PROJECT OVERVIEW 

1. Description of "Our Community" Describe what you consider to be your "local community." ( NOTE: "community" need not be restricted by geographic location.)

Our city Zory is situated in the South of Poland in Upper Silesia, in the middle of Europe. The local people, known as the Silesians, have inhabited Zory for centuries. But, the population of Silesia steadily grew when people immigrated to the town from other parts of Poland to find a job in the coal mining industry. Both Silesians and Poles pay particular attention to Polish customs. One of them is respect for bread which symbolizes wealth and job. Bread is also significant for religious reason therefore, Silesians and Poles perceive themselves as a unity. Respect for bread is one of the distinguishing features of the Silesians community, regardless of regional differences.    

2.     Summary of Our Project Write a brief overview of what your CyberFair Web Project is all about.

Bread plays a crucial role in Polish culture and tradition. Unfortunately, high regard for bread is beginning to fade nowadays. People treat bread as a common meal which, according to them, has nothing in common with the sphere of sacrum. Today, people are dominated by the ideology of consumerism. For that reason, we claim that we should cherish respect for bread and its symbolism, in order to keep a sense of perspective in the future. Besides, regard for bread inspire us to reflect upon our behaviour.

Our students pointed a total lack of information related to bread, which could attract children and teenagers as well. Pupils tried in vain to find on the Internet some information about old bread recipes and old fashioned baking equipment. Consequently, our students decided to launch a website about bread. To do that, they were searching some information on the Internet and in books. They also were talking with elderly people about customs and habits connected with bread. Our pupils also visited a hundred year old,  still-working bakery and The Bakers Cottage, the old house with the adjoining bread oven ( from which the property takes its name). The Bakers Cottage in which a bakery demonstration takes place is situated in Gorki Male. Photographic reportage which comes from students` exploration is now available on the website mentioned above. You can acquaint yourself with the students` opinion on bread and its symbolism. According to them, there is a necessity of returning to traditional values and ideals which can protect us against cultural relativism.

3.     Our Computer and Internet Access A: 49 computers, 41 with Internet access,

Percentage of students using the Internet at home: Your Answer B. 30%

Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom: Your Answer C. 31

Connection speed used in the classroom: Your Answer D. 100

Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet: Your Answer E. 6 years

Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional): Limit your comments to 150 words (1000 characters) or less. If you have a compelling story to tell, then create a Web page as part of your project pages and make a link here. One of the two fully equipped computer classrooms was won by our school in all - Polish contest “Superschool”.

4.     Problems We Had To Overcome. Write a brief description of the barriers, including technical obstacles, that you and your students faced during this project. Tell how you overcame or otherwise dealt with these obstacles.

At first, it was the most important to find the nearest place where bread was made. Luckily, The Bakers Cottage had just been opened for visitors who wanted to see a bakery demonstration. We visited The Bakers Cottage and we found its hosts very kind and courteous to us. We could take photos and make a movie there. We were also allowed to make bread and pancakes (made of flour and water ) by ourselves. It was first time we had eaten such pancakes which were very tasty, especially with butter and honey. However, we had difficulty in making puzzle because we had no idea how to do it. Four students were taking turns in solving a problem by cutting photos into small pieces, but in vain. Finally, we found a proper computer program which allowed us to solve our problem.

As usually, we tried to assemble a team of students and their parents what always caused problem as well as finding a translator. We had also a lot of trouble with finding out when and where the Harvest Festivals were held. Most of them took place in the middle of students` holiday. Fortunately, a very kind and generous people helped us.

5.     Our Project Sound Bite Write ONE (or two) sentences that BEST summarize what your participation in CyberFair has meant to either your students, your school, or your community.

“The old adage is that someone who does not stint on bread, never loses it.” It means that people become richer if they are able to share the fruit of their labour. We made considerable effort to participate in the project. We were obliged to gather information and photographic work needed for the contest. It was also very important to select reference material on the subject raised. Then, we were considering the way of presenting our work. We also devoted our time to photo processing and preparing texts. Both information and people we met enriched our knowledge and made us to think. We pondered over our attitude towards bread, job and nature.

We did our best to prepare the project. We hope it will be a rich source of inspiration and guidance, as well as ideas on which you can rely while thinking about the future.

6.      How did your activities and research for this International Schools CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards? Questions to Consider:              Which content standards did your CyberFair project address?

