Work shadowing
Participants:
- Gundega Muceniece (Headmistress, German)
- Ieva Mezīte (Music)
- Elīna Beča (German, German national studies)
- Jolanta Voina (English, Social Studies),
- Santa Jansone (German)
- Uģis Urtāns (English)
6 teachers of Riga State German Grammar School within the project "Erasmus+ accredited mobility project for RVVG pupils and staff" participated in the learning mobility - work observation at the Weser Gymnasium in Floto, a partner school of RVVG since 1991.
The motto of our partner school in Germany is the Weser Gymnasium in Vlotho - open perspectives (German - Weser- Gymnasim Vlotho Perspektiven eröffnen). For our learning mobility team, Weser Gymnasium also opened up new perspectives, allowing them to observe the daily workings of a gymnasium.
It was a busy week for the participants, full of new knowledge, insights and impressions, as well as creativity.
At the beginning of the week, Guido Höltke, headmaster of the Gymnasium Weser, introduced the participants to the education system in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After discussions and clarification of questions of interest, the teachers spent four working days observing lessons in order to gain experience of the teaching process, the role of the teacher, student engagement, methodological approaches, the use of digital tools and
assessment in the teaching process. The Erasmus+ project week ended with a discussion with the heads of the teaching areas about the pedagogical experience gained in the Gymnasium in Weser in comparison with the pedagogical work in the RVVG.
Lessons learned and conclusions of RVVG teachers after observing lessons at the Gymnasium in Weser:
- as part of the school's digitisation project, all teachers and pupils have been provided with tablets to use in their teaching work both at school and at home;
- lessons are student-centred, with the teacher organising and guiding the learning process, and students largely learning new material independently;
- in the learning process, the teacher asks open questions, encourages discussion, does not express opinions, invites students to summarise, evaluate and decide, to arrive at the right answer, to learn in a self-directed way;
- the expression of pupils' opinions in lessons contributes to a better understanding and retention of the material;
- each lesson, the teacher assesses each pupil's involvement in the discussion of the subject, either in a paper log or on an electronic class list; during the semester, pupils receive a mark for their oral involvement in the lesson;
- the semester assessment consists of two test paper assessments and one oral assessment.
Colleagues from the Weser Gymnasium introduced our teachers to Vlotho and the surrounding towns of Minden, Hereford, Porta Westfalica, Bückeburg, Bad-Oeyenhausen and the iron ore mines in Kleinenbremen. Participants were invited to a reception with the Mayor of Floto, Rocco Wilken, and to a discussion at the Centre for European Studies (Gesamteuropäische Studienwerk), an organisation that studies the situation in the Eastern Bloc countries and organises seminars for students and educators.
See more here: Photos
