SPOTLIGHT: Time to grow and develop

MAGAZINE

STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES: WHERE LEARNERS ARE THE PROTAGONISTS

TIME TO GROW AND DEVELOP

1202 * YAM 4#

SPOTLIGHT

JOURNEY TO HAPPINESS: A VIEW FROM POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

10 12 14 18

EDITORIAL

May, a month filled with opportunities for feedback

EMPATHY A Kinder project explores: Why is it important to value Diversity?

GLOBAL FLUENCY

Studying another language and open up to diversity

STUDYING CHINESE Why learn Mandarin?

DIGITAL FLUENCY WEEK

CONTENTS

4 6

Developing a Logical and Creative Mindset

FEEDBACK CULTURE How does Escola Concept assess learning?

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STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES

26

HAPPINESS IS ...

32

PAST EDITIONS

Where the learner is the protagonist

Positive psychology expert comments on students' definitions of what happiness is

Get involved in our community through Spotlight magazine

May is here, a month filled with opportunities for feedback

What makes us grow and learn? This year, we are inspired by the book The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein, to understand how this exciting learning journey happens at Escola Concept. Among the many possible interpretations of this story, we realize how important it is to set goals and go after them, but we always must consider what we learn and take with us from the journey.

Some people think The Giving Tree is a sad story because the tree always gives the boy what he wants, and does not tell him how lonely and weak it feels when he goes away. How have you been facing your challenges in life? What have you learned from each situation? Do you have someone to rely on?

Every day, our learners at Escola Concept are challenged to tackle problems with a growth mindset. In practice, it means that they learn to look at difficulties as opportunities. It is not about what they are not good at. It is about what they cannot do YET. But what makes them truly assess the quality of their own abilities?

Reflection

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L AI R O TI D E The Habit of Mind, brought to us by Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick, of Thinking About Our Thinking is all about knowing what you know! And that metacognition process guides our learners on a daily basis at our school. Through meaningful academic assessment tools, we put the learner at the center: Student-Led Conferences, Festivals of Learning, MAP Testing, Feedback of Progress and Growth, and so on. These academic events are the foundation that allow us to ensure a real and lasting learning experience in our community.

In this SPOTLIGHT edition, we will take you through some of the main evaluation processes that happen in our school. You will learn more about how we measure the academic progress of our learners and how we empower them to be protagonists of their stories.

Exclusively, we will share some insights from Carol Romano, positive psychology investigator, on the “Journey of Happiness” and the process of self-development.

Let’s discover together how to keep our growth going!

DISCLAIMER The stories and articles published in this digital Spotlight magazine are based on interviews, event coverage and pedagogical documentation shared by educators, families, students and other collaborators in our community. The texts and photos are edited to better suit the journalistic language, and may omit excerpts from the process or make use of a selection of images. We reserve the right to use photographs of learners without masks, taken before the pandemic began.

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EMPATHY

Why is it important to value Diversity?

Carolina Monteiro de Maio, Kindergarten educator at Escola Concept São Paulo The Kinder C group started 2021 on campus, after a very challenging year with online learning. Considering this scenario, during the initial days we encouraged learners to talk about themselves, exchanging experiences and preferences. The conversation led them to comparisons and we took this opportunity to question: Are we all the same? Is it good to be different?

Why? I SEE COLORS IN YOU Together we built a bubble-map on people's possible differences and they listed physical, emotional, cultural and behavioral aspects. The contributions made us all reflect on what makes us unique and we went deeper into one of the aspects that was brought up by a student: the color of our skin.

Connecting to the Humanae Project from the Brazilian photographer Angélica Dass, using a variety of pantones, learners were asked to identify the color closest to their own skin. They realized that they all have different colors. With that, we built a "Colors Wall", showing that we are all unique.

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This discussion was the entry event to the project: “Why is it important to value Diversity?”, with the intention of celebrating what we have in common but also celebrating our differences. That should help them be mindful about the importance of being flexible and accept the differences that exist between us.