 How did this project fit into your required school, district, or state curriculum guidelines?

 What new skills did you learn?

What group concepts did you practice?

 How do you better understand specific ideas?

 How does your project fit into the requirements for your school or class?

 What discoveries did you make about your educational system? About the role you play in your school community?

 Has using the Internet for teaching and learning been more effective than traditional methods? If so, explain?

Our project meets requirements for CATEGORY 4: Local Specialties, Sports and Health  Polish schools cover a literature and art syllabus which contains, among other things, issues of bread and its symbolism. Realizing the project students extended their ability to search and choose proper information. They also gained an experience in writing and editing their own piece of writing. Students used the Internet to send e-mail as well as to get some information. To create the project, students made use of computer graphics and they also took advantage of computer program `Splitz` to make puzzle. Some students advanced their knowledge of computer animation and they made corrections to the code of the website www.          

Students who were engaged in preparing photographic reportages of bread making underwent training which included staying in The Bakers Cottage. Without a doubt, we couldn’t manage without the Internet. Thanks to it, we found out that The Bakers Cottage exists at all. Then, we established relations with its owners, who were very kind to us. An Internet forum helped us to get to know people’s view on the cultural aspect of bread. Presumably, we won’t meet these people in real life because some of them live abroad. In addition, traditional correspondence would last too long.

 PROJECT ELEMENTS

1)     What information tools & technologies did you use to complete your CyberFair project? This list can include things like: number and type of computers, telephones, TV and radio stations, video and digital still cameras, digitizers and scanners, tape recorders, Internet video or other teleconferencing, type computer software, libraries, books, newspapers, museums, oral interviews,

Questions to Consider:
 How did these tools help you?

Where did you locate each tool?

Were any tools donated by businesses or schools?

What were your most valuable tools? Why?

Which technologies were the most helpful? How?
 Be sure and tell any unique or unusual ways your students used information tools and technologies.

To complete our Cyber Fair Project we used: 6 PC Celeron 800 MHz – 2,4GHz computers, personal computers at teachers' and students’ homes, printers, digital camera, scanner, telephones, libraries, books, the Internet, interviews. Most of the tools were available to us here at school. Our most valuable tools were: the computers, digital camera, the Internet, interviews and books. We used computer software: Microsoft Word to edit information, MS Outlook Express to receive and send mail, MS Internet Explorer and the Internet searchers to search and browse the Internet resources for example dictionaries and encyclopedias, Microsoft Front Page to design our web pages and sometime we used Windows Notepad to correct the html code, Macromedia Flash MX to design computer animations, MS Photo Editor and Corel Draw to manipulate some photos, digital camera software, CuteFtp to upload our web pages to server. It's important to mention that our school has won fully equipped computer classroom in the all-Polish competition, therefore we had no problems in finding the needed tools.

2)    In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person. An "ambassador" is a person who represents his or her country or, in this case, school or organization. In order to accomplish this project your students probably contacted and talked to people in your community... in person, through letters and phone calls, and through email. During those contacts, students probably had to tell them about this project and some of the other things that you were doing at school. In this section, tell about the different ways that students contacted people in your community. We would also like to hear about any interesting anecdotes or stories or outcomes of those contacts. For instance, did you get any visitors or donated services because of your contacts? Are people impressed with the work that you are doing? How did they tell you they are impressed?

We began our quest from visiting the website for bread. We came across a very interesting website, but unfortunately that was appropriate for adults. We wrote to the author to ask if she could allow us to make use of her remarkable achievement. She agreed and praised us for our intention. As a result, we got to know old customs related to bread making and we also acquainted ourselves with the bakery equipment used in the remote parts Poland. Next, we chose some relevant proverbs and poems. Our grandmothers were also an invaluable source of information. They told us how bread was made and how children were thought to show proper respect for bread. What’s more, we got in touch with the owner of a still working, hundred year old bakery. We were told that there are also four other bakeries like that in Poland. We were glad to take some photos.

Parents, teachers and inhabitants of Zory helped us to gather any information about the date of Harvest Festival. Our parents arranged a visit to The Bakers Cottage and they fix a date for an appointment with its owner.

Older colleagues, who finished our school, gave us a lot of support in our work. They helped us to make computer animation and the website. To take photos, one colleague went to a bakery late at night because bread is made until the small hour in the morning to be later distributed to shops.

