The Mirror Project

by Olga Mashina, Kassebølle Friskole

“When we encourage kids to develop thinking patterns that focus on the positive, even in difficult circumstances, they are better able to mitigate the negative impact of the stressors in lives,”

-Jenna Glover, director of psychology training at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

About me

My name is Olga Mashina, and I am a volunteer at Kassebølle Friskole. The purpose of my stay here was to assist in teaching and to teach children. The idea for my project came to me even before I was selected for the program. I always felt like helping children and teenagers be more self-confident and see how talented they actually are. As teenagers, many of us go through difficult times trying to define ourselves and our role in the society. My project aimed to help building confidence and self-love in my students.

What is the project about?

Every morning the fourth-graders walked up to a full-length mirror (one after the other) and say one good thing about themselves. For example, “I am smart”, “I am good at Maths” etc. Sometimes my students were very precise and said “I am good at walking Laika” (the boy’s dog) or “I am good at playing ‘Fortnite’ with Emil”. They could do it in English or in their native language – Danish. During the first 4 months of the project we also used cards printed out with phrases such as “I am great”, “I am loved”, “I am good at English” on one side and the “Pick me” phrase on the other side. Whenever they can’t think of an affirmation, they will pick a card and read the affirmation out loud looking at themselves in the mirror.

The idea was taken from Neffiteria Acker who works at Gideons Elementary school in Atlanta. Clicking this link you can read about the project and the scientific view on it: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/28/us/atlanta-school-mirror-affirmations/index.html.

The only difference between my project and the above mentioned one is that I used the cards only during 4 months, after I encouraged the students to think of one good thing about themselves and say it to the mirror. Moreover, I had a student who struggles with psychological issues, and at the beginning it was too hard for her to do it. She even cried and refused to say anything. However in 9 days, she became more confident about admitting that she can be good at something, and at the end of the project she gave her feedback and said that it was helpful and that she even had fun doing it.

See the Mirror project

See the student't reflection on the project

https://youtu.be/VM8bwoiLTos

Thank you!