I created this innovation because my students (in the last year of High School) didn't know how to write a composition. When the results of evaluation came to my school, the results were terrible. I've got extremely upset with them.
So, I said to my principal: "I don't know what it will happen in the next year (2004), but I will change my Portuguese classes completely!". In this way, I did.
The first step of the project: to produce topics for the text. I ask the class to form groups and then instruct the teams to suggest topics that meet the interests and expectations of the class.
Once this has been done, I ask the groups what their proposals were and write each one on the blackboard. Once the suggestions are known, I start voting for the most relevant subject.
At the end of the selection, I identify the top vote-getters. The next step in the project is to hand out the sheet with the thematic proposals to the students. This sheet clearly states: the most voted topics, the dates for submitting the text, various guidelines for writing the texts and the date of the final assessment - the rewrite.
The third fundamental step of the project: reading the text in front of the class. This inspiration to invite the students to read their work in front of the group was essential to captivate and sensitise the class to the importance of exposing what they had thought.
1) Launch of the book: "O Desafio do Projeto Penso, Logo Escrevo" on 29 November 2014, the preface of which was written by Prof. Dr. Boudewijn A.M. van Velzen (international specialist in educational change);
2) Knowing that my book was the subject of the subject "Planning and Assessment" at the Faculty of Letters of the Federal University of Campina Grande in Paraíba (more than 2000 km from São Paulo) and that it contributed to the training of future Portuguese teachers acquires a special flavour, as the initiative was studied at the university.
3) In October 2019, I travelled to the city Grão Mogol at Minas Gerais State to see the work carried out by teacher Geane Kênia, who is still applying the project's methodology in 2024. I was amazed to see how she organised and dedicated for it.
You should wish a different kind of work that it's been created by the interaction among teacher and students. The Curriculum is not something closed in its own propose, it's been created and developed by the action of its members: the participation of all makes difference in this process. We can create something new with the participation of all members (pupils and teacher), this is so exciting!