That way, they could realize how much

Maitê: People are different.

Henrique: Have different hair.

Olivia: Have different colors.

Lena: My skin is lighter than my dad's.

Educator: Is it good to be different?

Olivia: Yes! We learn new things with different people and we can try too. Being different is good , if everyone does the same thing we will get bored.

we can benefit and learn from the others.

DO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER The project connected to Global Goal #10 – Reduced Inequalities, encouraging learners to develop empathy, think interdependently while finding solutions to real problems caused by discrimination.

March 8th, the International Women's Day, presented us with an opportunity to approach inequalities. We read "Malala's Magic Pencil" and kids were puzzled by the fact that there are places in the world where girls could not go to school.

22

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In another lesson, I created a game for the

José Felipe - Will you stay in a wheelchair

children to match photos of famous people

forever?

to their stories. As they tried to guess who was who, they missed most of them! That made us understand that judging someone by his/her looks can be misleading.

Rodrigo: Probably, but that didn't stop me from doing anything, I work, study ... I studied in college in a wheelchair.

José Felipe - Rodrigo, I took a wheel off my bike and I'm riding, and you encouraged me to take both of the wheels off my bike.

Henrique: One day, I was running after the ducks, then I tripped, and grazed my forehead. The rocks were like meteors, but the little ones.

Rodrigo: But then you were fine, right?

Henrique: My forehead is brand new!

Rodrigo: I'm also brand new, look! The only difference is that I have a wheelchair!

João M.: Why did you have to dive? You had

UNDERSTANDING WITH EMPATHY During Virtual Village, the Kinder C group

to use the steps for this!

Rodrigo: Yeah, I did what shouldn't be

welcomed Rodrigo Bottini, a wheelchair

done...

user, for a talk. After an accident, he was

Educator: Something else you learned,

considered a quadriplegic. With a lot of

Rodrigo?

physiotherapy and persistence, he recovered the ability to move his arms, became a sportsman, continued to work, drive and pursue his dreams. The children listened with understanding and empathy, made a lot of connections and asked questions:

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Rodrigo: I learned to help others and not to be ashamed to ask for help. If you meet someone in a wheelchair, it will be nice of you to offer help.

OTHER PERSPECTIVES On April 13th, the Kinder C group received Negão da Serrinha, who started in music at the age of 7. At 12, he received a scholarship to study at the Brazilian Conservatory of Music. At 13, he opened Gal Costa's concert at Teatro Municipal do Rio and at 18, he started as the drums conductor ahead of samba schools and street carnival blocks.

Negão da Serrinha has played with Arlindo Cruz, Dudu Nobre and Mart'nália. Music has always been his main goal, for which he fought, studied hard and took opportunities, despite the adversities due to his origin, color and arduous profession.

Another perspective came from Ana Castro, writer of the book "A Minha Mãe Vira Bicho", who is also a mother and a journalist.

She is dedicated to the cause of equality, from the perspective of boys and girls having the same rights. Both conversations were very rich not only to bring different perspectives but also to celebrate and value individual differences.

As the UN's World Day for Cultural Diversity approaches, on May 21st, the Kinder C group pasted into the "Colors Wall" photos of all the incredible people they were exposed to along the project – Rodrigo, Negão, Ana, Malala, Einstein, etc. It was a way to make our community aware of what resembles humanity in relation to rights, dreams and potential!

"I understood that in culture and information we can all be rich. So, I need to share my learnings.

When we receive something, we have to give back.", said Negão da Serrinha to the children. spotlight - may 2021 | 09

Leer en español

GLOBAL FLUENCY

STUDYING ANOTHER LANGUAGE AND OPEN UP TO DIVERSITY Cecilia Verri Kozlowski, Spanish educator, Escola Concept Ribeirão Preto

Multilingualism begins with the group of educators, where there are people from different parts of Brazil and from countries such as Russia, Canada, Colombia, Italy, France, Argentina, Finland, Turkey, and Japan. This interaction between people of such different cultures presupposes an openminded interaction towards new concepts and ideas and towards what is characterized as "de-alienating" languages, a term coined by Almeida Filho, which means undoing the distance between oneself and the other.

