TEACHER FORMATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELEVANT PROJECTS FOR FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

This article aims to present the account of a professional practice by a teacher that resulted in a musical presentation by high school students with a renowned musical group. This practice took place in the context of reflection on teaching practice among high school teachers at the Federal Institute of Brasília. After some reflection, inspired by fundamental theory, we sought to generate data by means of listening in the classroom that contributed to the realization of projects that were more meaningful to students. The report provides the steps for carrying out these projects. The result of this experience showed the need for effective Psychological approaches in teacher education in the context of interaction with high school students.

Keywords:
teacher training; high school; psychology

RESUMO

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar o relato de uma prática profissional de um professor que resultou em uma apresentação musical de estudantes do Ensino Médio junto a um renomado grupo musical. A realização dessa prática aconteceu no contexto de reflexão sobre a prática docente entre professores do Ensino Médio no Instituto Federal de Brasília. Diante da reflexão, inspirados pela teoria fundamentada, buscou-se a geração de dados a partir de escutas em sala de aula que contribuíram para a realização de projetos que trouxessem significados para os alunos. O relato traz as etapas para a realização desses projetos. O resultado dessa experiência evidenciou a necessidade de abordagens efetivas da Psicologia na formação docente no contexto da interação com estudantes do Ensino Médio.

Palavras-chave:
formação de professores; ensino médio; psicologia

RESUMEN

En este artículo se tiene como objetivo presentar el relato de una práctica profesional de un profesor que resultó en una presentación musical de estudiantes de la Enseñanza Secundaria junto a un renombrado grupo musical. La realización de esa práctica sucedió en el contexto de reflexión sobre la práctica docente entre profesores de lo Enseñanza Secundaria en el Instituto Federal de Brasília. Delante de la reflexión, inspirados por la teoría fundamentada, se buscó la generación de datos a partir de escuchas en sala de clase que contribuyeron para la realización de proyectos que trajeron significados para los alumnos. El relato trae las etapas para la realización de esos proyectos. El resultado de esa experiencia evidenció la necesidad de abordajes efectivos de la Psicología en la formación docente en el contexto de la interacción con estudiantes de la Enseñanza Secundaria.

Palabras clave:
formación de profesores; enseñanza secundaria; psicología

INTRODUCTION

On May 13, 2018, an exclusive performance took place in Brasilia at a music festival. On this occasion, a band named “Francisco, el Hombre” had the participation of a female choir for a rendition of a song named “Triste, Louca or Má.” The relevant fact is that this choir was made up of high school students. Thus, this article is an account on pedagogical practices and aims to present the stages for performing this presentation and raise issues concerning teacher education.

The proposal of this artistic performance emerged from a process of reconfiguration of our teaching practice and was based on conversations with students enrolled in the different classes of technical courses on event promotion of the Federal Institute of Brasília (IFB). The action was justified by the students’ common discourse about the lack of space in the school for the practice of activities that made “more sense” and was motivated by the role of high school as a space for the construction of life projects (Weller & Gauche, 2017).

In this report, we will use the first person in the plural due to the importance of the multiple participations that enabled this experience: the students, other teachers, artists, and people connected to the organization of the music festival. As a result of this project, we agree on the need for Psychology in the formation of high school teachers (Almeida, Alves, Neves, Silva, & Pedroza, 2007).

Next, we organize this text as follows. First, we will present the school context in which the participants of this experience were inserted. This whole process was the result of a teaching project (IFB in Transition), the objective of which was to promote the implementation of some actions present in the Pedagogical Project of a technical course on Event Promotion integrated to the High School program of IFB (ResolutionNo. 021/2015/CS-IFB), based on the use of project-based learning methodologies (Queiroz, 2018).

Next, we will describe the set of actions adopted by the teacher in an attempt to reconfigure his teaching practice. The methodology adopted for the realization of this cultural project was a choir with the voices of high school students in collaboration with a renowned musical group. The whole idea was inspired by the fundamental theory by Corbin and Strauss (2008), especially with regard to the characteristics of the researcher. Finally, based on the teachers’ perception of the importance of psychology studies, we will present some results and referrals.

CONTEXT AND METHOD

The experience of the teaching project we mentioned earlier is present in an article by Professor Alice Watson Queiroz (2018) on reports of successful integration actions in the network of federal institutes. Motivated by a proposal led by Portuguese Educator José Pacheco, a group of five teachers participated in a training program named “Schools in Transition.” This training program motivated the congregation of a larger group of teachers from the Technical Course in Event Promotion Integrated to High School (CTEIEM) in order to discuss their pedagogical practices and the full execution of their respective course programs based on the use of project-based pedagogical methodologies.

In the first semester of 2017, in the first stage of the project, the teachers conducted studies and meetings with the Portuguese educator so they could be provided with guidelines in order to act as advisors to student groups. Thus, they would have the task of guiding these students on the planning of a project in which their objectives were related to educational contents of high school programs, to course programs and, also, to the personal interests of each individual involved. Then, during a period of two months (at the end of 2017), between shifts, they executed a pilot project with 10 students. Finally, in collaboration with the course board, they agreed on a day of the week for activities in groups guided by certain teachers.

