Norway:

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I. Description of school:

Mørkved school is, with its 300 pupils, one of the biggest primary schools in the municipality of Ringsaker. The school has 50 employees where 35 are teachers.
The teachers are organized in teams, one team for each grade. The team leaders from each of the teams coordinate the schools pedagogical development together
with the management team (headmaster and deputy).
The school is aiming at inclusion and equality combined with increased learning outcome and is organized to give an adapted education also for pupils with special needs.
Some parents of disabled children from other areas in the municipality therefore choose Mørkved as the school for their children.

II. Role in the project:

Mørkved school will be the coordinator of the project and has the “overall” responsibility for the project. This includes coordinating the project-meetings, activities and communication in the project.

III. National Summary:

Mobility in Denmark, September 2010

Assessment in the classroom, Excel. (- fifth grade)
We recognized it as a relatively normal type of a lesson. We could not actually see that the communication and feedback were that different from the way we normally would do it in our own classrooms. The children each had a laptop and worked together two by two. In this way they practised cooperative learning. We could not see – at least to our knowledge – a systematic strategy of feedback/assessment in the classroom, but we noticed that the teacher communicated very well with the children during the whole lesson.

Assessment in the classroom, literacy. (- fourth grade)
Literacy.This lesson was very much like what we saw in the fifth grade; the children were working two by two, and there was good communication between teacher and pupils during the whole lesson.

Outdoor mathematics with GPS and mobile phone (- sixth grade)
The lesson was very motivating and obviously interesting for the children; new technology can be used to help children to learn. (In this case it was mathematics, but it can easily be used in most school subjects.) Through technology the children were motivated to move around, while at the same time solving mathematical problems. We could see that the children cooperated enthusiastically.

Achievements:

• Concentration/focus
• Cooperation
• Interacting and finding different solutions

Assessments: The teacher made oral comments during the lesson.

The Library
There are three teachers responsible for the library ( although not at the same time). The library is always open for the pupils as well as the teachers. The system is based on the principle of trust; the children can register the books and check them back in, by themselves. The library uses a system combined with colours and numbers on the covers for the first readers. This makes it easier for them to find suitable books. On 1st floor the teachers had their own library with no access for the pupils.

They had reading weeks like:

• How to read math
• Reading science books
• A story tellers week / fairytale week

Cooperative learning(- third grade)

• To learn how to participate, to contribute, to involve and to cooperate
• Two teachers + one assistant, set today’s goals
  
• The lesson seemed to be well planned and prepared
  
• The pupils listened with attention to the teachers
  

The frames of the lesson were very clear; five minutes for this, 45 seconds for this, 3 minutes for that etc. In other words: Well planned timing; the children knew exactly what they were expected to do. They sat in groups of four, where children on different levels were put together by the teachers. Then every child would have to work together with each other, and contribute in every task. They also got used to speak in front of others

How to teach pupils with dyslexia (secondary school)
All pupils with dyslexia had their own computer with a program that could support them overcoming their reading and writing difficulties. The program could read all kinds of texts out loud, so that the pupils could focus on the content of the texts. When the pupils were writing, the program continuously came up with suggestions on which word they might be about to write and how to spell the different words. If the pupils were not sure about which word to pick from the suggestion list, they could have them read out loud. The most important goal for using the computer programs, was to give the pupils a tool that enabled them to transmit their focus away from the reading and spelling difficulties and over to the content of their reading and writing. Nevertheless, computers could not solve the problems with dyslexia. Therefore, the most important skills the pupils had to learn, were different reading strategies, so that they new how to approach a new text as efficient as possible.

Mobility in Slovenia, Februar 2011

What did we learn?

• We’we learned how to welcome guests to our school in a better way. It was really nice that the pupils welcomed us in the door and we appreciated the intimate feeling in the assembly room and the high quality of the performance.
• How to better involve the whole school in the project by i. e. make collages from each participating country in the hallways.
• The importance of focusing on the learning objectives for each lesson.
• The importance of handing out summary in English for the foreign speaking guests prior to the lesson.
• The combination between math and physical education was fantastic.
• The lesson for gifted children gave us a new and interesting perspective in approaching these children’s need for special help in developing their social skills.
• The importance of challenging gifted children, e.g. through formative monitoring and translating a story through shared writing.

What will we use?