A photographer knows that to capture the essence of various images, he needs a variety of lenses. Furthermore, to reflect the diversity of the world, he must know how to use them and be attentive to the opportunities that come his way.

This multicultural approach is a registered trademark of Escola Concept, which is based on a proposal for learning foreign languages, as well as respect and tolerance for differences, without stereotypes.

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To speak of a contemporary world is to speak of globalization and multiculturalism. By learning a language, we break down the barriers with what is foreign. Multilingual students are used to handling several languages at the same time, regardless of their level of proficiency, which is a normal and understandable situation; multiculturalism is understood as an opportunity to form a plural society.

Grade 8 learners from Concept Ribeirão Preto, for example, investigated the cultural diversity in their family; they built a repertoire of their cultural origin and shared it through reports for the school blog.

In another experience, we received an invitation from the PEA-UNESCO Network to participate in the International Children's and Youth Book Fair in Spain, with the theme "Literary Emergence: Books Save the Planet", with rapid adhesion, our students recorded videos with their instructions, choosing naturally one of the 3 languages present in the school. Still from this perspective, Grade 9 learners analyzed the evolution of communication, specifically in Spanish, with poetic texts, having various types of texts from Hispanic literature at their disposal. As Pablo Neruda used to say, “Poetry is always an act of peace, unique for its ability to speak through time, space, and culture”.

According to Ofelia García and Fernanda Liberali, two researchers on multiculturalism, "Translanguage challenges treating multilingual discourse as a rule for the formation of more sensitive people capable of interacting with different visions and ways of life”.

Proof of these are our learners who begin their 3rd language and in a short time are able to use all the resources at their disposal to redefine contexts, overcoming barriers in interviews with native speakers, for example, taking advantage of their curiosity, not seeing the Spanish language as a linguistic system separate from the languages they already know.

In conclusion, the challenges of this century require global citizens prepared to face problems of global proportions, capable of presenting solutions. And one of the most problematic issues is the lack of cultural understanding, which generates conflicts throughout the world.

As a foreign language educator, I fully agree with all the authors mentioned. It is a great honor to be part of the Concept community because here the authentic multicultural environment is experienced, making Paulo Freire’s words come to life, “Education does not transform the world; it transforms people and people transform the world”.

Without a doubt, our boys and girls will be the agents of change, for a more fair, inclusive, and egalitarian world.

References Skutnabb-Kangas y García, http://www.estudiosindigenas.cl/educacion/inter18.pdf https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/publicaciones_centros/PDF/rio_2005/31_paraquett.pdf https://www.cultura.gal/es/evento/73566/107/86044 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7582579-la-poes-a-es-siempre-un-acto-de-paz-el- poeta FORMAÇÃO DE PROFESSORES E INTERCULTURALIDADE ... http://perioticos.uem.br ›ojs› download ›pdf_26 https://sphereinternationalschool.com.br/2020/07/28/educacao-intercultural/

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PERSPECTIVE

WHY LEARN MANDARIN? At Escola Concept São Paulo, the third language that students learn is Mandarin. Below, the educator Artur Serafim lists some reasons for learning this language of the future present.

THE MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD With a population of 1.3 billion people, it is very likely that you will find Chinese people all over the world.

Communication in Mandarin is not limited to China, but to other countries and regions such as Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Have you ever thought about traveling to these places and communicating easily?!

THE SECOND-LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD With its exponential growth over the past 25 years, China is the world's second-largest economy and one of Brazil's major trading partners. Being able to communicate with partners and suppliers in Mandarin is a differentiator that can help open doors and close deals.

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CULTURE AND HISTORY Learning a new language is a way to open up to a new culture. What about the Chinese culture? Think of this adjective: different. Now connect it to this one: wonderful. Finally, think of an abundance of songs, places, people, gastronomy, habits, over 5,000 years of culture, and join the first two adjectives.

