474 - A (felizmente eterna) magia das bibliotecas

473 - Aprendendo a ser cientista ou a escola é... o local onde aprendemos a descobrir o mundo

 Esta semana tive o grato prazer de visitar uma pequena escola rural com Jardim de Infância e 1º Ciclo da península de Setúbal.

Tive a sorte de, logo ao entrar na escola, deparar com uma pequena maravilha! numa sala do jardim de infância os pequenos aprendiam a questionar, a investigar e a descobrir a vida que pode existir num pequeno bocado de terra. Era vê-los com lupas a pesquisar!
Veio-me logo à memória a recordação do que tinha visto numa visita à Finlândia onde uma turma de pequenos descobria e experimentava os fenómenos da electricidade estática. Mais uma vez constatei que aqui se trabalha tão bem como lá, tudo passa pela forma como valorizamos (ou não) os professores e o seu trabalho. Adiante!

A minha segunda reflexão prendeu-se com o espanto e encanto dos meninos ao mexerem, tocarem, investigarem , questionarem. Qual o motivo pelo qual a escola se vem a tornar tão aborrecida uns anos depois?
Lembrei-me da canção da Adriana Calcanhoto

Oito Anos

Adriana Calcanhotto

Por que você é flamengo
E meu pai botafogo?
O que significa
"impávido colosso"?
Por que os ossos doem
Enquanto a gente dorme?
Por que os dentes caem?
Por onde os filhos saem?
Por que os dedos murcham
Quando estou no banho?
Por que as ruas enchem
Quando está chovendo?
Quanto é mil trilhões
Vezes infinito?
Quem é Jesus Cristo?
Onde estão meus primos?
Well, well, well
Gabriel...
Well, Well, Well, Well...
Por que o fogo queima?
Por que a lua é branca?
Por que a terra roda?
Por que deitar agora?
Por que as cobras matam?
Por que o vidro embaça?
Por que você se pinta?
Por que o tempo passa?
Por que que a gente espirra?
Por que as unhas crescem?
Por que o sangue corre?
Por que que a gente morre?
Do que é feita a nuvem?
Do que é feita a neve?
Como é que se escreve
Re...vèi...llon
Well, Well, Well
Gabriel...(4x)

---
Nunca desistam de aprender e de se maravilhar caros pequenotes! parabéns às educadoras que ousam e não desistem!  

Aqui descobrem as propriedades da água (evaporação e solidificação)

471 - A escola é... o local onde aprendemos a descobrir o mundo II

E quem ensina os alunos a pensar e a saber ver as coisas de outro modo? e a pensar para além do óbvio? e a colocar questões, questionando-se a si próprio e às suas maneiras de ver as coisas? e quem o ajuda a ver para além das aparências?

A escola é, de facto, o local onde aprendemos a descobrir o mundo

472 - 1st In-Service Training Course – Lisbon, Portugal – September/October 2015

1st In-Service Training Course – Lisbon, Portugal – September/October 2015

The first of two In-Service Training Courses for the RECIPE project will be held in Lisbon, Portugal. The training course objectives are:

• To inform about and present the importance of centralized, coordinated actions (REC)
• To exchange experiences in how to prevent Early School Leaving and encourage to after-compulsory-education.
• To explore, develop and evaluate “best practice” from a number of European teachers, trainers, principals and policy makers
• To encourage and motivate course participants to include the European and international dimension in their future projects and actions plans for their local activities
• To demonstrate and sharing the best practice between RECIPE partners and the course participants.

During the course the participants will experience workshops, the RECIPE marked place, school visits, cultural events, sightseeing and more.
Download the brochure of the Course and the program below and register your interest today!

https://pt.scribd.com/doc/253021851/Program-RECIPE-Course-Portugal

https://pt.scribd.com/doc/253018014/RECIPE-European-Course-Leaflet

Need funding? 

Under the new Erasmus+ programme, the Heads of Schools (and not individual teachers) will be able to organize several mobility activities for staff or teachers from your school/institution to attend Mobility Training courses abroad over a period of one OR two years through one grant application.

The school does not need to identify the courses in advance but this will help with the application as your Head will know whether the courses do address the needs of the teachers!
In this new programme, the provider that is charge of receiving foreign adult education staff and offering them a programme of training activities is called a “partner”.  This means that if you choose our course, in the new Erasmus+ we will become partners. Plase read the following Erasmus+ guide (click this LINK for the Eramus+ RECIPE Guide)

 https://pt.scribd.com/doc/253021850/Erasmus-Guide-RECIPE

 https://pt.scribd.com/doc/253021849/Erasmus-application-form-2015

Remember that it’s fundamental to apply for a PIC code! 
All interested organizations must first register and provide their basic legal and financial data in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) of the European Commission’s Participant Portal.  Once the registration in the Participant Portal is completed, the organization will obtain a nine-digit PIC number. The PIC is a unique identifier which enables the organisation to take advantage of on-line application forms.
Please, if you need more information don’t hesitate to contact us!

