Minutes Meeting 2

Kaposvár, Hungary - 15.1.07  Present: Name Country Role Sonia Tibbatts England Head Teacher - Whichurch Paola Williams England Year 4 Teacher Steffan Jones Wales Year 5 Teacher Rhys Williams Wales Year 6 Teacher Mehmet Sahmaltas Turkey Technology & Design Teacher Zeti Demir Turkey English Teacher Asuman Ates Turkey Adviser Teacher Elveda Sarak Turkey Computer Teacher Mehemet Bektas Turkey Turkish Teacher Nuray Erol Turkey Social Sciences Teacher Ali Ihsan Sarak Turkey English Teacher Duran Altay Turkey Head Master M. Ata Őzer Turkey Istanbul National Education Director Kőrmőczi Zsuzsanna Hungary English Teacher Gemesi Rita Hungary Deputy Head Teacher Szegedi Ajues Hungary Head Master Marta Sánchez Spain Deputy Head Teacher & also English & French Teacher Mercedes Bernaldo de Quiros Spain Physical Education Teacher Flo Javier Gonzalez Hernandet Spain P.E. Teacher & Year 5 Teacher Anna Krzak Poland Psychologist Anna Piechacek Poland Elementary Teacher Aleksandra Godzik Poland Librarian Aneta Rusek Poland English Teacher Meeting commenced at 09:30am. Introduction & Welcome Head teacher welcomed everybody to the school and gave a brief history of the school. -      The actual building was built in 1897. -      The school celebrated their 50th anniversary last year.  -      Was previously a youth hostel for Hungarian children that visited local schools. -      As local schools became full, the ground floor of the building was used as a school with the upstairs still being used as a hostel. -      270 children attend the school. -      Compulsory school age for Hungary (6 – 14 yrs). -      School has one class per year for the first 3 years, and two classes per year in the other years. -      It has the ability to work with the Special/ Additional Educational Needs. -      School has Developing/ Helping Teacher which support the class Teachers, teaching outside of the classroom. -      School is maintained by the government/ local council, therefore education is free for the children. -      There are interactive whiteboards and internet access in every classroom. -      The school pride themselves in teaching children with hearing impairments alongside other children in the school. Everybody was then given a tour of the school. Aims of the meeting: Sonia thanked Hungary for their welcome and hospitality. Sonia stated the aims of the meeting which were to: -      Note the stage of progress from the last meeting. -      Explain what we are currently doing in our schools. -      Agree on what needs to be discussed over the next 2 years. Each school in turn explained their reading progress to date since the last meeting. England: -      Have been studying ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ by William Shakespeare, and the children have started to write their own plays. -      Distributed handouts showing the work carried out to date -      Have started their ‘Travellers Tale’ and will be sent to Wales by the end of February. Hungary: -      Distributed handouts to each country. -      Have started paired reading since last meeting in November. -      Year 3 are paired with Year 1 and Year 2 paired with Year 4. -      Occurs once a week for 15/20 minutes. -       Initial indications are that the children enjoy it very much. -      They have also encouraged children to read at home with their parents and are asked to record how often they read to their parents. -      This data is collected and summarised into 3 columns – always, sometimes and never. -      These are performed in the lower classes – Years 1 – 4. -      Have not found much progress in their children’s reading ability to date. -      Did however discover that girls read better than boys. Turkey: -      Hand outs were distributed to each country. -      Formal reading lessons. -      Encouraged to study the picture, then read the text and then to predict the end. -      The aim is to make the children active readers. -      The process was explained in detail which can be seen on the handout. -      Conclusions of this process of teaching reading were that the children showed greater interest in reading; however girls tended to be more active than boys. -      Full conclusions can be found in the handout. Spain: -      Have adopted some of the ideas discussed in Novembers meeting including home reading and recording. -      They also encouraged children to think of funny titles for stories that they have read to encourage other children to read the book. -      Children also wrote book reviews after reading a book. Wales: -      Explained that Years 3 and 4 had started paired reading since the November meeting. -      This was done for ½ hour every day. -      Although no formal