[Acer Innovative Schools] What innovation means in the Primary School of Trzebnica, Poland

Success Stories

22/05/2018

This is the experience shared by Edyta S., from Primary School No 2 in Trzebnica, one of the Acer Innovative Schools from Poland.

I’m an Elementary Education teacher and English teacher at Primary School in Trzebnica, Poland. I am the author of Pedagogical Innovation connected with using ICT as a supportive tool in learning English at school as well as at home.
The main goal of innovation in Trzebnica Primary School is:

increasing of motivation to systematic and active way of learning English at school and at home using new technologies;
developing skills in order to use different kind of sources of information;
getting to know possible ways of using ICT tools to improve language skills;
acquiring skills of using different kind of Computer programs, applications or websites in English.

The school adopted Acer TravelMate Spin B118 as main device, because this rugged and convertible Acer notebook – specifically designed for education – can help teachers to improve the learning experience and foster interaction among students inside the classroom.
Thanks to Acer TravelMate Spin B118, students can get to know how to use different sources of information available on Internet websites legally, being however aware of threats connected with using Internet. Through the group works and share projects, they can discover and enhance their individual abilities, looking for new creative solutions. In the end, they can plan their own work and finally evaluate it.

The Innovation is realized by:

Creating Padlets with all applications needed to share students as well as their parents to use it any time without looking for the right website:
- using games, multimedia programs, applications like: Duolingo.com, e-angielski.com, quizizz.com, storybird.com, Quizlet.com, Kahoot.it, Learningapps.org, Instaling.pl, Storyjumper.com, Flipsnack.com, Canva.com, scribblemaps.com, littlebirdtales.com, mystorybook.com etc.;
- using dictionaries online;
- using easy readers online;
- using padlet to share students’ work; other students can learn using published ideas but also teachers can use those work during their lessons with younger students;
Editing school e-magazine juniormedia.pl;
Using Classroomscreen.com during every lesson;
Class e-mail using to sending homework, sending photos, new ideas of using TIK in English learning;
Preparing school performances;
Organization of “English Day at school”;
Using an interactive whiteboard;
Cooperation and correspondence with Polish School in Lincoln in Great Britain; communication by using e-mail, Facebook or other social media; sharing information about Poland as well as Trzebnica and vice versa about Lincoln and Great Britain; editing texts;
Developing skills in practical using computers, laptops, using the Internet, an interactive whiteboard;
Participation in workshops, projects: polish or international like Erasmus +, eTwinning;
Working with maps scribblemaps.com; developing knowledge about English speaking countries using Internet resources; watching films about culture and traditions of English speaking countries; preparing some projects and presenting them in front of the class, school or school website, Facebook;
Using QR codes.

Active participation of students during the innovation is the key to the success in learning English.
I am also one of trainers of Odyssey of the Mind in our school; OOTM is a friendly educational program realized as an international competition, and every year students from all over the world take part in the competition of creativity. Our main goal is development of creative abilities in every child. Our Odyssey Team learns of creative as well as constructive thinking: they practice solving divergent problems, problems that they can solve in many ways.
The participants of the Odyssey can dream – boldly based on goals; they can create using original and effective solutions; they can think independently and outside of the box. They can work together, in the spirit of innovation and cooperation.
There are challenges ahead of them which require the connection of their knowledge and imagination, science and art, their hands and minds. We are convinced that nowadays it is important to educate initiators and not imitators.
There are two types of “problems” in Odyssey of the Mind:

Long-term Problems (Vehicle, Technical, Classics, Structure, Performance);
Spontaneous Problems (Verbal, Hands-on, Combination).

This year, our team in All-Poland Competition of Odyssey of the Mind, where 226 teams from Poland took part in, stood on the podium two times! We won the Award allowing us to take part in the International Festival Eurofest in Germany, but also we won prestigious Ranatra Fusca Award for an outstanding creativity that allowed us to represent our country in World Competition of Odyssey of the Mind in Iowa State University in the USA.
Furthermore, in 2018 our school – for the first time in its history – took part in an international project of Erasmus +. It was a project called Performance Social Media where youth workers and youth leaders came together for several days to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities on a certain theme. The training courses promoted the initiative and the creativity of participants and had a direct impact on their future youth work and youth policy activities.