Contact
Address: Av. Pres. Altíno, 1131 - Jaguaré, São Paulo - SP, 05323-002
This project is a three-way partnership between Henrique Dumont Villares Public State School (EEHDV), Sidarta Institute (technical expertise), and ABMTHS (financial supporter). It has been in place since 2017. Its main goal is to invest in training EEHDV’s multi-subject teachers in Complex Instruction, and more specifically, in mathematics.
The school, which is located in the Jaguaré neighborhood in the city of São Paulo, has approximately 850 elementary school students in two periods (morning and afternoon).
The teacher training sessions take place every two weeks and last about 2.5 hours.
Rachel Lotan's book "Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom" is the theoretical basis for the training sessions. The goal is for teachers to recognize the benefits that groupwork brings to children's learning and to use the strategy increasingly more often in their classroom.
At the same time, teacher discussions are centered on Mathematical Mindsets, which emphasizes that anyone is capable of learning math to high levels. For these discussions, the theoretical basis comes from Jo Boaler and the www.youcubed.org website. Jo is a Stanford University professor and the author of "Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students' Potential through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages, and Innovative Teaching" and "Mindset Mathematics: Visualizing and Investigating Big Ideas".
In the first year of the partnership, the sessions were held only for teachers from the first through third grades.
In the second year, teacher training sessions were offered to first through fifth grades of the elementary school. Through out the year, all 27 teachers carried out groupwork in their classrooms.
In May, one of the EEHDV teachers shared her experience with groupwork at the International Seminar on Mathematical Mindset. She participated in a roundtable discussion led by Jack Dieckmann, a Stanford University Professor who is also the Research Director for YouCubed. Jack visited EEHDV and was very pleased with student and teacher engagement there.
In December, another EEHDV teacher was invited to participate in "Classroom practices: a teachers' debate", an event organized by Nova Escola magazine and Lemann Foundation. This teacher shared her experience teaching children that mistakes are part of learning, for when we err, brain synapses strengthen or broaden.
At the end of the school year, Rachel Lotan visited the school. Rachel visited the morning classes and observed that every classroom was working in groups. She spoke to students and teachers and heard, firsthand, how collaborative groupwork has been a positive impact in their lives. She was moved by the statements given and all the letters and gifts she received. Rachel also opined that an additional indicator for a school's caliber should be created: the amount of hugs and smiles that one receives when visiting.
In the third year, the teacher training sessions will be held for all 27 elementary school teachers. Our main focus is to have more equitable classrooms, with teachers planning lessons together, and students interacting more with each other in the classroom, for we know that egalitarian interactions contribute to everyone's learning.
