My name is Mary, and I am a national tutor for the BRIGHTS Project in Greece, along with my colleague Nikos Patselis. On 29 May we were very happy to conduct our final BRIGHTS Face2Face workshop, which was about educating teachers and trainers on promoting the themes of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) through digital storytelling. It was an extremely creative and productive experience, and I would like to share it with you!
But first of all, I would like to thank all these inspiring teachers and trainers who devoted their precious personal time to develop new skills and share their knowledge with their students!!! Our workshops were conducted on 12th, 13th and 29th of May at the premises of HEPIS, in Athens, Greece. 27 teachers honoured us with their presence and with their passion and creativity. Even though the online training, which preceded, was very educational, I believe that nothing can be as powerful as group dynamics (because during the workshop, even we, as the national tutors, gained a great deal of knowledge and skills through our interaction with the rest of the teachers)!
All these three days we had teachers from all around Greece, so we had to have a very strict timetable in order to prepare them for their own youth workshops, which would take place right after these workshops. In order to achieve this, we had structured the workshop in a way that would keep the teachers engaged and motivated. So we divided the workshop into three parts:
- Theoretical concepts of GCE and digital storytelling,
- Creating stories through the story circle,
- Producing digital stories.
In addition, throughout these parts we had several bonding activities in order to “break the ice” and to create a group dynamic. During the first part we had some theory about the GCE and digital storytelling, their importance and why should teachers start implementing digital storytelling in their classroom. We also had some activities so that the teachers could understand the power of images and their multidimensional meanings.
However, the second part had more fun, in my opinion. We created our story circles. Everyone, including us, participated in the process of creating a story with the help of the group, which is the most important part of storytelling (I really believe that the group interactions emerging during that time is the most significant part and creates a unique experience were feelings, ideas, fears and hopes are unfolding). During the circle, all of the teachers were thinking of original and powerful stories, and were brainstorming about ways of implementing these activities according to their students’ individual needs and level of knowledge, which made us realise that the future generations are in good hands. Then, they put their ideas onto the story boards and were ready for the production of their stories.
The third part was the technical part. The teachers started creating their digital stories by recording and searching their images online. Then, as soon as they had gathered their media, they used DaVinci Resolve to produce their stories. However, this was the most difficult part. The software, even though it is considered to be one of the best video software, it has very high tech specifications, and as a result, it crashed many times. But even then we saw how important was the group dynamic, as everyone was helping and suggesting solutions to the various problems. In the end, we had time to relax and enjoy some of their digital stories.
Now, they are already working with their students and many of them have come up with fantastic stories, which we are anticipating to watch. And who knows….one of their students might be the lucky one to win the BRIGHTS Awards contest and win a trip to Brussels with his/her teacher!
If you want to learn more about BRIGHTS Project, visit our website and find out more about our activities.
