Vision 2020 Blog

It’s been a little while since I last posted any news regarding our innovation project, Vision 2020. Some of you may know that I had to be away for medical reasons in early April, but I have already come back after a very successful recovery. (Yesss!) And let me just say this: visiting our Facebook group and following all of the great things you guys have been doing with your students was absolutely delightful (and I’m pretty sure it contributed to my speedy recovery <3) How amazing to see the innovative spirit of Vision 2020 going strong ever since our 1st Thomas Maker Summit ! I am writing this very short post to let you all know that I’m happy to be back and that we will soon resume the Vision 2020 project  activities. Before I end this post, let me just give you a taste of what’s been happening and what’s to come. As you know, the first year (2018) of the project is devoted to developing and nurturing a climate and a culture of innovation , as well as leadership for...

On January 24th, 2018, we held our 1st Maker Summit. The purpose of the event was to immerse our teachers in Maker-Centered-Learning experiences, which required them to manipulate technologies, tools, and even methodologies, such as Virtual Reality apps and glasses, Osmo kits, Stop Motion and Green Screening video tools, as well as Design Thinking. Here are some of the things we hoped to achieve with these immersion experiences. We wanted our fellow teachers: to have the student experience by diving in the challenges right from the start. We wanted to give them space to tinker, to play with the tools being used in each experience; to reflect on the hands-on, immersive experience and the difficulties, challenges, successes, and insecurities that surfaced. We wanted them to connect to those feelings that arose while they engaged in each of the experiences together with their peers; to identify possible opportunities for the use of those technologies, tools and methodologies in ou...

I am writing this to share my process with the world. I am truly interested in the network effects that spur growth and creativity. So if you like the theme of change and innovation in education, I would love to connect with you. I am also writing in order to “process my process.” Writing for an authentic audience is very challenging and very productive. It pushes you to articulate your ideas as best as you can. Before I go on, let me give you some background information on who I am and the work I do. I’m a Brazilian 42-year-old mom and educator who lives in Brasília, the capital city of our country. I have been in English Language Teaching for 22 years. After ten years working as a full-time teacher, I worked as an academic administrator in my school, Casa Thomas Jefferson , as course supervisor, a middle-management position of leadership. I have my English language and teaching credentials, but my academic background is in Anthropology. It was not until about a year ago that I re...