The stories of your history

The stories of your history

• 1.
  THE STORIES OFYOUR HISTORY INTRODUCING OURSELVES Introducing the students Before the first meeting in France, we made films in which students introduced themselves Introducing the towns and regions For the meeting in France in November 2011, in Norway in March 2012, in Poland in May 2012 and in Italy in October 2012, students shew presentations of their towns, their regions to the other students, teachers and parents. Srudents prepared présentations of local museums and towns they shew in Poland. CREATING A LOGO Students produced different logos for the project. The logos were sent to the different countries and one was elected in Poland in May 2012.
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  STEP 1 THEFAMILY STORIES The circle of origins The map of the origins Italy, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Russia, Turkey, North Africa… France is clearly an immigration land. On the contrary, Polish families are native of Poland which makes Poland rather an emigration country. It is roughly the same for Norway and South Italy even if these two countries have become lately countries of immigration (from Africa especially). This work was interesting because students became aware that Europe is a continent where people moved a lot and the different countries are connected to each other through migrations. The family tree The circle is divided in 8 parts, one for each of the grandparents. Students drew the flags of the original country of their grandparents. The map of Europe we’ve drawn on the wall of the class room enables us to see the origins of the families. Colored strings were placed from the original towns or countries of the grand parents to the 4 towns (Moreste, Nowa Deba, Carovigno, Hoyanger). It appears that half of the French students’ families come from abroad : Each students filled this family tree. Then we gathered them in a booklet.
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  The family storynarrative STEP 2 THE NATIONAL HISTORY The narrative of the national history NATIONAL HISTORIES COMPARISON 1. Do they use the Periods ? Do they know them ? Chronology isn’t the students’ major concern. They rarely use historical Periods. Sometimes Renaissance, the Middle Ages but that’s all. They know facts, important dates but rarely make links between the periods. However some of them use their periods, I mean « the Viking era » in Norway, « the Kings time » in France. 2. What event/Period is considered as the beginning of the national history ? The answers are obviously very different. Polish students agree on baptism of Poland 966. Some of them mentioned about earlier times (the Slavic people). Norvegian students mention the Viking era. Each students wrote a narrative of his/her family story, put in a booklet with the circles of origins and the family trees. Then some stories were chosen and presented in other ways : films, cartoon, diaries, powerpoints… These works were presented in Norway, in March 2012 Students were told to write the history of their country, as they know it, without any préparation. They had about 45 minutes to do so.
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  For Italian studentsItalian national history starts in 1861 after the Wars of Independance and the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. French students don’t answer very clearly to the question. Very few mention the origin of the state : they talk then about the Gauls, the Francs. It is interesting to see that for Polish students the origin is a religious event ; for Norvegian and French people it is an ethnic origin ; for Italian it is a political event. Although Italy is full of cultural richnesses, students place the birth of the country in 1861. For Norway, Poland and France, the origin is old and more cultural. 3. What characters are mentionned ? Do they speak about people ? individuals ? Norway : Harald Hårfagre, Saint Olav, Leiv Eriksson, Snorre, Karl Johan, Harald V, ABB are individuals that are mentioned. The laps are also mentioned. They don't connect historical events very much to individual people. Italy : the best known historical characters are Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Maldini, connected to Independance. Besides, students know about very important characters such as Galileo, Dante, Frederik II. Poland : all students said about characters. They usually mentionned Polish Kings. Some of them mentioned about individuals (not only Poles) : Saint Wojciech ; Otton III ; Gallus Anonymus ; Copernicus ; Tadeusz Kosciuszko ; Pilsudski, Pope Jan Pawel II, Lech Walesa, Napoleon. Individuals connected with national movement, the end of communism, cultural heritage, and the Pope. France : many individuals, political characters are mentioned. Many are the Kings of France (Louis XIV, Louis XVI), the presidents of the Vth Republic, Napoleon. 4. What events are mentionned ? Italy : The events frequently mentioned are the rebellions before the unity, the wars of Independance and the Expedition of the Thousands. This historical period is part of the curriculum plan, but is set at the end of the year because of its chronological subdivision. Therefore, our students have not studied yet, with method, the events and the most important historical people in Italy as a state. However, in 2011we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the unity in Italy, so students had the opportunity to learn a lot about that historical period thanks to the numerous events fostered. Norway: The constitution of 1814 is mentioned by everybody, the viking era by almost everybody. The unions by about 75% of the students. Christianity, the black plague and second world war by about 50%. The terror attack is mentioned by one third! The discovery of oil by about one fourth of the students. Democratic movement, industrialization, migration patterns are never or almost never mentioned. The independence from Sweden in 1905 is mentioned by few students. The choice is very much connected to the curriculum. In primary school, pupils work mainly on the Viking era.
