Five things I learned at a sensational learning network
Para ler este post em Português BR, clique aqui.
Just over two years ago, I'm part of the Brazilian Creative Learning Network. The BCLN connects people who want to change education in Brazil, providing children and young people, especially from public schools, with hands-on, fun, playful and meaningful learning experiences.
When I first started to be part of the network, I remember stepping on the floor slowly, like someone who is entering a completely new environment, dying of curiosity — I wonder if this is the sensation that the new participants have today. The fact is that soon my involvement became so intense that when I realized I was already part of different projects nationwide and wearing the t-shirt (for real!) to present creative learning for my region. I became an ambassador for the spirit of Lifelong Kindergarten.
To share about the adventures I've had with creative learning, today I will outline five of the many things I learned in my two years of BCLN:
1 — There are many people in Brazil doing good quality education
and this includes public schools! This can be on both the list of things I learned in BCLN and the list of things I learned in MIT. What we Brazilians do with creative learning in education is super valued by the greatest educational and technology institutions in the world, and should be even more valued here in our country. There is a lot of heroine teachers and lots of hero teachers in Brazil. People who despite the lack of structure and public policies do what Diva Guimarães so wisely advises educators who live in this difficult time and yet “do not give up the students.” Teachers who involve students in a school where it makes perfect sense to learn. Teachers such as Débora Garofalo, who has been very well known recently for the work she has been developing for years in a public school in São Paulo, using recicles from the street, from the trash, to teach robotics for children; and teachers like so many others who are anonymous and don't act on the spotlights, but who have a legion of fans made up of their own school’s students. Besides educators, there are managers and decision makers who are also putting a great effort to transform Brazil. Examples such as the incredible work of the State of Paraná Education Secretariat in recent years, and how São Bernardo do Campo Municipal Education Secretariat, in the state of São Paulo, is now investing heavily in creative learning, valuing the work that has been done by teachers of the municipal schools. I can also mention São Luis in Maranhão, Curitiba, and many other Brazilian cities that have strong teams involved with a more relevant education for teens and children.
2 — It's ok to quit the original plan
that's also why creativity is so important. I once heard from a professor that he always calls the students at the end of class with the question “What was your favorite mistake today?” Genius! The child, the teenager, and us adults need to understand that being wrong is part of the creative and learning process. And that it ‘s okay to make a mistake. To try again. And again. In the process of free exploration, of learning while playing, we connect dots that can lead us to achieve our goals. This is useful to the child when it is beginning to program in Scratch, useful to adults, parents, academics, teachers, students, and useful to us as network and managers of such a great and so significant initiative for the country. We're open to say that we do not know everything, that we need help. Anyway, one of the best ways to connect with people, new ideas and new solutions is by saying “My plan went wrong. Can you help me?”
3 — The network strength are the nodes
everything is about connection. I really admire the role of my colleague Guilherme Sandler in the BCLN: social articulation. The Network is a community, and Guile’s role of connecting people makes total difference to manage what we have today with 2,800 participating educators, 11 regional hubs spread throughout Brazil, festivals of invention and creativity in all Brazilian regions, worldwide leadership in number of Scratch Days last year, two national conferences, 82 higher education institutions interested in using creative learning in their programs, work groups and more. For those who have spent a good time of their academic life studying social networks like I did, being part of a network of people in the offline and face-to-face mode makes more than sense. Everything we do in the BCLN is achieved through the engagement of people who live the values we have in common and which we have recently translated into a manifesto. People who have time on weekdays at night, weekends, holidays. People who bring their family when they come to work at the events, and arrive with a broken foot but a big smile on their face. These are the nodes that build this network as a unique fabric within the same purpose.
4 — We're still learning
and this is an ongoing process. For a journalist whose research focus has shifted from analyzing social networks to the learning that goes far beyond online communities, the universe of creative learning are galaxies that I know I will spend my whole life exploring. Every person I know at BCLN, every educator or manager who has been working with constructionism and creative learning for years, every new project I get to know in the Media Lab, every school teacher I know in Brazil presents me with a whole new world full of interesting things to experiment. I'm getting more aware of how little I know and how much I want to learn. And this is what I see as a characteristic of who truly identifies with this network: to understand each person who crosses our path as someone who has a really cool story to tell, and who can teach us a lot.
5 — We just started
and we have much ahead. Since the initial articulation by our director Leo Burd, MIT, four years ago, when I did not even dreamed of being part of all this, the BCLN has grown so much, and there is still a lot on our path. Every day we understand more needs, we increase one or 20 lines in planning programs for Brazil, we seek partnerships, we strengthen the ties with ther parters we already have, we engage people, we listen to teachers, we have conversations to researchers, and all this is feeding the “little monster” that wants to see creative learning in schools across the whole country.
I know we'll get there, all together. |
________
Today I celebrate two years and two months of participation in the BLCN. The last year and eight months as regional coordinator in my home town, the last nine months as the educational articulator of the national network, and for six months also a researcher of Lifelong Kindergarten, Media Lab group and global reference in creative learning. This means that the previously volunteer work has an official commitment, and since it means way more work and the same intensity in stories to tell, I decided to listen to my dear mentor and goddaughter Lisiane Lemos and return this good energy to the universe. According to her, it is more than time for me to start sharing reflections about everything I have lived so intensely. This post is my first step. :)
To know more about the BCLN, read this article by Leo Burd.
