Day 4

Today we started the day by going to the Middle school building. First we assisted an English class where they were working on a project related to the school library called "A Noticia do Dia" which is a DAC class project that 5th A group is working on. 

First of all, one of the students read a short article from a magazine that was about food and healthy eating. This was the same project they were working on yesterday in the Citizenship and Music class. Once they read the article which was written in Portuguese, then Rosa Morais, their teacher, did a brief summary for them. Then, they were working on the food wheel and vocabulary and some structures (likes and dislikes). They also classify food into the food groups. 

One of the things that impressed me was that they played kahoot using their mobile phones. They are 10 year old pupils and I think they shouldn' t bring their phones in class. That's something you see in middle and high school that all the kids use their phones in class, not only for educational reasons. There is such a big difference compared to our country. 

Once the English class finished we moved to the Secondary School library where we were able to observe a debate about a books project called "Múdos a Votos" which is a national reading election to choose students' favourite books.  It was such a great experience to see how the students participated in the debate defending their books which  were chosen not only by themselves but also by their classmates. So they argued and defended the books they groups have chosen in order to win the election. It is a national contest which is celebrated in all the Portuguese schools. 

The event was recorded by the audiovisual students who are in charge of the TVna Maior. It is the school television channel of the Santa Maria Maior School Grouping. They produce news, reports, interviews, documentaries, press reviews and literary criticism programs.

The channel was founded in 2016, TV na Maior was one of the projects selected in the application Ideas with Merit of the School Libraries Network. It is the result of a partnership between the School Library and the Professional Audiovisual Technician Course of the Santa Maria Maior High School. The contents of their programs are related to the lives of the schools in the grouping and also to the local community.

In addition to our teams of journalists and technicians, TV na Maior counts on the collaboration of numerous teachers and students who, within the scope of different subjects, activities or projects, accept the challenge to participate in the production of informative content.

They intend to create a culture of media education at school that provides students with opportunities to develop skills that make them responsible and critical as consumers and producers of media content.

In the debate we met two dutch teachers who work in schools libraries in their country and we had the opportunity to exchange ideas and to know how their system works. 

In the afternoon we went to see a project called "Ciència Viva Club" where different pupils do activities with native plants in the greenhouse. Eduardo, who is the science teacher, explained that the students go there and take care of the plants as well as to experiment with the plants.  

We ended our day in the school by going to a meeting in the middle school library with all the language teachers in order to have a collaborative work talk. It was really interesting to have a discussion with them on the projects we do in both countries as well as to talk about the differences between our educational systems. We also shared ideas and methodologies. It has been very enriching.