Happy to be me!

<< Background >>At times, all pupils can feel that they don't believe in themselves and their abilities. Teachers may feel that they don't have the tools to help their students with these problems. Especially now in the time of constantly comparing oneself to other people in social media, there is a need for boosting self-esteem, self compassion and trusting oneself. Our main theme in this project was positivity: we helped and encouraged our students to accept and appreciate themselves. We also highlighted the meaning of positive mindset when it comes to the school environment and the areas our schools are located (small, rural and far away from big cities). We gave the teachers some tools and practices to bring positive pedagogy into the classrooms. Although all teachers use some forms of positive pedagogy every day (for example positive feedback, supporting self-images, encouragement), we put it into the spotlight through various activities.<< Objectives >>Our aim was to open new horizons for our schools and be involved in international activities which will help us to improve our daily teaching process. We wanted to study and understand positive pedagogy: questions such as how and if it is implemented in the schools of our partners. We wanted to look at positive pedagogy from two sides: from the teachers’ and students’ perspective. We also wanted to take one aspect - seeing the good - of positive pedagogy and expand it to discovering positive things not only in yourself,but in your school and the environment. We wanted the students to recognize and appreciate good things at their schools by making small projects but also seeing how other schools carried out the activities. We wanted to make sure that everyone could be involved, so all our activities were planned to carry out with all the students in the schools. We learned from other schools when the results were compared with those from the partner schools.<< Implementation >>We started with a virtual meeting where we met each other and talked anout the activities to come. Then the students designed and chose a logo for our project. Each class designed a logo and then there was an organized election in the school. This resulted in three finalists from Finland, Ireland and Greece. From these, twenty randomly selected students from each country got to vote for their favourite logo, excluding the contestant from their own school. Finland won the final vote. The next activity was to think about one's own positive strenghts. They were collected into one poster in the classroom. The teachers also made their own poster. The posters were hung on the corridor walls and windows for everyone to see. In April 2024, we had the first mobility to Ireland. The second task with all students was to think about their favourite places and events at their school. These were collected into photos and videos. In November 2024, the second mobility was in Greece. The third task was to find favourite places in the area that we live in. These were presented through photos and pictures. In February 2025, the third mobility was in Finland. All the activities were reported in the blog for everyone to see.<< Results >>- the project blog with travel diaries, posters and videos that were made during the project- project logo (also seen in the blog)- a wellbeing package for students and teachers compiled by Ireland - learning to know concrete methods of positive pedagogy by an educated instructor- learning about Greek, Finnish and Irish cultures, school systems and history- disseminating the project in local newspapers- in Finland, an after school club (Erasmus-club) got together every other week with students from classes 4-6