• Shared writing, both as creative writing and as a translating task.
• The combination of math and physical education/math and food technology.
• Creative writing, (without using the computers, since we don’t have a computer room)

Other impressions

• It was nice to see the good relationship between pupils and teachers.
• The pupils spend a lot of time inside during the school day, also in their breaks.
• The pupils were very polite to the guests.
• The program was really well planned, and the cultural events were well chosen and very enjoyable.

Mobility in Germany, May 2011

What was interesting?

• The different boards in the classrooms, blackboards and flexiboards, are smart and useful.
• The art work on the walls is of really high quality, and the school appears tidy, neat and really good organized.
• When the teachers are talking, the pupils are quiet and listening concentrated. When the children are working in pairs and in groups, there are lot of room and tolerance for creative noise.
• It was really interesting to learn about the Bavarian school system.
• Pupils are marked after first grade.
• The marks after fourth grade decide what kind of school the pupils have the opportunity to attend. Gymnasium, Realschule or Hauptschule.
• Students who are studying to become teachers have mentors for the last two years of their education.
• A lot of the teachers are gathering the pupils close by the board when they are introducing new themes or telling stories.
• There are a lot of variations in activities and the changes are fast and effective, which help pupils to focus for a longer period of time.
• Cooperation between pupils is used as a method.
• The school is well equipped for practical learning activities, and on the classroom walls there are a lot of helpful pedagogical examples for the pupils.
• High focus on oral English, not so much writing.
• The position of the teacher’s union was interesting to learn about.

What did we learn?

• The importance of involving pupils to be active in their own learning process.
• It is possible to do a lot of different activities even though there is only one teacher in the classroom.
• How pleasant it is to be in a school that is tidy and clean.
• The importance for guests to be received in such a warm and including way.
• The importance of very short physical breaks to increase concentration through tactile stimulation. (1. grade)
• The use of music as a signal for quietness or for changing of activities.

What will we use?

• Higher consciousness about variation and differentiations in pupil’s activity.
• We will think about daring to change teachers after two years, so that the teachers can specialize more than they are able to now.
• Writing conference
• Inspiration from the well organized classrooms.
• Ideas from introducing new letters, and selfinstructive activities.
• Working with grammar; all the teachers are using the same colors on verbs, nouns and adjectives.
• The teachers are putting key words on the boards all the time.
• Introducing dictionaries in earlier age. (2nd grade)

Mobility in Romania, September 2011

What was interesting?

• Pedagogically modern teaching.
• The Rai-method, Starbursting, Snowball, Bingo and the Gallery- tour method.
• Making mathematic problems on rhymes.
• Clear messages to the pupils, when to start and when to stop.
• The pupils are moving very silently and efficient in the classrooms.
• Everybody is using pens, not pencils. Beautiful handwriting.
• High consciousness about extract information from texts.
• Awareness of using correct mathematical terms already from 1. grade.
• To split texts into paragraphs. Groups of pupils read and discuss one paragraph together. Then they share the content of their paragraph with pupils in another group.
• The lesson starts immediately when the teacher enters the classroom.
• The multiple intelligences.
• The clean and tidy school.
• The posters on the wall inside the school.
• In some classrooms pupils are standing up when they are answering questions.

Cultural events

• Visiting churches and the Monastery.
• The welcoming ceremony.
• The social gathering in the evening with excellent food and nice friends.
• The Romanian food J and hospitality.

What did we learn?

• The methods mentioned above.
• Inspiration from the nice and tidy classrooms and corridors.
• How to visualize the project in the school.
• How to present a lesson for colleagues from abroad. The importance of a detailed lesson plans for the visitors.
• Multiple intelligences.
• Classroom gymnastics increases concentration.

What will we use?

• The methods mentioned above.
• “Predictive reading” with help from key words that the teachers pick out before they start reading the story.
• The inspiration to clean up our own school.
• Polypropylene in different colors for decoration.
• Find out more about multiple intelligences.

IV. Local Activities:

V. Contact:

Morkved skole, Postboks 253, N – 2381 Brumunddal
Mr. Arnstein Naerlie, headmaster and project coordinator
Telephone: +47 62 33 63 60
Fax: +47 62 33 63 61
Email: ane@ringsaker.kommune.no
Website: www.ringsaker.kommune.no/gs/morkved