COORDINATORS’ MEETING PROGRAMME
Saturday 17th September – Tuesday 20th September 2016
Sat
Arrival
Sun
Mon
Tue
Departure
PLANNING MEETING MINUTES
1. Introductions
Susanne was welcomed officially as the new Finnish coordinator. Satu and Maarit will continue to support
2. Discuss the interim report and especially agree outcomes and results
Please see the interim report for details of what we discussed
3. Go through the project work plan with special focus on year 2. Discuss any difficulties or changes which might be necessary.
All work agreed and most deadline – see project work plan for more details
4. Plan the Meeting in Sweden
11-18 March was proposed. For plan see work plan
5. The Evaluation questionnaires – how to make them work
These were discussed. Sue highlighted ways of encouraging more students to complete them such as asking IT colleagues to allow students to do them in their lessons etc. The key thing is that we must do them!
6. Communication issues
Sue outlined the need for everyone to respond to emails. There have been occasions when she has felt very dispirited due to the lack of responses from different people. It was agreed that if partners cannot give a full answer to an email they will at least send a quick reply to say this so that Sue knows the message has been received. We discussed whether more, shorter emails were better than fewer longer ones and it was agreed to continue as now.
7. Any Other Business
It was agreed that this will be our last project. After nearly 20 years, we feel it has run its course. Also, Sue may not be able to coordinate another project. In the light of this, we will have a big 20 year anniversary / end of project celebration in Germany in September 2017. This will be almost exactly 20 years since Sue’s first visit to Schleusingen in June 1997 and seems a fitting way to mark our work together. Sue will invite some of the key players in the project’s history to the meeting such as Bärbel, Marianne, Graham, Christer and Gizelle. It may be unlikely that many of them will attend, but inviting them is the right thing to do! Provisional dates – 14-17 Sept 2017
Professional Development – reports from visitors
Sue – I visited a lesson with Juha who is a full time SEN specialist teacher working with a small group of disaffected boys with behavior issues. There were 4 boys in the lesson aged from 14-16. There was lots of equipment to help them such as laptops, audio-visual equipment etc. The furniture consisted both of formal desks but also a more informal seating area with a sofa. The work seen for most of the lesson was maths but towards the end of the session we did a question and answer session in English.
The work done by the students was differentiated – for example by different materials and exercises. The teacher explained the work patiently and employed the useful strategy of “tactical ignoring” of behavior which would have been challengeable in order to focus on the work and not allow the behavior to distract. The boys did all make some progress in their Maths during the lesson.
Simon – I visited an SEN lesson which involved a full time SEN specialist teacher working on a one to one basis with a student with Swedish as an additional language. The student worked at practising topic based vocabulary on an Ipad matching key words in Swedish to pictures and having an opportunity to repeat these key words with the support of the teacher.
In the same room there was another SEN teacher working with a student completing activities in English with the aid of a textbook, dictionary and various visual aids.
Sieglinde – During our meeting in Finland I had the chance to be guest in a lesson for students with special needs. It was an extra lesson for a boy from Syria who has some difficulties in concentrating. The teacher gave him a lot of time and attention. Subject in this lesson was romance in literature. Because I do not speak and understand Swedish both, teacher and student were so kind and did the lesson in English. It was very interesting to me.
Josef – I visited a lesson with Arto, who is a SEN specialist teacher working with a mixed group of 15-year-old students, whose performance in school had been badly affected by different kinds of personal difficulties or tragedies. In this particular lesson, there were two boys and two girls in the classroom. The equipment was basically traditional, including a blackboard and formal desks with seats for approximately 12 students, but there was also a large gym ball for one of the students to sit on. Although there was only one, Arto told me that any student who wanted a gym ball instead of a normal chair could have one. It is considered a good way to help restless students or those who feel uncomfortable in traditional chairs.
The four students had individual work to do, either in Maths or in English. They did not change subject during the lesson. Arto approached them one by one to make sure they would engage in their assignments. He did it gently, in a low voice, speaking in Finnish or in English according to what seemed appropriate in each case. At one point, he asked me if I could help a student with his assignment and I agreed, sat down next to the boy and asked him some questions that he had answered on his worksheet. This was quite successful.
I learned that the most important thing was to be calm and to make the young students feel secure. Arto told me he would never yell at a student who had misbehaved or even insulted him. Instead, they would have a conversation to make things straight.
We would like to thank all the Finnish colleagues who allowed us to visit their lessons. We found it very interesting to see how another school approaches its work with SEN students.