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  Poland : Themain topics told by the students are the baptism of Poland, the first Kings of Poland ; the different partitions ; the Napoleonic wars ; the birth of Poland in 1918 ; World War two and the Warsaw ghetto ; Communism ; the élection of Pope John Paul II ; The création of Solidarnosc, the autumn of nation, Poland part of NATO and EU. The choice is also connected to the curriculum but students know their close history by what they’ve been told by their families or whoever. Religious events are part of Polish identity. France : The French Revol is often spoken of, mostly « la prise de la Bastille », the Declaration of Rights, Louis16 beheaded. Then they mention the World Wars with very few details, and the Middle Ages (knights, peasants, crusades). Very few talk about the industrial revolution, the football cup, Clovis, women getting the right to vote. We can notice that the choice of events is clearly connected to the curriculum and the context : the French Revolution has been learnt a few months ago, as well as the industrial revolution. The Middle Ages is in the curriculum of the previous year. They haven’t learnt about the WW : that’s why these events are just mentionned and not detailed. One specific thing is that many French students mention the symbols of the Republic as part of the History. Some of them mention the tsunami which has happenened a few months ago. 5. What is their point of view ? The stories are mainly told in a political and military point of view : revolutions, Kings, rights are frequent. The religious point of view is specific to Polish stories when Norvegian stress on the social point of view, French and Norvegian mention the ethnic belonging (the Vikings, the Francs, the Gauls). The stories are mainly told in a national point of view. The choice of events is clearly national, and when the events are European (for example the WW), they are told in a national point of view . Which leads us to the third step of our work, the European history. The students mainly write about simple facts with no connection to the context and with little content and understanding, cohesion. They show no personal point of view; they don't say « I think» etc. 6. The narrative : The narrative is usually not linear. It has little cohesion. It is a list of non connected and non detailed events. It's not a militant or judgment narrative. These characteristics we find in the four countries. We think that the students were quite young (from 12 to 15) to have a personal point of view or a critical approach on events. Moreover, they were not prepared for this exercise. We then have what they remember, it is a raw material. However the teaching methods are different. In France sudents are taught how to write a historical narrative. But it’s a very new teaching methods and we can see through this exercise that the students are not at ease with it. Norwegian teachers focus on the links, but that’s not to be seen in the narratives. In Poland and Italy historical narrative isn’t a key skill at school. 10 major dates of the construction of the nation
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  We wanted ourstudents to know a bit more about the history of other countries. We decided to work on the construction of the nations and chose 10 dates for each country. Students made a powerpoint presentation of each date. We put all the dates on a timeline. Timeline French people made a game called timeline, to be played at the last meeting in France. The cards were made after the 10 dates. Rules Each player (or group of players) receives 4 cards, side back. The other cards are left on the deck. One card is put in the middle of the table, side up. Each player places one of his cards near the original card, before (on the left) or after (on the right) in the timeline. Then he flips over the cards and checks if the date is correctly placed in the timeline. If not he takes a card on the deck.
