Learn more effectively

How to use the time spent in school more effectively? How to learn how to learn? During the mobility students could learn about new ways of taking notes and presenting them in a clear way and they were also exposed to different forms of teaching and testing such as games. Gamification is defined as a set of activities and processes to solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements. Quizzes and escape rooms increase user emotional engagement, they provide fun, cooperation and rivalry at the same time. Generally it has a positive effect on individuals and for building the team. Another thing which contributes to an academic success is knowing one’s good points, abilities and recognizing one’s own learninng style. To find out what their dominant style is, students solved the simplified test of multiply intelligence and they discovered what their best way for studying is. The test is available here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T5D8NaC7kLEZe2B6dbDMZOa9fk8jQ8xY/view?usp=sharing

Before recording the podcast the students searched for the information in the following areas:

  • what good learning habits are
  • what different learning styles are
  • how to study smarter not harder
  • how to minimalize stress while studying
ASAPodcast How to learn effectively

Keep the proper posture!

Do you want to feel better instantly? Do you want to feel healthier? Think better about yourself? Keep upright. What are the benefits of maintaining a good posture?

  • it contributes to a good appearance
  • it decreases the weight of some joint surfaces
  • it diminishes the stress on the ligaments holding the joints
  • it prevents the muscular pains and fatigue
  • it allows you to breathe more deeply, which gives you more oxygen
  • a good posture can make you look thinner. Poor posture can create the appearance of a pot belly.

To sum up the lecture delivered by Eliza Niedzielska, a specialist in therapeutic reabilitation, students prepared handouts reminding about maintaining the proper posture.

You can download the brochure with the leaflets here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M6FJWzP7jKb8x8VdeSn5O0VHFwKwzHHA/view?usp=sharing

Negative effects of stress

In order to find more about the negative consequences of long-term stress we invited Łukasz Warchoł, a psychologist and a psychoterapist, who delivered us the lecture about:

  • the most common causes of stress, which include overworking, low self-esteem, too high expectations, too much responsibility, feeling insecure, lack of support from family and friends and fear and uncertainty
  • the symptoms of stress, such as chronic headaches, losing or putting on weight, low energy, insomnia, aches, pains, and tense muscles
  • the long lasting effects of stress, that is mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders, obesity and other eating disorders
  • preventing stress-related health problems, thinking positively, relieving stress, finding one’s own personal ways for managing stress which is everywhere and, to the point, may be motivating and pushing us forward.

Students enjoyed the lecture and eagerly took part in it, answering the questions and asking them themselves. After the lecture they made sketchnotes about teenage stress and recorded the podcast presenting all the information they learned and found.

ASAPodcast Negative Effects of Stress

How to manage your time wisely?

To learn efficiently we have to know how to manage our time. To sum up the workshop led by Małgorzata Solowska, the headteacher of Liceum no9 in Gdansk, the students made handouts reminding us how to manage our time wisely, that is:

  • setting a time limit to each task
  • using a to- do- list, but not skipping tasks
  • using applications to plan your tasks and ticking off the already-performed-ones
  • avoiding time-wasters
  • delegating tasks, sharing work if it is possible
  • while working in a team appointing a person responsible for time-checking
  • replacing your bad habits with good daily keystone habits, such as exercising, learning languages or developing daily routines
  • starting your work from the most difficult tasks

ASAPodcast: How to Manage Your Time

Visual thinking

The main source of stress seems to be school. Traditional ways of teaching, crammed sessions of learning just before an important test, not creative enough opportunities for practice and growth are likely to build stressful situations rather than eliminate them. Visual thinking is the way to rehearse or introduce the information with the use of drawings, visual notes, mind maps. This might involve taking visual notes, or drawing a mind map. By learning in more than one way, you’re further cementing the knowledge in your mind. Vitia Bartosova Hoffman, a former basket player, now a teacher and a specialist in sketchnoting agreed to lead the workshop in sketchnoting and provided specialist knowledge at the highest level. Students were taught how to illustrate ideas, organize their thougths, did a short course in lettering, learned a new way of studying, and, finally, were able to present stress, its causes, symptoms and ways of relieving it with the use of visual notes.

    Stress relievers

    Since sport and creating artwork are considered to be one of the most effective stress relievers all the exchange students took part in craft and phisical activities. They started from brainstorming for the words and phrases related to calmness, peacefulness and quietness in their own languages. Then, they made Christmas decoration boards with the words and Christmas symbols. Creating art takes our mind off the most stressing things we have to tackle on the daily basis and it lets the steam off. Others relieved their emotional pressure in zumba dance. It is a form of cardiovascular exercise involving various active movements that help in improving mood and the energy level of a dancer through the secretion of hormones that induce stress relief. As the effects of zumba on supressing the stress causing hormones are commonly known, the zumba practice is held regularly during breaks in our school.

    Ice breaking activities

    We started our first meeting from ice breaking activities which involved checking how well students know the human body, its systems, nutrients, and vitamins it is made of. Escape room games do never bore people — puzzle ideas have no limitations in terms of creativity and entertainment. Not only did they break the first language barriers between them, but also were able to develop cooperation and creativity skills as the objects and clues were hidden and discovering them demanded some team work. Some Christmas decorations were also used as hints to feel the atmosphere of the holidays appraoching.

    The Human Body Race instructions: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xtQhPxZ6tDaDnFHJvVMKi03Ddhjh3OUY?usp=sharing

    Welcome to Gdańsk!

    As the coordinator of the project Szkoła Podstawowa no35 z Oddziałami Sportowymi organized the first meeting of the teachers from the partner schools.

    Not only ice, but all the barriers breaking.

    The teachers took part in two activities, one of them was ‚Odyssey of Mind’ workshop, performed by two licensed coaches. The workshop consisted of numerous mind teasing and creativity wakening activities which demanded collaborative work. The tasks involved logical thinking, drama activities, solving verbal spontanous problems and hands-on puzzles. It was a good chance to know each other better and collect some good ideas for introducing some creativity and out of the box thinking to our regular school activities.

    The next activity, to which we invited our fellow teachers from other primary and secondary schools, was CLIL workshop, performed by Hanna Kryszewska, trainer at DOCED at University of Oxford, University of Gdansk and the editor of Humanising Language Teaching website magazine. We were presented an educational approach based on the integrated learning of foreign language and content. Acquiring foreign language through subject-related contents is supposed to encourage learning, what is one of the objectives of our European project.

    Eat healthy! Start from now!

    We started realizing the project from teaching the youngest ones how to switch to healthy food. The dietician, Małgorzata Bellwon showed the pupils from preparatory class how to cut down on processed snacks, eat balanced food, stick to the schedule of 5 meals a day (the 5- finger rule ) and understand the food pyramid. What they learn as children, they will remember as adults. Unless the rules change.

    Welcome!

    Welcome to Avoid Stress. Achieve Purpose blog. Here we will publish all the activities of the international project funded by the European Commission. There are four school involved in the project:

    Szkoła Podstawowa nr 35 z Oddziałami Sportowymi from Gdansk, Poland

    IC Diotti from Casamaggiore, Italy

    Agrupamento de Escolas de Amares from Braga in Portugal

    Colegio Santa Isabel from Alquerías in Spain

    The main objective of this Erasmus+ project is increasing number of students who achieve better academic results, feel less stressed and whose wellbeing improved. That can be achieved by acquiring knowledge, adapting heathy lifestyle, worthier relationships and ability to achieve one’s objectives. Follow us!

    The project will be also developed on the eTwinnnig platform.