Saturday 17th September – Tuesday 20th September 2016
Sat
Arrival
Sun
- Welcome Cruise Turku – Naantali – Turku
- buffet lunch in restaurant Merisali
- Late afternoon - free time
- Evening - Dinner
Mon
- Assembly – Visitors introduce themselves shortly to the school (via Intercom). Short Tour of school
- Planning Meeting 3-4 hours
- Professional Development - Focus on SEN – we will all visit lessons with Finnish SEN teachers
- Dinner with Finnish colleagues.
Tue
Departure
PLANNING MEETING MINUTES
1. Introductions
Susanne was welcomed officially as the new Finnish coordinator. Satu and Maarit will continue to support
2. Discuss the interim report and especially agree outcomes and results
Please see the interim report for details of what we discussed
3. Go through the project work plan with special focus on year 2. Discuss any difficulties or changes which might be necessary.
All work agreed and most deadline – see project work plan for more details
4. Plan the Meeting in Sweden
11-18 March was proposed. For plan see work plan
5. The Evaluation questionnaires – how to make them work
These were discussed. Sue highlighted ways of encouraging more students to complete them such as asking IT colleagues to allow students to do them in their lessons etc. The key thing is that we must do them!
6. Communication issues
Sue outlined the need for everyone to respond to emails. There have been occasions when she has felt very dispirited due to the lack of responses from different people. It was agreed that if partners cannot give a full answer to an email they will at least send a quick reply to say this so that Sue knows the message has been received. We discussed whether more, shorter emails were better than fewer longer ones and it was agreed to continue as now.
7. Any Other Business
It was agreed that this will be our last project. After nearly 20 years, we feel it has run its course. Also, Sue may not be able to coordinate another project. In the light of this, we will have a big 20 year anniversary / end of project celebration in Germany in September 2017. This will be almost exactly 20 years since Sue’s first visit to Schleusingen in June 1997 and seems a fitting way to mark our work together. Sue will invite some of the key players in the project’s history to the meeting such as Bärbel, Marianne, Graham, Christer and Gizelle. It may be unlikely that many of them will attend, but inviting them is the right thing to do! Provisional dates – 14-17 Sept 2017
Professional Development – reports from visitors
Sue – I visited a lesson with Juha who is a full time SEN specialist teacher working with a small group of disaffected boys with behavior issues. There were 4 boys in the lesson aged from 14-16. There was lots of equipment to help them such as laptops, audio-visual equipment etc. The furniture consisted both of formal desks but also a more informal seating area with a sofa. The work seen for most of the lesson was maths but towards the end of the session we did a question and answer session in English.
The work done by the students was differentiated – for example by different materials and exercises. The teacher explained the work patiently and employed the useful strategy of “tactical ignoring” of behavior which would have been challengeable in order to focus on the work and not allow the behavior to distract. The boys did all make some progress in their Maths during the lesson.
Simon – I visited an SEN lesson which involved a full time SEN specialist teacher working on a one to one basis with a student with Swedish as an additional language. The student worked at practising topic based vocabulary on an Ipad matching key words in Swedish to pictures and having an opportunity to repeat these key words with the support of the teacher.
In the same room there was another SEN teacher working with a student completing activities in English with the aid of a textbook, dictionary and various visual aids.
Sieglinde – During our meeting in Finland I had the chance to be guest in a lesson for students with special needs. It was an extra lesson for a boy from Syria who has some difficulties in concentrating. The teacher gave him a lot of time and attention. Subject in this lesson was romance in literature. Because I do not speak and understand Swedish both, teacher and student were so kind and did the lesson in English. It was very interesting to me.
Josef – I visited a lesson with Arto, who is a SEN specialist teacher working with a mixed group of 15-year-old students, whose performance in school had been badly affected by different kinds of personal difficulties or tragedies. In this particular lesson, there were two boys and two girls in the classroom. The equipment was basically traditional, including a blackboard and formal desks with seats for approximately 12 students, but there was also a large gym ball for one of the students to sit on. Although there was only one, Arto told me that any student who wanted a gym ball instead of a normal chair could have one. It is considered a good way to help restless students or those who feel uncomfortable in traditional chairs.
The four students had individual work to do, either in Maths or in English. They did not change subject during the lesson. Arto approached them one by one to make sure they would engage in their assignments. He did it gently, in a low voice, speaking in Finnish or in English according to what seemed appropriate in each case. At one point, he asked me if I could help a student with his assignment and I agreed, sat down next to the boy and asked him some questions that he had answered on his worksheet. This was quite successful.
I learned that the most important thing was to be calm and to make the young students feel secure. Arto told me he would never yell at a student who had misbehaved or even insulted him. Instead, they would have a conversation to make things straight.
We would like to thank all the Finnish colleagues who allowed us to visit their lessons. We found it very interesting to see how another school approaches its work with SEN students.