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  Common Topics As thenarrative shew mainly a political and national point of view, as the dates were on the construction of the nation, we chose to work on « Common Topics » : these topics would be more economical and cultural ; they would be common to the four countries. The topics we worked on are : - the christianization of Europe because it is a common heritage ; - the expansion of the Vikings who went as far as South Italy. - Trade in the Middle Ages which developped exchanges in Europe, economical but also cultural exchanges : as the roads were safer, students, painters, teachers could travel. - Gothic art is to be found in all the countries ; - Industry in the XIXth century : Europe is the first industrialized continent which has made it ahead for more than a century. - Royal Marriages : this topic was more political Students prepared informations in advance ; then they met in Italy, shared their informations and did common powerpoints. STEP 3 EUROPEAN HISTORY For this part, Italy had ceased working with us. We chose to work on major European events of the XXth century : - life during World War Two - Reconstruction after WW2 - Propaganda during the Cold War - Autumn of the nations - The feeling about European Union Students mainly looked for witnesses, documents and made presentations in Poland in March 2013. This work was very interesting for students and for teachers as well. Especially talking about Cold War and the differences in everyday life between Eastern and Western countries. Recent history is needed to understand our world today, and it
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  appeared that fewstudents really knew what had happened 30 years ago. Working on it, talking to witnesses made things more concrete. Here is a sum up of the debate which took place after the students’presentations. About the living conditions during WWII, we noticed many common points : food rationing, curfew, bombing, black market, children set to the countryside… Norway, Poland and France were invaded by the Nazis. But in Poland things were worse for different reasons : the Shoah took place in Poland ; German camps were set there. There were ghettos for Jews. Around 99% of the polish jews died during this period. Krakow was the German capital of Eastern Europe. Polish people bowed to Germans like slaves. Farmers gave all their food to Germans. They couldn't go to the cinema, couldn't use cars, paidphones... Universities were closed. They used to have classes in private flats secretly... Monuments,factories, houses, in both countries were destroyed but we can report that Germans bombed all the north of Norway because they didn't want to leave anything for Russians. From London, French and Polish resistance started to be organized. The Norvegian government was also established in this town. They tried to motivate people to fight against the advancing German invasion. Post-War period: Reconstruction American helped the 3 countries (Marshall Plan). After the war, France and Norway were under the influence of Americans. who were seen as heros. They called them Öthe SavioursÜ. Of the 68's generation, this situation changed specially during the Vietnam War. In Poland, at the beginning Americans were their enemy but after a while they tried to look like them! However, they appeared Evil in Poland. Cold War propaganda Studying propaganda during the Cold War was very interesting because Poland was not part of the same camp. Obviously our points of view are different. After World War II, Communist Terror started for the polish population. They were very scared (spies, denouncements...). They missed food and they were very poor. Americans, English and Russians drew the polish borders without any consultation with the polish government. Everything belonged to the nation (no private companies). They imposed an economic plan. The Church was also persecuted. They couldn't travel; it was very difficult for them to get a visa. People tried to escape their country to find a life of freedom. In France and Norway, it was different. The births exploded (baby boom).The Economy continued to grow up with stable governments. Work for everyone!! They were free to go anywhere.
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  They lived underDemocracy. The autumn of nations This was a major event for Poland who became free in 1989. The first free elections took place, it has since been a democracy. In France and Norway people haven’t always understood how important this was. Some people followed the news intensely, but the majority knows something has happened, but when ? Where ? Why ? European feelings Poland belongs to the European Union since 2004, France since 1957 but Norway isn't a member state of the EU. Polish people have a very positive point of view about European union. They have benefited from the EU and have joined it recently. French people are mostly in favour of EU except for the common currency because of the growth of prices in everyday life. Norvegian people think EU is good, but not for their country, for others !
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  ADVERTISING THE PROJECT Duringthe two years of the project, we tried to share our work regularly with the parents, the other teachers, the towns… Mayors welcomed us in the townhalls at each meeting. Parents were invited to meet the foreign teachers and students. Medias were sollicited. In Norway a journalist interviewed all the teachers for the local newspaper. In France teachers and two students of each country were interviewed by the local radio. A short radio show about Comenius was to heard at the end of May 2013 on « radio France bleu Isère ». Many articles have been written about the project in various newspapers.