Everyone enjoyed the central theme of the project. It was considered to be highly desirable and important. People willingly gave us help.

3)     What has been the impact of your project on your community? Realizing that your web site may not have been up very long, describe how your involvement in this project has strengthened the "relationship" between your school and your local community, or describe the anticipated impact your project will have in the future. Questions to Consider.

Will your project made a difference?

What is unique about your presentation within your community?

Have people in your community learned new things through your Web pages?

Have other people around the world learned new things about your community?

Have you established some new working relationships with people in the community? Who besides you and your students has looked at your Web pages?

What kind of feedback have you received?

How has your Web site helped them?

Be sure you tell about the good things that your project has done at your school or organization, among your parents, and within your community... whether they have anything to do with technology or not.

The topic of the project has been suggested by Mrs Bozena-Tkacz Bisupek, the teacher at our school and the project coordinator. She told us that teachers are looking for some information which would be helpful for them to prepare lectures on bread making. Unfortunately, the Internet doesn’t offer material appropriate for children. Information available in the Internet is fragmentary and unsatisfactory. Because bread is highly regarded in Poland where children are thought to treat bread with respect, we came to conclusion that the website, suitable for students, should be opened. But on the other hand, we can observe the changes in people’s attitude towards bread, which is a matter of considerable concern. In dealing with this new phenomenon, we decided to take action to restore bread’s lost reputation. We should respect bread because, in this way we appreciate the importance of people’s work.

We believe that our website will be helpful both for teachers and students. It will be a necessary tool while preparing lectures on bread and its customs. The website will be also attractive to adults. Our parents and grandparents expressed interest in our project and they appreciated its importance. We hope that Poles, who have left their homeland, will visit our website sooner or later. They could treat it as a useful source of information for their children.

Our students are on an exchange with learners from the Netherlands and France. Being in Poland, students from these countries get to know our country and its customs, so our website would be suitable for them as well. We have also participated in an international eTwinning project since 2005. We work in cooperation with a school in Linz (Austria). Food and the way of eating is the topic of our common project. We try to consider all aspect of the issue. Our work will be also helpful for the participant of eTwinning project. We carry out a similar project for The European Program Comenius.

4)    How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers? Most CyberFair teams need lots of advice and help to complete their entry... did yours??? Tell about your helpers: who they were, how you found and asked them, how they helped. This is a great place to give them a great big thanks. You can even link their stories to some pictures if you have them. (Be sure you have their permission to publish their pictures first, however.) Also tell about those long-distance helpers who provided assistance from across the miles via the Internet.

We establish our website thanks to the kindness of many people. We are grateful to all of the supporters of our project. First of all, we are very grateful to The Dudys’s, the owners of The Bakers Cottage, who let us watch, photograph and later film a bakery demonstration. They provide us with details about bread. We would like to thank Mr Andrzej Donga for a possibility of taking photos. We really appreciate his story which enriched our knowledge of baking equipment.

We are grateful to Mrs Zofia Marklowska who made Harvest Festival pictures available to us. We express our gratitude to our elder fiend Jarek Dudka for solving our computer-related problems. Our grateful thanks go to our parents and grandparents who familiarized us with interesting customs related to bread. We thank an internet forum participant for their involvement.

A special thanks to all teachers, who provide a lot of support and encouragement: Mrs Aleksandra Tomczak, Mrs Krystyna Jurkowska, Mrs Elzbieta Bartosiewicz, Mrs Kornelia Zelcer. We are very grateful to Mrs Bozena Tkacz- Biskupek, the project coordinator, for her creative inspiration and helping hand.

5)    Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional). Were there interesting discoveries you made, lessons you learned, or surprises that occurred as a result of this project? If so, take the time to share these insights and observations with your audience. Did this project lead to other awards or recognitions? Would you recommend this project to others?

 During the work on the project we learnt many useful things. One of them is making puzzle and photo processing. It was the first time some students had learnt to create the website. Some of us familiarized with computer animation. Students who were responsible for preparing a piece of writing could developed their language skills J We were greatly surprised to hear that many young people treat bread with respect. We consider that attitude to be typical of elderly people. We also discovered how tasty plain read can be J

I would recommend our work to teachers, parents and students. Teachers can use the website to fulfil educational purposes.