EXERCISE FOR THE MIND Learning Mandarin is an excellent exercise for the brain, as it requires focus, dedication, and a good memory.

In this dialect, there are more than 60,000 symbols or characters, and of these, around 10,000 are currently used. However, don't worry, it is much easier than it looks: there are great techniques for learning Mandarin and there are no conjugations or grammatical arrangements, so it is very easy to structure a complex sentence, as each word must simply be put in its proper place.

THE GLOBAL GOALS IN CHINESE Middle school learners were challenged to create posters or record videos to present the Sustainable Development Global Goals in Chinese. "It was very nice to see the involvement of the classes in the proposal. The topic Global Goals is already very widespread among the learners, thus bringing more engagement and commitment in the project to use Mandarin in written and spoken form", says the educator Artur Serafim.

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DIGITAL FLUENCY WEEK

Developing a computational mentality is one of Escola Concept's goals regarding our Digital Fluency Pillar Analídia Ferri, Marketing and Communication Coordinator at Concept Ribeirão Preto There is no escaping the changes digital technologies brought upon our world, especially over the last year, in which our interaction was only possible through screens and apps, be it at our work or social lives. When discussing the importance of digital fluency in school, we discuss the necessity of developing a computational mindset in our learners. In other words: empowering learners so that they can browse safely the multitude of available information, while working collaboratively and reflecting on how to solve problems in a creative manner.

Who tells us how Concept develops the logical and creative mindset of our learners is Enzo Brena, Educational Technology Coordinator at Escola Concept Ribeirão Preto. Read about it in the following interview.

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Since children have already been born immersed in a digital world, what is the importance of developing a computational mentality at school?

Being immersed in a digital world, even from a very early age, does not necessarily mean the development of healthy or productive digital fluency habits. Thus, developing a computational - or technological - geared towards solving real and relevant issues is one of our key tasks at school. It is necessary to introduce our learners to tools that can contribute to the learning process, as well as training them to adopt a logical and creative mindset to actively solve problems using technology, especially in today's world! With technology being such a presence and necessity in our daily lives, it is fundamental to exercise the skills and abilities connected to the positive and integral use of technology, so as to ensure a healthy cognitive social and educational development in our students.

What does it mean to be Digitally Fluent?

It is rather easy to mistake the ability to use apps and digital gadgets in our daily lives with the skill named Digital Fluency, however, it is integral that we notice that these two are completely different. As stated in the term itself, being Digitally Fluent means deeply knowing the language of digital tools, this means being able to browse effortlessly the devices, apps and networks and, above all, feeling comfortable and adapting quickly to new technologies and tools, when introduced into our routine.

It means being ready to face issues in a creative and active manner, being able to adapt to emerging demands, using (or even creating) new tech tools to solve any issue in a natural and flexible way.

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How does concept develop this computacional mentality in practice?

In a more direct manner, we offer weekly Design Thinking Classes, focusing on digital literacy for our learners, starting in Lower School. In these encounters, learners can interact, in a controlled environment, with tools and softwares created specifically for their age-group, such as Scratch and Scratch Jr., which teach the fundamentals of Linear and Block Coding. We also work on projects that require physical material to prototype solutions and use the Design Thinking approach in searching for solutions to challenges and innovations.

Also, we use a great variety of digital platforms in our school routine, such as Educacross, with math challenges and games, Árvore de Livros, for reading, and some softwares for idea organizing and design, such as Canva, Padlet, Jamboard and others. It is also worth noting that our Educational Technology team oversees the development of every project that is developed by each grade at Escola Concept, offering support for educators and learners in developing effective and solid projects, based on the fundamentals of Design Thinking.

Every year, Concept dedicates a week to promote Scratch Activities - a coding language - so what is in the works for this year?

For this year we are planning an assisted coding challenge with learners of all ages. Learners from every group, from Early Years to High School, will be presented with age appropriate challenges of coding and design.