470 - A escola é... o local onde aprendemos a descobrir o mundo I

Numa época em que tanto se põe em causa o valor da escola, dos profissionais que ai trabalham e do que lá se ensina e aprende, resolvi partilhar muito do bom que vou vendo por essas escolas pelas quais vou passando.  Acredito mesmo que a escola é... o local onde aprendemos a descobrir o mundo.

469 - Google is good. Libraries are better. Look and judge yourself!

468 - Does Your School Have a Teacher Librarian?

This advocacy film about California teacher librarians illustrates how we nurture student interests, integrate technology, teach information literacy, prepare students to be college and career ready, and can provide professional development to faculty and staff at our school sites and for our school districts. Can be used as an advocacy tool for all K-12 certified school librarians.

467 - Why Librarians Remain Essential to Our Schools

Sense and Sensibility: Why Librarians Remain Essential to Our Schools

Yohuru Williams 

Historian, professor, education activist and author of Teaching US History Beyond the Textbook (2008)

In the broad constellation of professionals who make up public schools, it is important to pause and acknowledge the forgotten education professionals who aide and support teachers. These include the librarians, nurses, social workers, learning specialists, and guidance counselors. They contribute to the growth and development of our young people but often find themselves left out of broader discussions about the preservation of public education. They provide a range of critical support and intervention frequently invisible to us. Most certainly, their value has escaped the notice of so-called education reformers and politicians. All too often, these champions of a "new order" have taken aim at the forgotten teachers in their ever-expanding quest to cut public school funding.

To be clear, budget and personnel cuts have hurt the profession across the board. However, professionals in these areas bear greater risk, given widespread misperceptions about the essential services they provide that remain vital to public schools. As a youngster, for instance, I benefitted from the expertise of a speech pathologist in helping me overcome a minor speech impediment. Having the problem addressed early in my education boosted my self-esteem and ended years of torment at the hands of insensitive friends and classmates. I would not have understood this as a significant moment of formation in my academic and personal growth if not for countless recent news stories about proposed cuts to these position in school districts across the country.

Another equally hard hit position is that of the school librarian. Fifty years ago, it was inconceivable to imagine schools without appropriate library resources and the personnel to staff them. The disparity in library facilities, for instance, helped civil rights attorneys demonstrate the inherent inequality in segregated schools. With the advent of the internet and digital resources in particular, the flawed assumption surfaced that these positions are no longer necessary. Librarians remain important conduits for student support in ways that many might be surprised to learn. Contrary to popular perception, librarians do more than curate collections of dusty books; they teach critical research skills and often serve as the first destination for young people on the road to quality research. 

Librarians know best that research in the digital landscape is often more difficult to manage and navigate unless students receive the proper guidance and training. As a former high school history teacher, I was keenly aware of our library staff as a critical part of the instructional team. This remains equally true as a college professor. Although not always regarded as "teaching" in the conventional sense, the ways in which librarians assist students may in fact be one of the most authentic forms of instruction. Working with students on projects generated by their unique interests, librarians help students to unlock and decode the vast amount of information now at their fingertips. 

A well-documented pool of research indicating the impact of librarians on student achievement exists. A 2011 Pennsylvania School Library Study, for example, found that school library programs most meaningfully affected students at risk. The same study determined that poor, minority students with learning challenges were at least twice as likely to earn "Advanced" writing scores when they had access to full-time librarians as those without access to full-time librarians. 

ler mais aqui

466 - Literacia da informação

Ora aqui está um esquema muito simples sobre um modelo de literacia da informação (Big 6) para ser publicado e a seguir divulgado a toda uma escola. Como diz o acróstico inglês: Kiss - Keep it short and simple. Para quê arranjar esquemas complexos e complicados? (Esquema obtido aqui )

465 - I want it all

No post anterior partilhei uma música de Cat Stevens como paradigmática de uma geração. Escrevi então que: "Não deixa de ser curioso que, quando se referem as caraterísticas da geração atual que anda pelos bancos da escola se fala no imediatismo e de não ser capaz de olhar para o dia de amanhã. Correto.

Correto?"

Pois... uma outra música mais recente, de 1989, dos Queen, volta à mesma temática... Parece que esta caraterística do imediatismo se mantém de geração em geração... Creio que temos, como educadores que  entender que ela é constituinte das caraterísticas de um adolescente.

Here's to the future
For the dreams of youth

I want it all (Give it all, I want it all)
I want it all (Yeah)
I want it all and I want it now