Guidances for TEACHERS
In recognizing that diversity is a part of our everyday reality, education should view diversity as a rich, contributing factor in the process of becoming fully human. This programme offers an insight into what it means to live in a diverse society and global word and how to respond fittingly through one´s values. At this programme´s core is the idea of Learning in Encounter. To help you implement Learning in Encounter at your school, teaching materials are provided on the platform under ´In School´. These materials, developed and practised by international teachers and pedagogical experts, include didactic guidelines and topic-specific lesson materials. You can find a list of detailed information about organizing an encounter day (1) at your school, a list of possible topics (2), and other documents (3-14) on the right-hand side. The competencies (10) that can be initiated through the programme are also on the right.
Organizing a day of 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter' for your school is not difficult. Here are the seven steps you need to follow for the organization of an encounter day virtually or on-site:
STEP 1: Find possible partners for your day of Learning in Encounter, contact colleagues from other subjects from your own school or other schools. In the section ‘community’ a list of participating schools will be provided for you.
STEP 2: Once you have found colleagues who want to participate in the programme, all participating colleagues must choose a common topic for the day of Learning in Encounter (2). A list of suggested topics is provided on the right.
STEP 3: Once a topic is chosen, find a date for the day of Learning in Encounter which suits all partners. It is recommended to distribute the various preparatory tasks among the participating partners. You can find a checklist (3) with the organizational requirements on the right.
STEP 4: Each partner must complete the first phase of the four-phase model: preparing pupils by providing them with material for their presentations. Instructions for pupils to create posters or PPT are available (12). The teachers have to review the guidelines for the group work (virtually or on-site) of phases two and three.
STEP 5: When the topic is prepared so far, start to organize the encounter day. A template for an encounter day schedule (4) and a helpful template for the grouping of heterogeneous groups of pupils (5) can be found on the right. It is helpful to prepare for the group atmosphere (6) (in breakout rooms or on-site) through warm-ups and social games. You can use the determined dialogue rules (7) tried and tested at schools or develop your own. Prepare conflict resolution strategies (8) and decide on group roles such as moderator and timekeeper. Document (13) can encourage pupils to use English as a Lingua Franca.
STEP 6: The final step is to perform the encounter day (see 1 & 4) including the evaluation.
STEP 7: In the next lesson of your subject after the encounter day, pupils reflect individually and collectively about their experiences and gained competencies of the encounter day. For this, you can use the reflection questions (9) developed and tested during diverse encounter days.
If you want to join the programme, please register. In this platform´s community, you can contact participating schools and share your experiences with colleagues. The FAQs (11) are also helpful for any upcoming questions.
The following videos offer an insight into an encounter day on site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZXeTaqfWLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V42wyft0mk
(It is advised to use the function of automatic translation offered by YouTube when clicking on the option of Subtitles.)