by Dr Marta Dżoga, Head of Wellbeing Team, Akademeia High School

The outbreak of the coronavirus has created a lot of anxiety and uncertainty for all of us. This is a time of huge changes for you: staying at home, spending more time with your families than friends, keeping social distance, resigning from going out and partying – quite unnatural for most of you.

Learning from home can be also challenging – how to keep calm, how to motivate yourself, how not to go crazy without going out. Below you’ll find some tips I found important.

• Having an everyday rhythm is very important and calms us down.
• Your schedule of a day should include time for online classes, time for learning, time to relax, for taking care of your body, for your social life (family and friends)
• Make a plan and write it down (on the white board, paper, on your computer) – it will increase chances that the plan will be introduced. Mark things you have already done. Don’t cross them out. Do not erase them. Let them remain visible. It’s your success that you completed them.
• While attending a class, put on your normal clothes (I do not recommend staying in your pyjamas 24 hours a day), put on make-up if you used to. Sit in a chair instead of in bed.

• Make a “contract” with yourself: during working hours, I learn (and then I ignore e.g. messages from my friends)
• At the end of learning, it’s good to have a small ritual that shows that we’re done – e.g. close the laptop lid or pack it in a drawer
• If you have younger (and noisy) siblings at home, divide the tasks into those that require more concentration and those that you can do even when there is a little noise at home. Leave those tasks which require the greatest concentration for the evening or early morning.
• Making reflections at the end of the day could help you to better understand yourself and plan the next day: What was something nice that happened today? What was good for me? In what did I succeed? What was difficult?

Temporarily you have lost school – a place dedicated for learning. Whenever possible, provide a dedicated space to learn at home. If possible, separate a room in which you can attend online classes and do your homework or create a workplace in the corner of your room.

It’s difficult, I know, but try not to have your phone near you while working. Leave it outside of the room you are working in.

For most of you learning from home is a challenge. Online learning means more responsibility and more individual work for you. What could you do to keep motivated and focused?

• Strengthen your attention

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/your-concentration-training-program-11-exercises-that-will-strengthen-your-attention/

• Divide material into smaller parts. It will make it easier to learn.
• Remember that part of effective learning is building breaks into the day and not trying to put too much learning into one block. A general rule is 30 to 50 minutes of learning and then a break.
• Set goals and reward yourself for completing steps (it can be easy things like eating chocolate, listening to music, or watching a favourite movie/series at the end of the day)
• Try to apply various and different techniques of learning which can become more interesting than usual ones (e.g. draw mind maps, use mnemonics). Check which of them are working for you:

https://www.mindmapping.com/

https://www.mindtools.com/memory.html

https://www.learningassistance.com/2006/january/mnemonics.html

• Write down motivating quotes or your aims (e.g. pictures of your dream university) stick them in the place where you learn
• Ask questions, clarify your doubts or difficulties
• Ask your teacher for feedback
• Ask your teachers and colleagues for their tips of effective learning
• Use AHS consultations
• Be aware of what consumes most of your time. Be honest with yourself! During the Mentor’s Hour this week you will get some tools which help in time management an focus.