).

The exhibition:

All collages, posters, photos etc. made by students were exhibited at the Museum of Human Evolution in Targoviste between the 11-th and the 24-th of April. Each topic has its big double –sided panel. Our town seemed much more beautiful, fresh and coloured in the pictured made by the urban observers. The young citizens were good designers, too, taking into account the panel they have created. The students who met successful people depicted both the wisdom and the artefacts of the people who inspired them. The pinhole photographers simply showed seven negatives and the real pictures with some technical information about each trial.

The visitors could write down their impressions on a banner.

Alina Moore and Corina Leca