DESENHOS DA FALA

"Is anyone listening to me?
Who's listening to me clap once.
Who's listening to me clap twice.
Who's listening to me clap three times!"

Professores espalhados pelo Brasil lançam mão dessa quadrinha para obter a atenção das crianças para uma atividade. Como professora, muitas vezes me bastava que os alunos me disponibilizassem seus ouvidos, olhos e mãos. Existe uma tal régua que mede a eficiência de um professor e nas escolas a conhecemos pela alcunha de “domínio ou controle of classe”. Quanto mais quieta uma turma, mais eficiente é o regente. O professor em atividade é chamado de professor regente. O comportamento da turma e o desempenho nas avaliações são os critérios máximos para avaliar um professor. Por quê? Porque são pontos observados quantitativamente; são índices facilmente observáveis. Nunca vi secretarias ou programas educacionais medindo o quanto uma turma ou um professor está feliz no bimestre.

Happiness and well-being are not the general or specific objectives of a school planning. How happy is the teacher of class A? Which class is the happiest in the school? Happiness is subversion in educational spaces. The school is a social structure that represents power schemes and, to this end, the people who occupy this space take on social roles. In order to ensure that they fit in and remain in the job, teachers adopt the social mask of the conductor, often presenting themselves publicly as a stern individual. It's hard work being kind at school, you know? Students don't recognise kindness as a conductor's characteristic. For them, adults are "saying no" machines; adults determine where, when and how.

Basically, "a good class remains seated in silence, listening and writing". Delicate, right? Because a teacher with 40 students in a class can't work if the class isn't seated, right? Everything is done so that nobody questions the established model.

Faced with all the potency of the bodies – of teachers and students – the regular education system desires only voice and hands from teachers. From students, teachers want ears, eyes and hands.

I attend 14 classes a week, spending 1 hour and 40 minutes with each of them. I have my social masks, I confess. When I feel that I have the attention of a class, I take off the conductor's mask. Some classes understand the code and we carry on happily to the sound of music, reading, writing and observing how nature is present in the school. However, one class has already realised that I make up a character to teach. These kids, smarter than me, don't let me talk, they don't lend me their ears. Faced with this challenge, I've sought out the resources I have to ensure the quality of our meetings.

I took clay to class and thought: "Maybe contact with the earth will create quality listening time?" The process of creating with clay is also associated with meditative practices of full concentration. Touch, contact and interaction with the earth can promote a sense of community and connection between the people in the group. But it didn't work with them.

I tried several things. Some worked partially.

I remembered the experience I had with young Guarani artists in preparation for the Nhe'ërÿ Cycle in May 2023. I watched while they sang and danced in front of a blank canvas. Before painting, they sang the memories of Nhe'ërÿ and honoured Nhanderu with dances and sacred words. When they felt in their spirits that they were authorised to represent Nhe'ërÿ with drawings, they drew the sung and spoken words.

Foi quando resolvi parar de ler histórias para o terceiro ano e começar a desenhar no quadro as histórias do livro. De Elias Yaguakãg, As aventuras do Menino Kawã foram desenhadas no quadro branco e, enquanto a turma ficava empenhada em reproduzir as imagens no caderno meia-pauta, eu aproveitava para contar (às vezes, ler) as histórias. Capítulo por capítulo, as palavras ganharam imagens que eram apagadas do quadro no final da aula. Percebi que as mesmas imagens ganharam lugar nos olhos, cadernos e na memória criada em aula. Um dia, esqueci o quadro desenhado e a professora de inglês da turma não entendeu os desenhos. Então eles contaram para ela sobre Kawã, o menino indígena que era protegido pela Ka’apora’ãga. A professora me procurou na hora do almoço dizendo com sorriso nos olhos: “Eles ouviram e sabem cada detalhe da história. Eles não só te ouvem, eles estão te escutando”.

Since we call our sharings "sowings", we need to know what the soil can give us before we throw the seed. I wanted ears, but they're visual. It wouldn't work, would it?

They listen with their eyes!

Drawings: collective construction by Class 1401 with teacher Veronica