tests have been performed, class teachers have noticed an increased confidence in the children’s reading. -      Children often helped each other with difficult words. -      There was also an increased willingness to read. -      Years 5 and 6 adapted a previously used method – silent reading, but adapted the time in which it occurred (after break and after dinner). -      Noticed that this method calmed the children down which helped to improve discipline. -      Children seem to enjoy to get ‘stuck in’ to their own reading book. -      Children alternate between English and Welsh books. -      Teachers have found it difficult to find time to listen to all of the children read. -      Have started the Travellers tale which was passed on to Turkey. -      Explained that the children decided on the location, character etc. It was agreed to continue with the Travellers Tale, with each country starting a tale and passing it on to the next country. It was agreed on the following order:           ®Spain ® Hungary ® England ® Wales ® Turkey ® Poland ® ­       ¬     ¬    ¬    ¬    ¬    ¬    ¬    ¬     ¯ Hungary suggested deadlines for the travellers’ tale. It was agreed on the following deadlines: To be completed by:   End of February - Part 1 End of March - Part 2 End of April - Part 3 End of May - Part 4 By the next meeting in June if possible. - finished   Poland: -      Silent reading was introduced to the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades (9 – 12 years). -      No obvious difference found between girls and boys. -      Attendance to the library was analysed with more girls recorded as visiting the library than the boys. -      Performed 2 comprehension type tests – one true or false, which everybody seemed to find easy. -      The other test asked children to compare and to make conclusions from text – this was found to be difficult with most children. New 2 Year Plan: -      Sonia explained that the funding for the projects was changing. -      A plan needed to be submitted by 31st March 2007. -      There needs to be a minimum of 2 representatives from each country on each trip (12 over the two years). These do not have to be the same representatives each time. -      A fixed budget will be given every two years. -      It was agreed that three meetings will be held each year. -      On the outline plan it was proposed that during year 2 the main focus would be on reading resources and how they affect children’s reading. -      The focus for year 3 would be on reading difficulties. To be discussed during Year 2 (1st October 2007 – 31st July 2008): -      Audit of the resources used by our schools to teach reading (types of books etc). -      Survey of the types of books that children like and the reasons why etc. -      Look at children’s reading habits for example where they read, what time of day do they read and how often they read. -      Different countries could adopt another countries process for teaching reading. -      Suggested that we could use some of the Comenius money to buy resources to trial. -      Research: “The effect of one particular resource to teach children reading and evaluate its effectiveness. To be discussed during Year 3 (1st October 2008 – 31st July 2009): -      Survey on how the teaching of reading is differentiated for children with Additional Learning Difficulties in our schools. -      Survey of the children with Additional Learning Difficulties in reading to include condition e.g. dyslexia, and the number of children with the condition. -      Audit into how theses children are catered for. -      Audit of how higher ability readers are catered for. -      Select one reading difficulty – provide background on the condition and explain how we address the condition in our schools. -      At the end of the year – collate all our work over the past 3 years. The venues for the meetings over the next 2 years were agreed: June 2007 -   Poland October 2007 -   United Kingdom March 2008 -   Poland October 2008 -   Hungary March 2009 -   Spain June 2009 -   Turkey   Poland Meeting – June 2007: -      Need to arrive by Saturday 2nd June. -      Excursion arranged for Sunday 3rd June. -      Meeting held on Monday 4th June.   By the next meeting in Poland: -      Continue to keep records on reading progress to include: §       Its effectiveness. §       Progress found. -      A formal assessment of one reading group. -      Bring an example of the formal reading assessments used in the school. -      Continue with the Travellers Tale. -      Hold a competition in the school to design a logo for the project. Each school to bring their winning design to the next meeting for a vote on the best overall design. Meeting closed 1:30pm