Development Work V - Teacher Traning Kick Off

Hello my friends!

Last Saturday we started our teacher training here in Confresa - MT!

35 Teachers from 12 different institutions were present on the first class where we could start the topic: Student-Centered Learning.

We discussed a little about the differences between Brazilian and Finish Educational Systems, they asked a lot of questions about education in Finland and I was happy because I could answer them all. I think it was very good that I visited a lot of Basic schools in Tampere because many of the teachers are teachers of the primary and secondary schools.

After this discussion we did the OPERA method about Skills and competences for the 21st century and the result was very nice, they think that social skills, responsibility, humanity and knowledge are essential for the life and work in the 21st century.

After this we did a new kind of method that I've adapted based on the Problem-based Learning. 

I chose 3 people to take notes but these people couldn't participate of the discussion and after every topic they could summarize the whole discussion. The theme was "How can we help the students to achieve these competences (social skills, critical thinking, leadership...)?"

Again it was a very nice discussion and I think I could achieve my goals.

After this we could discuss a little about learning environment, how can we improve our classrooms to help students to achieve these competences and skills that we've discussed.

And below you can see the video I showed to them about modern learning environments.

There are 97 people in the whole course, and we split them in three different classes.

After all it was very good to start this teacher training. I will continue posting here some notes about the classes.

Thank you for reading.

Development Work IV - Let's have some café?

Title: Competence-based Learning
Institution: Alceu Novais State School
City: Uberaba - MG
Distance from Confresa-MT: 1546 Km
Audience: All the teachers of the Alceu Novais State School.
Audience number: 14 people
Duration: 2 hours
Method: World Café

This presentation was made to the teachers from the Alceu Novais State School.
We could discuss a little about the competences for the 21st century and how can we help the students develop these skills and competences.
It was a very nice conversation because they complain a lot about the students but their classes are all lectures, they don't innovate in classroom. So I presented the World Café and many teacher liked so much the method. We used 5 different topics:
Energetic alternatives for Brazil; Different ways to reduce the water consume; Political system in Brazil; Sustainability to generate profit; How to reduce pollution.
With these examples they could discuss and know more about the method.
I think that was the best spread until now because it was easier to reach all the teachers.
World Café is a very good collaborative method to teach and the teachers are going to use this in their classes and give me some feedback.

Development Work III - International Relationship

Title: (not) everything is snow, (not) everything is new - An experience in the Finnish Educational System
Institution: Federal Institute of Mato Grosso (IFMT)
City: Cuiabá - MT
Distance from Confresa-MT: 1166 Km
Audience: Professors, teachers, students, community, directors and rector.
Audience number: Approximately 120 people.
Duration: 1 hour
Method: Pictures of Finland, A big Pecha Kucha

This was a presentation about my experience in Finland, not just the educational stuff, but the life in Finland, culture, society, experiences outside school and others.
It was very nice because the audience was very different and I had to talk less about education and more about my personal experience.
Many people wanted to know about studying abroad and not just to study in Finland.
It was the First International Relationship Forum of IFMT and it was very nice to talk a little about the recycling machines, bus stops, snow, raindeer meat and, of course, education.
The audience was surprised when I showed a slide with a picture of Paulo Freire. Many educators in Brazil think that he is the reason why the education in Brazil is so bad, but Finland uses him as a good reference and the education is one of the best, so, the problem isn't Paulo Freire, maybe the problem is because we don't use his references in our academic lives.

Development Work II - A big surprise

Title: Collaborative Methods

Institution: Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM)

City: Iturama - MG

Distance from Confresa-MT: 1314 Km

Audience: Professors from Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Directors and Pedagogical Coordinators from the Municipal schools of Iturama, Students of the Chemistry and Biology Teachers (Teacher Training)

Audience number: 111 people.

Duration: 3 hours

Method: Gallery Walk

Why "A big surprise"? I was invited to talk about the experience in Finland by my friend Professor Lucas Ferreira de Paula and i thought that I would talk only with some students and professors of UFTM, but the coordinator of education of this University invited all of the directors and Pedagogical coordinators of the municipal schools in Iturama.

So when I arrived to talk there was more the a hundred people and I had prepared to do the Galley Walk method with them.

At the beginning we talked about education in Finland and it was very good because we discussed about it during the whole time.

The gallery walk was about the Problems and solutions for the environmental problems in Brazil and they liked so much to do this activity.

The questions of the audience were very nice and the main question was about the salary of the teachers in Finland and the students' behaviour, because in Brazil we have many problems concerning this behaviour.

I consider that the big surprise actually was a good surprise and I think that everyone should know how is education in Finland, that's why I'm travelling a lot to share what I've learned.

Development Work I - Restlessly

Title: Student-Centered Learning Methods

Institution: University of São Paulo (USP)

City: São Carlos - SP

Distance from Confresa-MT: 1667 Km

Audience: Professors from University of São Paulo, Teachers from the state schools and PhD students.

Audience number: 36 people.

Duration: 2 hours

Method: OPERA

Well, today I decided to spend some time and write about some actions that I have been doing related to my Development Work.

I arrived in Brazil on the 4th of July and on the 6th of July I've started my Development Work by sharing some information about Education in Finland and some methodologies.

It was a seminar in São Carlos, state of São Paulo where I could talk a little about Student-Centered Learning Methods.

We have discussed a little about the education in Finland and in Brazil and then we discussed about the skills and competences that a professional of chemistry must have to solve the problems of the 21st century.

The audience asked a lot about the Student-Centered Methods and some of them already knew those because the Medicine course in the Federal University of São Carlos uses the Problem-based learning approach, but many of the students don't like it so much because they think that this approach don't give them a good direction.

It was a very good moment of discussions and knowledge construction.