PEDRINHAS MIUDINHAS
Veronica Pinheiro
22 de novembro de 2024
“Tiny little stone from Aruanda – eh!
Such a huge flat rock
Little stone from Aruanda - eh!”
Writing Diaries was an assignment I received from Anna Dantes, the creator of Selvagem, a cycle of studies. At the time, I thought we wouldn't have enough material to publish in 35 texts. The mission became a journey through ways of knowing and enchantment for me. I spent almost 200 days with 420 children a week. It was many days of listening and telling stories. It was 145 pages written with smiles, fears, songs, drawings and hugs.
The school was the thread that sewed my wanderings together in 2024. All the texts written described the experiences and experiments shared with the children. On this penultimate page, however, I would like to talk about the teaching staff that make up the Professor Escragnolle Dória Municipal School. From the kitchen to the gate, all the school staff are educators, as they teach and share knowledge with the children on a daily basis. When it comes to primary schools, there is nothing new about the fact that the teaching body we see is a female body. A body made up of mothers who clean, cook, teach, coordinate and manage a routine full of challenges. Throughout the Ways of Knowing journey, I could also notice Pedreira in the bodies and gestures of these women mothers-teachers. All 14 classes are led by a female teacher; the cleaning, kitchen and gate staff are mostly women; the management team is also made up of women.
We won't talk here about caring and the reasons why education is a feminine environment in which men are the exponents. In the land of Marias, Josés are applauded – men sign educational proposals and give names to methods. For now, I'll talk about the ethical, social and organic commitment to life that I saw in the vigilant eyes that watched me every day in the Favela da Pedreira. I remember the mistrust in the first few weeks. I welcomed them all knowing that, for a teacher, someone who shares a journey with her is much better than manuals with revolutionary ideas.
We experience with adults and children: practices of unconfinement, movements to broaden the gaze, weaving of territorial webs, affective proximity with nature, the poetics of backyards, the syntax of the body…
We do not talk to adults and children about: practices of unconfinement, movements to broaden the gaze, weaving of territorial webs, affective proximity with nature, the poetics of backyards, the syntax of the body…
We had a total of 0 lectures throughout the year and 0 pedagogical trainings.
Life happens in a web of ongoing relationships. Our care leaned towards the relationships we established. In a Living School, learning is lived and shared. Curiously, at most of the congresses on playing I attended, nobody was playing. Just as congresses on orality often result in written texts about orality. While calling for a pluriversal and cosmological education, we present neither formula nor form.
I learnt in this land of women to celebrate tiny little things and to work in silence in order to let land speak for themselves; just like Sun, who rises in silence, knowing exactly what has to be done. Sun doesn't do anything new but exactly the same thing every day, and that's where the generosity lies. An indigenous Macuxi friend told me that Sun is a feminine entity. That's why... at this moment, I pay homage to the sun-women of Pedreira who, on a daily basis, have helped us to conclude this Learning Cycle.
Na imensidão complexa do que é a Favela da Pedreira, Daniele, Genicelle e Vera são pedrinhas e, ao mesmo tempo, lajedos imensos. Os lajedos são formações geológicas esculpidas pelo tempo, comuns em lugares áridos e semiáridos, que abrigam poças d’água e diversidade de vida por conta das condições únicas encontradas nessas formações rochosas. Na secura sentida e vivida no território onde está a escola, vi abrigo e vida; uma vida diferente da vida do território, com condições únicas. Uma vida derivada do compromisso e do amor de professores e funcionários. E. M. P. Escragnolle Dória é uma escola-lajedo composta por pedrinhas miudinhas, da qual eu faço parte.
My gratitude to the sun women from Pedreira:
Aline Lopes
Analice Lima
Anaquel Albuquerque
Ana Paula Pequeno
Beatriz Ferreira
Conceição Correia
Cristiane Paula
Daniele Oziene Lima
Deise Patrocínio
Denise Lopes
Derli Monteiro
Érika Fraga
Genicelle Colchone
Glória Alencar
Ivone Pacheco
Ivy Passos
Janaína Chaves
Karine Machado
Leidiane de Paula
Lena de Abreu
Lílian Moreira
Lúcia dos Santos
Luciene Justino
Maria José Rodrigues
Michelle Bessa
Miriam Ribeiro
Monique Ribeiro
Rosana Moraes
Sabrina Amarantes
Sandra Helena Santos
Simone Rezende
Sônia Maria Oliveira
Taís Nunes
Thassia Oliveira
Vera Lucia Lavatori
My gratitude to
Felipe Rodrigues
Iranildo da Silva
Rober da Silva
José Roberto Oliveira
Wagner Clayton Nascimento