Training course “Right By My Side”
“Right by my side” was a Training Course
that happened in Montecatini-Terme, Italy, from 14 to 21 of October of 2019; it
was created by the Italian organization “Invasioni Creative”.
Although I made some mobility programs of
Erasmus plus before: two Youth Exchanges and a long term EVS, this was the
first time I made a Training Course.
In the project were involved 3 participants
from 6 countries: Italy, Latvia, Greece, Check Republic, Spain and Portugal. All the
Portuguese participants came from the same town, from where our sending
organization Associação Inspira! is
based.
The main topic of the Training Course was “Disabilities” and some of the main objectives of the course were:
-
Increase awareness of
disability issues;
-
To empower selected
youth/social workers by training them in using non formal education methods
based on art as a mean to engage youth with different abilities in society;
-
To provide youth workers with knowledge skills and practical experience on working with youngsters with
disabilities.
-
To create a network of youth
workers who are able to develop activities accessible to people with
disabilities;
-
To identify and remove barriers
to active participation of youngsters with disability in the life of their community;
-
To identify new Tools and
methods that best match the needs of youngsters with fewer opportunities:
-
To promote transnational
partnership between NGO’s active in the youth sector;
-
To increase participation of
youth with disabilities to non-formal education activities.
Because this Training is an Erasmus Plus
project, it means that the methodology was based in a non-formal methodology (energizers, team-building, role plays,
simulations, brainstorming, etc.)
In NON-FORMAL EDUCATION the
participants reflect in their own competence and make their evaluation.
Knowledge
+ Skills + Attitudes --> COMPETENCE
Describing some Topics and activities we
made:
We
started to read some definitions of “disability” according to different models;
without knowing at first which model was, we made reactions to it. The majority
of us had better reaction to WHO
definition, Social Adapted Model and Social
Model. The Economic Model, Charity Model, Moral Model and Medical Model
received bad reactions (as it seems that is not a nice way to look at
disability)
Then we went
deep in founding Information on Disability by understanding what means
Communication Disorders, Physical Disabilities, Hearing Impairments, Vision
Impairments, Braille Alphabet, Learning Disabilities, Intellectual Disabilities
and Autism.
Through all the
room were papers explaining what consist a certain type of disability. After
reading it we had a group task for each disability.
We also
got the chance to meet an art organization that works with disable people in
the city of Prato, being the organization’s name: “Arcantarte”. They told us
that Clay is an amazing material for lots of people with disability, because it
can be felt with the hands, it can be smelt, easily shaped and usually they
love it. We made one basic peace normally but the second one we made it
blindfolded to ignore the sight sense and being able to feel better with our
hands.
In
the project we agreed between every participant in making 10 + 1
KEY
POINTS OF WORKING WITH PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
-
Good plan and clear aims
-
Be respectful
-
Be patient, empathetic and
understanding
-
Be without prejudice,
open-minded, positive
-
One step at a time
-
Be responsible
-
Be passionately involved
-
Do things that are suitable
-
Use mindfulness
-
Make people contribute to the
World.
Not only we learnt a lot about disabilities
but also learned HOW we should design activities taking in consideration
the 5 STAGES of the Group Dynamics of Tuckman’s Model:
1 –
FORMING THE GROUP
with introduction, icebreaking
with introduction, icebreaking
2-
STORMING
It’s when the first conflicts arise. When
we, somehow, need to give up our individuality to work as a group.
3 –
NORMING
When group is really made and works start
flowing.
4-
PERFORMING
It’s when members are confident, motivated
and familiar enough with the project and their team that they can operate
without supervision. Everyone is on the same page and driving full-speed ahead
towards the final goal.
5-
ADJOURNING
Once
the project ends, the team disbands. These phases are sometimes known as
mourning because members have grown close and feel a loss now that the
experience is over.
TO RUN AND CREATE AN ACTIVITY we need to know:
WHO are our target and their needs
WHY is the activity existing? What are the aims and objectives?
WHEN is the right time to make the activity?
WHERE the activity takes place?
WHAT materials do I need to make this activity?
HOW
MANY people I need for the activity?
HOW do I structure and make this activity? (structure and instructions)
AND
IF… I run into any problems with my activity? (risk
management)
The
group I've been with decided to create the ZIG ZAG CIRCLE ACTIVITY that is
based on trust, it’s when a person fall back and need to trust in others. Energizer and big part of the time of all the activity the participants were
blindfolded, because our aim was to create the activity for people with a
visual impairment.
Because Non Formal learning involves
self-evaluation, the participants always make an evaluation of what they
learned, not the facilitators. Feedbacks are also good for that. We used the “Sandwich
Method”, more used in spoken world, but also learned other method in which in
Latvia are something called “Pipipi Method”
Sandwich method is based on the layers
Positive, Negative, Positive, by this order.
The so called “Pipipi method” is:
1 – Saying something very positive
2 – Ask a question about presentation
3 – What you would like to change?
Of Course we learnt a lot in almost one
week, here only come a brief Idea about what we learnt.
We
developed a Toolkit about the project, all by hand, because we didn’t have
computers neither time, so we used all the material we had at our disposable
and resulted in something like this:
Personal comment about the project:
It was my first
Training Course, I was more familiar with Youth Exchanges, which in my opinion
are more dynamic. Training Course is to get deeper in a topic and it is not only
for youth, but also for people older than 30 years old as long as they are very
interested on it and it can be used in their profession. In this project we had
presence of two teachers, for me was a surprise because I didn’t know that,
actually, there is no age restriction in Training Courses.
The organization
of the project was great; I enjoyed all the activities, it was very complete, I
only missed more energizers and maybe doing them outdoors, because we spent all
the time inside the room, apart for the trip to Prato. The thematic was (still
be) very interesting and important. I have chosen to go to this project to
learn about disabilities and learn tools for later, in case of need, using them
when dealing with people who have special needs. I really enjoyed the
experience.
Mariana from Portugal.
See the video I made
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