The idea is that, during the week of May 17th to 23rd, we can explore the Coding Language to solve real world problems, with lots of creativity, through coding and technology.

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How can families develop activities connected to digital fluency with children that already show interest in the topic?

Surely the first step is to familiarize yourself with the apps and devices we use on a daily basis (mentioned above). Those who want to better understand the Scratch Platform proposal, born in MIT, the link is https://scratch.mit.edu. It is also worth it to access the FabLab Network Portal in Brazil (https://www.fablabs.io), of which Escola Concept is a part, to see interesting projects and solutions born in laboratories just like our own.

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FEEDBACK

HOW DOES ESCOLA CONCEPT ASSESS LEARNING? Ana Carolina Erlacher, Lower and Middle School Principal at Escola Concept São Paulo

Understand how Concept educators intentionally plan and document learning to continuously assess students' process of development.

After living our first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2021 the main focus of our pedagogical choices and investments at Escola Concept has been on Academic Rigor.

In many schools, Academic Rigor is directly connected to the final tests, in order to make sure that learners have a high level of academic performance at the end of the process.

PLANNING TIME

For us, academic performance and rigor is tracked and assessed on a daily basis, as every proposal that our learners engage with is seen as an opportunity for them to make their learning visible and, therefore, a source of data on how they can grow even more along the development.

Actively listening to the learners and documenting their interaction with each other and with the new content being studied will provide educators with data about how much each learner has understood until that part of the learning journey.

At the beginning of a project, our educators connect the essential questions raised by learners and align them with the standards and learning objectives each grade level needs to cover according to the National (BNCC - Base Nacional Common Curricular) and the International (Fieldwork Education) Curricula.

This documentation relies on a thoughtful curation of opportunities and a close look at learners' productions through the development of their digital portfolios, recordings, pictures, written assignments, debates, among so many other informal and formal assessment tools.

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With clarity of the standards and intentionality in their planning, educators create learning opportunities that will access our students' previous knowledge, push their thinking further and introduce new viewpoints and further conceptual understandings.

FEEDBACK CULTURE

ASSESSMENTS

Along the process, feedback also plays an important role in engaging learners into this process. Students are invited to constantly reflect upon and learn from their mistakes and achievements.

More than showing learning acquired at the end of a period, let's say, a trimester, we believe that assessments should impact planning, differentiation and learner's growth.

Feedback from educators to learners might be offered individually or as a group, be it as questions posed during conversations, or reflections on their written productions. However, feedback can also come from peers, as learners are encouraged to collaborate on improving each other's productions, and through metacognition opportunities, when each learner self-assesses their own performance, based on rubrics.

This is why learning at Concept is continuously assessed, providing data to support the educator's choice on providing the most effective opportunities for their group of learners (also for individual cases - this is what we call differentiation).

Find below how this assessment process is shared with the families along the School Year.

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Feedback on Progress and Growth A partial report that shares with parents information about students' learning along the trimester. A summary of the highlights and opportunities for improvement are shared, along with the main goals on focus until the end of that trimester. This document is sent by the educator via email.

Student-Led Conferences In the Student-Led Conferences, families are invited to celebrate learning, as their children share the highlights of their journey and their next individual goals, along with their digital portfolio. Dates of our Student-Led Conferences are shared in our School Calendar and parents are invited to schedule their individual times via the Concept App.

Report Card At the end of each trimester, parents receive their child's Report Card, which provides detailed information about the learner's growth in each area of study along that period. The Report Cards are sent home via email by the educators.

MAP Test Growth MAP Growth is an external assessment in partnership with the platform nwea.org which measures the academic growth of our learners over the school years, from grades 1-12. It provides educators with data that support differentiation in reading, language usage, math and science, supporting curriculum choices and individual growth. The MAP Growth report is shared with the families at the end of each school year.

