Collaboration

COLLABORATION 

How we can learn to work collaboratively?

During the session we tried to define what a collaborative project was, and then we had to plan and international collaborative project. 

Nowadays, to put into practice an international collaborative project is much easier than some years ago. Globalization has let us get information from everywhere and when we want in a very fast way. This connection with anyplace around the word has made possible to do those kind of projects; and in the educational world that’s can contribute lots of benefits for our pupils, who are getting skills and competences to become a global citizens and, as well as for teachers who are opening boarders and find out different ways to work in a collaborative way. 

To continue, I am going to present the project our group came up with.

PLANNING AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE PROJECT

LET’S BE REPRESENTATIVE IN OUR SONGS

What is the Project going to be about? The project is going to be focused on the acquirement of music knowledge through the music analyzes from other countries. The main activity to achieve the goal we have proposed is to record a dance and everything that entails it to make an exchange with other students of a foreign country. We have considered that music is a need and an implicit capacity in all people, regardless of their origin. Moreover, we have taken into account that all cultures have their own musical expressions, and this it could be a great way to introduce new knowledge about it. Furthermore, we have been thinking about this topic because to the extent that people feel part of a group, they are also recognized in their own music, so by bringing to class music from different countries it will also contribute to the assertion and identity of each student represented in them. Finally, we believe that to know and to work through different points of “musical” view can only be beneficial for our pupils. What are the students going to learn? The main objective of our project is to make students find out musical expressions, different genres and instruments from their own country, and then take advantage of this in order to analyze differences in musical expressions and instruments from other countries. We have planned different aims that must be acquired by students once the project has finished. Music subject: 1. To differentiate different meanings of music in different cultures.  2. To discover differences and similarities between instruments and genres of both countries. Language subject: 3. To work on metalinguistic skills 4. To know other writing systems by learning three languages (their own language, English language and the language of the foreign song) and to acknowledge the contributions of those languages. 5. To expand language knowledge (above all writing and speaking skills to communicate with their classmates and the other students). Natural and Social science subject: 6. To place countries geographically in a correct way.

Why have we chosen this subject? Music gives us the emotion and the lyrics give us the meaning, and these aspects arouse the two fundamental aspects of the human being: emotional and cognitive. We have chosen music as the central subject to do our project because we consider that through music every person can express their own feelings. Moreover, learning music at any level combines a series of educational issues and factors that make it ideal as an educational tool and inner work in order to achieve satisfaction, harmony, security and self-esteem. The intrinsic qualities of music to make links between all facets of the human being and contribute to its development and integration. We consider that music is a good way to make pupils strong individuals, and music is also something that young people find it motivating. To sum up, we can summarize why we have chosen music as the main subject with the following quotation: "Music Education, an integrated system based on the global, also contributes to the general knowledge of various components of personality, such as cognitive and affective factors, the development of motor coordination, social and cultural integration. In this sense we can speak of an education in music (Wuytack) " Why is it suitable for international collaborative work? We think that by sharing music with other countries and make the students interact are beneficial for students of both countries because they can improve their English languages skills at the same time they are working together in the same topic, so we are fomenting indirectly cooperative work between students, and also they are knowing a different culture through music “something that inevitably is always in our daily life.

