The idea of taking students out of the classroom and taking them to the streets of São Paulo earned a Brazilian a prize disputed by teachers from 110 countries.
The project “Aula Pública”, by Paulo Magalhães, took shape in 2016 and was transformed throughout the pandemic.
The teacher teaches at the Duque de Caxias Municipal Elementary School, in the center of São Paulo, for students aged between 11 and 14 years.
In an interview with CNN Rádio, the geography professor from the public network said that the initiative came from his concern with the confinement of classrooms. “I always had a need to make my classes different”, explains the geography teacher.
In addition to giving students a greater sense of belonging to the city, Paulo Magalhães says that the students’ families and the community around the school were also transformed. For him, “it was a way of making students integrate into this society that, at times, turned its back on these children and adolescents who were not accepted in these educational spaces due to indiscipline.”
The teacher believes that the occupation of public spaces by young people encourages everyone to be more participative in society.
“People who are passing by on the street participate”, he reports. “The community started to listen to the school, to make suggestions. Parents are more present in their children’s school situation as of this project.”
Since March of last year, public classes have had a new challenge amidst the circulation restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
Paulo Magalhães reformulated the project to, in some way, bring the city to the students, who started living more time confined at home.
“I would go out in the neighborhood alone, film these classes and send them to them”, says the teacher. “We know that, in São Paulo, a month is a long time, the city becomes a month. So the children did not lose contact with the neighborhood and with the problems that were happening there.”
The Global Teacher Award is an Indian award that has been in existence for 10 years, with the aim of recognizing teachers capable of making an even more special contribution to the development of students and the community around schools.
The result was released on October 24th.
In 2018, Paulo Magalhães had already won the Human Rights award from the Municipal Secretariat for Human Rights of the City of São Paulo, in addition to winning first place in the Learning Community category of Instituto Natura.
* With production by Bel Campos
Reference: CNN Brasil
