Growing Together: How Young People Overcome Life's Turning Points

Teacher presents the project purpose, explaining how students will explore their own critical moments in student life and connect with international peers facing similar challenges.

Students review project goals, collaboration structure, and the importance of intercultural dialogue for personal growth and global awareness through a brief visual presentation.

Students discuss what 'critical moments' means to them and share initial thoughts about why understanding how peers from different cultures navigate challenges matters for their own growth.

Students prepare and record brief video introductions (1-2 minutes each) showing themselves, their school environment, and one meaningful moment from their student life.

Each class uploads their videos to the Project Board on Class2Class.org, making them accessible for their international partner classroom to view asynchronously.

Students watch their partner classroom's videos and take notes on interesting details about their peers' environments, interests, and experiences.

Students post initial reactions and questions about their international peers on the Project Board using the group chat feature to begin building connections.

Guide students to reflect on what surprised them or what they had in common with their partner classroom peers.

Students brainstorm in small groups what they want to know about how peers from different cultures experience critical moments in their student lives, recording ideas on a shared document.

The class votes on the most compelling driving question using Mentimeter or a similar polling tool, selecting the question that best captures their curiosity.

Students finalize the driving question collaboratively and post it on the Project Board for their international partner class to see.

Facilitate a brief discussion where students explain why they chose this question and what they hope to learn from their international peers' responses.

Students identify their own critical moment in student life and conduct interviews with family members or trusted adults to gather perspectives on how they navigated challenges.

Each student journals about their critical moment, describing the challenge, emotions experienced, and initial reflections on what they learned (students can write, draw, or record audio).

Students gather photos, images, or create visual representations that capture elements of their critical moment and the emotions involved.

Each student creates a short personal presentation using Google Slides, a collage, or an audio recording that tells their story of a critical moment and how they began to overcome it.

Students prepare their materials for sharing with international partners, ensuring their stories are clear, authentic, and ready for intercultural dialogue.

Post personal stories on the Project Board so they are ready for the intercultural exchange phase.

Each class uploads their personal stories to the moderated forum on the Project Board, ensuring all student contributions are visible to international partners.

Students read their international peers' stories and reflect on the experiences shared, noting emotions, challenges, and resilience demonstrated.

Students post thoughtful responses to at least two international peers' stories, using guiding prompts such as 'What surprised you?', 'How is this similar to your experience?', and 'What strength did this student show?'

Facilitate moderated discussion on the Project Board group chat, encouraging students to ask clarifying questions and share deeper insights about how young people navigate critical moments across different cultures.

Guide students to identify patterns and differences in how their international peers approach challenges, discussing how cultural background influences resilience strategies.

Organize students into international teams (mixed groups with members from both classrooms) using the Class2Class group functionality to ensure balanced collaboration.

Each international team selects 2-3 shared critical moments from their combined stories that resonate across both cultures.

Teams collaboratively analyze these moments using a shared Google Doc or Miro board, identifying common challenges, emotions, and turning points.

Teams co-create practical strategies for mental development and overcoming challenges, integrating perspectives and resilience approaches from both cultures (e.g., how one culture emphasizes community support while another emphasizes individual reflection).

Teams develop an action plan that includes concrete steps students can take to apply these strategies to their own growth, ensuring recommendations are culturally informed and personally relevant.

Teams document their collaborative work on the shared board, creating a visual or written action plan that celebrates the diversity of approaches to building resilience.

Students organize and prepare exhibition materials that showcase their intercultural learning journey, including personal stories, collaborative action plans, and key insights about how different cultures approach mental development.

Each international team creates a poster, digital display, or curated Padlet gallery that presents their collaborative strategies and celebrates the diversity of approaches to overcoming critical moments.

Students prepare brief presentations (2-3 minutes each) explaining their team's collaborative process, key discoveries about cultural differences, and the strategies they developed together.

Organize a school-wide or virtual exhibition where students present their work, inviting families, other classes, and community members to learn from the intercultural exchange.

Students guide visitors through the exhibition, answering questions and sharing how their international peers' experiences changed their perspectives on resilience and mental development.

Post exhibition highlights and student reflections on the Project Board to share the learning with international partner classes and celebrate the collaborative achievement.

Facilitate a guided reflection session where students discuss key learnings using guiding questions: 'What did I discover about my own culture and resilience?', 'How did my international peers' experiences change my perspective?', 'What strategies will I apply to my own growth?'

Students create individual reflections on a Padlet or reflection mural, posting key takeaways about intercultural learning, personal growth, and how diversity strengthened their problem-solving.

The class synthesizes common themes from student reflections, identifying the most impactful insights about how different cultures approach mental development and overcoming challenges.

Students share the synthesis and key learnings with their international partner class via the Project Board, celebrating what they learned together and expressing gratitude for the intercultural exchange.