How are we going to plan the project? Our project is going to be put into practice for a period of three months approximately. During this period we have planned to do the next activities: 1. We are going to introduce the project to our pupils and the rest of the teachers in the school. 2. We are going to prepare a cross cultural communication course in English for the students who are going to take part in the project. 3. Teacher must contact with the foreign school with which they will carry out the project. 4. The music teacher is going to prepare lessons about music of their own culture and they are going to start producing and writing a song. 5. Both schools are going to exchange the songs they have produced. 6. Students are going to analyze the foreign song, focused on instruments, languages, genre and typical dance. 7. Once they have analyzed it, they are going to evaluate the song from the foreign country and send a letter with comments. 8. Students must try to reproduce the dance of the foreign song 9. The class is going to visit the other country (try the different instruments, expressing feelings through dance/instruments, and so on.) 10. Give a concert for the parents with the exchange country. How are we going to organize it – timetable – dividing into smaller groups, etc.? April 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 We are going to introduce the project to our pupils and the rest of the teachers in the school. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 2. We are going to prepare a cross cultural communication course in English 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 for the students who are going to take part in the project. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29       30 3. Teacher must contact with the May 1 2 3 4 5 foreign school with which they will carry out the project. 4. The music teacher is going 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 to prepare lessons about music of their own culture and they are going to 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 start producing and writing a song. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 5. Both schools are going to exchange the songs they have produced. June 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6. Students are going to analyze the foreign song, focused on instruments, languages, genre and typical dance. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7. Once they have analyzed it, they are going to evaluate the song from the foreign country and send a letter with comments. 8. Students must try to reproduce the dance of the foreign song. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 9. The class is going to visit the other country (try the different instruments, expressing feelings through dance/instruments, and so on.) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 10. Give a concert for the parents with the exchange country. How to evaluate the project? The project is going to be evaluated from the beginning to the end. To see how beneficial it has been for pupils the project we have chosen some items that must be evaluated, these are the following ones: -How did they make the analysis of the foreign song. -How much they have improved their English language skills. -How they have been implicated during the whole project. -Look at how good the song was. -Ask parents if they enjoyed the concert. -Self-student evaluation, where they have to comment how they think they did the concert. -Give pupils a feedback lesson where they can expose the strengths and the weakness of the project, and propose areas of improvements. How can students learn something? Students are going to participate actively along the project. How are you going to show/exhibit the project in school or to the parents? When students of the foreign country come to our country we will do a concert where parents and the rest of the school can take part of it and enjoy of the variety of different dances. Furthermore, when our students travel to the foreign country, we will propose the same process to let the students of the foreign school and their parents enjoy the concert.

Who is going to participate? To carry out the project we will need the participation of the foreign country (we will need to get in touch during the whole project). We will also need to involucrate the music teacher as well as the English teacher. And finally, students will be also one of the most important individuals to make the project possible.

When is the project going to take place in the school’s year planning? The project is going to be put into practice at the beginning of the second semester (approximately in April). When is the project going to start and end? The project will start at the beginning of April and will end at the end of June, in order to travel to the foreign country at spring/summer season.

COLLABORATION CORE CONCEPTS

INTERNATIONALIZATION: is a cultural process by which people develop abilities to comprehend and understand knowledge, behaviours and so on, from other different countries. It can be considered as a set of influences from other cultures that a person includes in its own culture.

COLLABORATIVE PRJECTS: process where two or more people or, in this case, schools, teachers or students work together to achieve shared goals. People from different countries, with different backgrounds and ideas, trying to share knowledge in order to make a common “end product”. 

CREATIVITY: is the ability to see new possibilities and do something about it. When a person goes beyond the analysis of a problem and tries to implement a solution is a change. This is called creativity: see a problem, have an idea, do something about it and get results.

GLOBAL CITIZEN: is a person fully able to engage productively and effectively with the global academic, business, civic and cultural environments by possessing and demonstrating: 1. Excellent written and oral communication skills. 2. The ability to work effectively in teams. 3. A mastery of common business technology tools. 4. The ability to analyze and solve complex problems. 5. The sensitivity and skill necessary to succeed in a culturally diverse global environment. 6. The flexibility to accept and initiate change. 7. Solid leadership skills. 8. Fluency in at least one language besides English. 9. The level of cultural and aesthetic sophistication necessary for an understanding of and appreciation for arts. 10. High levels of moral reasoning.

[Committee members: DeWayne Frazier (chair), Christopher Sanders, Gina Kuker, Jean Merkle, Linda Haines, Brian More]

INTERNATIONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: is defined as a "place" or "space" where the process of acquisition of knowledge occurs.

In a learning environment the participant acts, use their skills, make or use tools and artifacts to obtain and interpret information to construct their learning.

CULTURAL COMPETENCE: is the ability to work effectively and sensitively within and across various cultural contexts.