Ms. Anna Pirounaki is a graduated teacher from the University of Thessalonica - Pedagogical Department, specialised in training young pupils.  She got additional training on ICT in 1993 from the Greek Ministry of Education. Since 1996 she has been collaborating as an external partner concerning the ICT in the classroom with 3 Universities: Vrije Universiteit Brussels, the Pedagogical Department of Rhodes Aegean University, and the Pedagogical Dept. for Primary School Teachers of Patras. In 2000, she was teachers’ ICT trainer, highlighting the pedagogical dimension of ICT usage in the primary school.  She is a founding member and since 2002 active member of the Net for Children’s Rights - Greek branch. From 1994 until today, Ms. Pirounaki coordinated 2 Comenius projects and 7 e-twinning programs successfully, receiving European Quality Labels for each project, and 1st e-twinning national prize twice in the 5-12 year age category – in 2006 and 2009.  Knowing very well that the key to good use of ICT is mainly a safe environment for the pupils, she got two first prizes, one from ACSIA, and  a second one at  SAFERINTERNET DAY 2008, being also a runner up in a European level competition with her pupils work: “OPTIONS”. Since 1981, Ms. Pirounaki is head teacher at the Kindergarten of Kaparelli, with special focus on ICT use in the classroom.

The following was taken from an email interview with Anna, December 2009.

Anna, how long have you been using ICT in kindergarten?

We bought our first  PC for the Kaparelli Kindergarten in  1992  with  the support of parents. At that time I  had just completed an 80 hour ICT  course. Using  my  pedagogical background as  a  teacher I  made  some  worksheets for  pupils, (http://nip-kapar.voi.sch.gr/engraphic__tests.htm ) based  on  the  Greek curriculum for  Kindergartens  and then  we  started  using this  new  tool, exploring and  learning  together with the children.

Did you face any obstacles in using ICT in teaching your young pupils?

Working  with  young  pupils  and  new  technologies  is  a  great, long   and  exciting adventure: discovering  new  ways  of  action,  new   tracks  of learning,  new educational  fields to  explore. But the  biggest motivation for me,   is to see  the   potential  and the   abilities of  the  young  pupils  who pick up  new  stuff  so  quickly and learn day by day. This very fact drives  me  farther  and makes me want to expand  my goals.
On the other hand local authorities were not mature enough, 17  years ago, to  accept  a  Kindergarten using  ICTs.  I  had  to  be  strong  and  face  a multitude of obstacles for at least 6 years, until   the outcomes of the Kindegarten’s work with ICT  and  society’s acceptance of ICT  usage settled matters.

How do you think ICT tools and the internet can benefit young children?

We  believe  we  can  easily  achieve our  learning  goals  working and  developing   collaborative  projects, for example through  e-twinnings and Comenius  multi partnerships.   Through this kind of  projects,  pupils  are  supported  by  the  teachers to  plan their learning  with  the partner schools and focus on action. We chose to learn by doing, rather than speaking about ICT. In this process we try to involve the parents as much as possible. Internet is the new way of learning, full of challenges, at our school today. Thanks to the internet, the young pupils are more motivated to communicate with school mates from other countries and exchange material. In doing so they enrich their school life, discover and accept diversity, share peer-to –peer knowledge  and most importantly, learn to work in teams.
 

Could you give some examples of how you use new technologies with your pupils and how do you approach the subject of online safety?

Every year we start with a new  group  from scratch.. Pupils choose to spend time in our ‘ICT corner’ almost on a daily basis. They sit in pairs, helping each other, and  with my  supervision they  start  exploring and learning how to use Microsoft Paint. They experiment with drawing, writing their names, the date, finding and saving their creations into their personal folders. Every Friday pupils can borrow books  from  the  school  library  and  they  use  the PC  to  record their activity  on a specially made colour-coded sheet, specially made for that purpose. Pupils choose  to  write   emails  to their  school partners using  their  drawings,  and maybe  some  words they know  in  Greek  or  in  English. Some  pupils  are  able to  make  posts  on  the  school  Blog,  taking photos from  a  school  project  and uploading. They like to  use some  web 2. tools (here Dimitris makes an ANIMOTO by himself – using the codes and posting them on the school Blog), like  Voki  and  Animoto,   to communicate  or  share a  plan with their friends. As  educators we  respect  the development rhythm of of each  child  and  based on this, we  focus on how  we  may  improve their progress, catering to their individual needs.   Being engaged in these activities, pupils get the chance to  discuss  online safety  issues  they  are confronted with when using  the  Internet. Thus, we encourage them to make their own correct choices, (example using the “back button” http://nipkapar.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-safe-acting-etwinning.html) with our support.

How do you involve parents in this process?

If we act right at school and at home, it is easier to integrate our goals. This is our motto. However, to achieve this we need parents’ collaboration. This is a big priority to our school.  It is not an easy process, but it’s definitively worth trying. We  progressively build a  relation of  trust,  encouraging parents to realize  how    important  their  role  is in so many  aspects  of  their  children’s  lives  not only for  today, but  also  for  the future. We stress the importance of their physical presence next to their children.. We  try  to  underline this at  parents’  meetings  as  often  as  we  can throughout the year. We also provide parents with leaflets, posters  or worksheets  and  from time  to time, if  possible, we invite  experts.

What is your message to teachers?

Love your pupils, invest in a good relationship with parents. It’s truly worth it!