In the same period of studies and execution of pedagogical projects, which includes the years 2017 and 2018, we conducted a research based on the generation of data by means of listening to accounts on projects the students thought significant. As we will see below, the entire context described above contributed to other practices experienced in the classroom.

Listening in the classroom

In one of the moments with the educator José Pacheco, he gave us a recommendation that we should seek more inspiration in the Projeto Âncora (school in Cotia, in the state of São Paulo) and less in the Ponte School (Portugal). At the time, Pacheco said something like: there in the school (Ponte), we really listen to our intuition. At the Projeto Âncora, we had a greater systematization - mentioning the importance of studying the pedagogical political project of schools.

This notion based on these two experiences of the educator directed us to a methodological framework inspired by the fundamental theory by Corbin and Strauss (2008). Among the characteristics a researcher must have, the authors specify intuition and sensitivity. Concerning the inspiration for applying some principles of the methodology, we agree that research problems should emerge from the data generated in the classroom. Thus, regardless of the subjects we taught, we all managed to listen to the students.

Coincidentally, a theme that emerged within the process of creating activities that had relevance in all classes referred to the role of women in society. To illustrate that, we will mention two incidents. In a discipline named “Organization of Events,” which is part of the technical course on event promotion, the students suggested the fight against machismo on campus as a project theme. They shared the fact that they had conducted a quantitative survey in the previous semester. The resulting data found out that more than 60% of the students approached had suffered or witnessed acts considered sexist.

In high school classes, when planning an event on diversity, we proposed that students elaborate on some questions that bothered them. The students mentioned issues concerning sexual orientation, religious divergence and, mostly, the discomfort suffered daily when it comes to sexual and moral harassment. Therefore, we assume the importance of addressing gender issues in some way.

As the time dedicated to studies to go deeper on the theme was scarce, we initially encouraged these students to create a project on cultural events - the Program for The Encouragement of Culture, Sports and Leisure (BRUSH). Thus, the project named “Quem Tem Boca Vem Pra Boca Vem Pra Roda” was benefited by the program and carried out by students of both courses.

In other words, we can say that this project was composed of a set of actions - round tables and creative writing workshops - focused on the female audience and that aimed to promote their empowerment. These actions and interactions led them to choose a song entitled “Triste, Louca ou Má” as the theme of these actions. This was the song that the female choir would sing with the band responsible for their arrangement- as we mentioned at the beginning of this article. The importance of music in this context can be summed up by the chorus of the song: Man does not define you/ your home does not define you / You are your own home.

All the reflection produced by this project contributed to the elaboration of some research questions: (a) in the face of issues such as these, of a feminist nature, is the teacher (comprising here any male teacher and regardless of the discipline taught) able to address the subject? (b) Since we have studied the theme, do we have the necessary set of knowledge and practices for the most appropriate approach? (c) So what would the most appropriate approach be?

The issues raised by the students concerning gender and the role of the school in their lives caused us to feel restless regarding the context promoted by the IFB project in Transition by promoting project-based learning by means of projects (Queiroz, 2018). In addition to other achievements, we had carried out the orientation of a project (Quem Tem Boca Vem Pra Roda) that would be conducive to a context in which the students could discuss and produce texts from their female point of view. However, we felt the absence of something that would articulate the school and the community. According to some studies on youth, we reflected on the definition of teenage skills (Calligaris, 2000).

Based on the emergence of this issue, we have a convergence of factors that contributed to the production of this musical performance. The purpose was to work on the construction of meaningful actions for young people. Thus, we will describe our entire trajectory, which begins with a performance of the school choir at the end of the first semester of 2017.

The choir performance

During the choir performance at the end of the semester, reactions by the audience were easy to notice. There were tears of emotion in the eyes of many teachers. This moment impressed us deeply and we had a feeling that, in the future, we will be able to conduct research with choir groups as a consequence of this report of pedagogical practice.

In the second half of 2017, there were no choir activities due to medical leave by Rita Mendonça, the music teacher. However, in the dialogues established in the classroom, we noticed that some people who were part of that choir kept in touch and were willing to continue this practice. The first half of 2018 began. However, the teacher did not resume the activities of the choir. At first, she claimed that she did not get approval for the choir as an extension project.

In March, by means of sources in the organization of the Móveis Convida Music Festival (which has been happening in Brasilia since 2005 and which featured this performance), we learned that the Francisco, el Hombre Band would be one of the attractions. We followed our intuition, and in view of this information, we were reminded of the emotional responses produced by a choir performance, with the musical theme defined by the students in that female round table and the anxiety for significant projects for students in technical courses on event promotion.

Based on this notion, we seek to verify what is relevant (artistically and cognitively) to the students, the organization of the event, the choir teacher, and the artists. It is worth mentioning that we used our professional experience in the music market and in teaching classes for disciplines in the technical area of event promotion. Once validated by each of these people, we took the following steps (for realization between March and April 2018 - since the performance would be in the month of May): Reactivation of choir practice, rehearsals, sharing of recordings with the whole group, establishment of communications between group and choir, promotion of choir participation (in order to obtain permits for the entry of persons under the age of 18 at the event, and to organize rehearsal hours with the group, among other assignments).

