Best Practice: Lycée Michel-Rodange

1. "Classes find themselves". Education in selfconfidence and responsibility against others

Carried out during the whole year in 2007 for every first class of the school (12-year old): students involved in 2007: 175
In collaboration with the National Youth Agency, "Centre Mariendall", Lycée Michel-Rodange has decided to send 3 classes of its first year-students to this center to train students on taking responsibility and to know themselves better (abilities, ...). During the first day 4 games help them to learn to bee confident in others, to take responsibility and to think as a whole group; the visits of some caverns should help the students to overcome their fears if there are any. The second day the team training continues in making teams of two, where one partner has to feel responsibel for the other: climbing on a height of 7 m in an adventure park was the chalennge, where every student had to pass moments of fear of discouragement and of overcoming due to the encouraging calls of the partner or the whole team. They learned to know their own limits and how to manage them.

the further steps: know your abilities an trust your partner (by groups of two)

Click to enlarge

Evaluation
The tests made before and after the project showed clearly an important enhancement of teamfeeling and an improved general athmosphere in the class. This led also to better results at the teaching level.

Is this best practice transferable to other schools?
Recommendations:
Yes, but the interested schools must find an adventure parc to carry out the project and should build up a team who evaluates such an initiative.

2. "Impuls" Anti-bullying education through theatre (role-play for students)

Carried out in the month of october in the last three years for 13-years old students (6th classes) number of students involved every year: 170

Every year, bullying prevention is treated by a professional team from Switzerland called "Impulse". Prepared in the courses of social education and relegion, the students are invited to watch a theater piece where mainly bullying scenes are represented. After a first representation the play is repeated and the students are encouraged to interrupt or intervene by discussing or by substituing himself to the actor. Girls and boys are separated to be able to discuss the subject differently and to respect the difference of maturity at the age of 13. The day after, the classes are invited to discuss and encouraged to reflect on their own behaviour in the future. The third day, the students parents are invited to the same role-play with the same programm

Evaluation
The Swiss team compares the students behaviour before and after the intervention but unfortunately we don't get e report (will be improved next year); in an discussion, the students declared mainly that this initiative enhanced or changed positively the climate in the class and
The parents are enthousiastic about this initiative which will continue even after the end of the SDP-project

Is this best practice transferable to other schools?
Recommendations:
Yes, but we recommend to improve the evaluation and collect statements of the students,; we recommend also to work out sheet for better evaluation (also important to get funds).

3. "The Charter": Working out a charter for the school with students

Carried out in 2006 with the students of the 2nd and 3rd (16 and 17 years old students) during the courses of social education and civic instruction
number of students involved: 380

As in the SDP project our school planned to work out a charter of the school, the idea was to invite students of the upper classes (except the final year) to work it out. First the ideas were collected in the classes; after a first discussion, the class had to choose 6 principles to submit to a jury of students and teachers (parents did not collaborate). A selection of principles was submitted to a vote of the students of all classes : every student had to stick three points to the principle or the claim he wanted to enter in the charter. The principles with the majority of points were written down in verses adapted to the stile of the poem of Michel-Rodange "Renert".

Evaluation
The result of this collaboration between 380 students was rather poor, due perhaps to the lack of preparation: the students mixed general principles with concrete claims which showed clearly that a lot of students didn't understand the idea of a charter. The parents were not interested nor were most teachers.

Is this best practice transferable to other schools?
Recommendations To involve the students to build up a general text is allways useful. It is important to prepare them sufficiently, which was not the case in all classes. The difficulty was to get the different teachers persuaded to support the idea, which was not allways possible.

Click here to view the charter