The students who participated in the Quem Tem Boca Vem Pra Roda Project came to the round table and were the first ones to be aware of this idea. Our intention was to provoke their mobilization to work with the music teacher to restore the choir’s activities. We also encouraged those students who did not participate in the choir or the project but who shared the desire to develop projects that they considered relevant in this perspective of female empowerment.

Coincidentally, on the same day that we started random conversations with the students, we were also able to talk with Rita Mendonça. At the time, the students tried a telephone contact, but were unsuccessful. However, we were able to find her on her way out of campus by chance. Another coincidence contributed to the success of the proposal - the teacher, during this conversation, mentioned that she was rehearsing the Triste, Louca or Má song with another all-female choir.

These meetings took place in the middle of the week, on a Wednesday and, to our satisfaction, the following Monday, the choir was rehearsing, even without adding official working hours for the teacher and participating students.

As this proposal was supported by all the people involved (from the organization of the event to the artistic group), all the necessary steps were soon taken. The recording of the video of a rehearsal, the acceptance of the group and its proper contact with the music teacher. All this was duly aligned with the organization of the festival and the families of the students (who, consequently, authorized their participation).

Their performance was recorded and released in a music video that can be seen on the musical group’s internet channel released in July 2018. On social networks, the group’s lead singer, Juliana Strassacapa, praised the partnership and encouraged young women to make their dreams come true. You can watch the music¹video on Youtube.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

A number of factors underlie an action of this nature. The participation of a renowned musical group (to illustrate, it is worth remembering that the song in question at the time had been the subject of a soap opera character, who was raising the issue of violence against women) added greater motivation to each stage. The music video of the song has more than 100,000 views and continues to generate comments on the relevance of the song and/or the participation of the choir. According to this report, we were able to produce significant projects for the students. On the other hand, this showed a series of fragilities in some of the teachers.

Thus, from an academic point of view, this practice contributed to the exposure and survey of a few problems. The first one concerns the existence of a space for convergence of formal educational actions outside the school environment. Thus, it is important to problematize the social role of high school.

Moreover, as stated above, we reflect on the role of education and the importance of Psychology in formation. And here, we agree with Piaget (1979), based on one of his interlocutors in Brazil, quoted by Lauro de Oliveira Lima (1979), when he states that Psychology is fundamental for teachers. Thus, questions arise that go beyond the approaches of school psychology and human development disciplines in undergraduate courses. Given the challenges that arise in the classroom, teachers lack support in their formation (Almeida et al., 2007). It is also worth questioning the interest in their continued education. In this case, we used project creation as a solution to address issues to which we did not have the proper solution.

For other studies, the proposal to establish some principles of fundamental theory showed us the need to go deep into issues concerning adolescence and its relationship with society. We try in this experience not to treat adolescence as something natural and fleeting according to a conception perceived by Bock and Liebesny (2003). Nor do we omit using the classroom to promote interaction and contact with the students’ daily lives (Pedroza, 2005). Aware of this potential scenario of problems and data, it is worth reflecting on the use of this report as a motivator for future research that can contribute to teacher education.

REFERÊNCIAS

• Almeida, R. S.; Alves, C. B.; Neves, G. N.; Silva, L. P.; Pedroza, R. L. S. (2007). O professor de ensino médio e a psicologia em seu cotidiano escolar. Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, v. 11, p. 123-132.
• Bock, A. M. B.; Liebesny, B. (2003). Quem eu quero ser quando crescer: um estudo sobre projeto de vida de jovens em São Paulo. In: Ozella, S. (ed.), Adolescências construídas: a visão da psicologia sócio-histórica São Paulo: Cortez.
• Calligaris, C. (2009). A adolescência São Paulo: Publifolha.
• Corbin, J.; Strauss, A. (2008). Pesquisa qualitativa: técnicas e procedimentos para o desenvolvimento de teoria fundamentada (2ª ed.). (Rocha, L. de O. da. Trad.). Porto Alegre: Artmed.
• Resolução Resolução N.º 021/2015/CS-IFB (2015). Aprova o plano de curso do curso técnico em eventos integrado ao ensino médio e autoriza seu funcionamento Instituto Federal de Brasília. Ministério da Educação.
• Lima, L. O. (1979). Escola no Futuro Petrópolis: Vozes, 2ª edição.
• Pedroza, R. L. S. (2005). O desenvolvimento da pessoa e o ensino-aprendizado. In: Pulino, L. H. (Ed.), Aprendizagem e a prática do professor São Paulo: Modena. Brasília: UnB.
• Queiroz, A. W. (2018). IFB em Transição. In: Instituto Federal da Brasília (Ed.), Relato de Experiências Integradoras Exitosas Brasília: IFB.
• Weller, W.; Gauche, R. (2017). Ensino médio em debate: currículo, avaliação e formação integral Brasília: UnB.

• 1
  Available at https://youtu.be/jLxxstrxkLI accessed on 9 May 2019
• This paper was translated from Portuguese by Régis Lima.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  11 Aug 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  15 May 2019
• Accepted
  25 Sept 2019