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STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES

WHERE THE LEARNER IS THE PROTAGONIST

During the Student-Led Conferences it’s the student that presents their learning journey to the parents

In the month of May, we will have the Student-Led Conferences (SLC), one of the main and most expected events of Escola Concept’s school calendar. This year they are scheduled to happen between Monday, May 10th and Saturday, May 15th, in São Paulo and Ribeirão Preto and between Monday, May 17th and Friday, May 21st, in Salvador.

In these individual meetings, that are made in advance by the parents, the learners present their learning journey to the parents, based on the notes and images from the digital portfolio, and the educator also shows some evidence of learning collected through proposals, essays, assessments, and tests.

The Student-Led Conferences fulfills two aims that we consider vital at Concept: showing the families the learner’s development and creating a feedback opportunity in which the child or teenager is present.

Notwithstanding the importance of the time of the meeting itself, preparing for it is a challenge to developing skills such as synthesis, oral and written expression, management of anxiety, and encouragement of self-confidence.

Check out what our learners say about SLC.

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Elisa Porchat, 9 years old, Escola Concept São Paulo, grade 4 learner And do you usually tell them what you have been doing at school every day?

To tell the truth, not much. When my mom asks "how was your day?", I usually answer "normal or cool".

So the day of the Student-Led Conference may be a surprise for them ...

In your own words, what is the Student-Led Conference?

A meeting in which you explain to your parents what you have been doing in projects and activities in class. Each family schedules an appointment to go to school and talk to the educator. Since last year it happened online and it still is the same, so expect that the meeting is virtual.

And how is the preparation?

During the project, there are a few days when we take time to do the digital portfolio, which is a very complete presentation on Google slides: we type the title of the project, what we liked to do the most, paste photos, and link it to the selfassessment. We also make posters to hang in the room, carefully and in cursive. I like that part and I love that my parents come to school to see what we have prepared.

A little… There are people in class who get very nervous before the Student-Led Conference. I do not. I was a bit shy before, but I kept going. I only needed to relax, have some water, and start presenting what I had prepared.

Your educator from last year said you rocked the presentation, even though you had to work hard for it.

Last year we made a commitment to do extra Math and English exercises, and they were very important because now I feel more confident. In the past few StudentLed Conferences, I did my presentation in English. I have been studying at Concept for two years and I can speak in English a lot.

I understand everything in class and in movies, with the help of subtitles.

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Rafael Davis Riccetti, 13 years old, Escola Concept Ribeirão Preto, grade 8 learner Is there any difficulty in talking about the learning process in the Student-Led Conferences?

The main difficulties for me are presenting in English, summarizing what we have learned, and being shy while speaking.

I avoid switching languages during the presentation and I always remember the habit of mind “persisting”, that helps me move forward no matter how nervous I am.

What are the advantages of having a moment like the SLC in your school, for your learning journey?

I see the importance of this moment for the connection among children, parents and educators, and to show that applied methodology of design thinking, in which we seek different solutions to a problem.

What do you learn while presenting?

I learn to develop the ability of designing a presentation while representing a stage of my grade, in addition to training to speak in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

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What are the challenges in preparing for the Student-Led Conferences?

The greatest challenge for me is to summarize everything that I’ve learned in a clear and simple way, and to be able to present everything within 30 minutes.

Do you have any strategies to overcome it?

In my presentations, I always try to use the habit of mind “thinking and communicating with clarity and precision” so I can explain the subjects to my parents.

What are the advantages of having a moment like the SLC in your school, for your learning journey?

The biggest advantages for me are being able to reflect on my learning journey during the assembly of the presentation and exercising the habit of talking in public.

What do you learn when you are presenting your learning process?

I learn to organize my learning in a logical and succinct way so that my parents can understand me well.

Alice Nunes, 15 years old, Escola Concept Salvador, grade 10 High School learner

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WELL-BEING

Happiness is ...

Camila Icassatti, Content and Marketing Lead at Escola Concept Carol Romano is an expert in positive psychology, the science that researches wellbeing, and she comments on the definitions of happiness brought by our learners.

Did you know that they came up with a lot of interesting insights for us adults?

On Monday, April 19th, all Escola Concept collaborators had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with Carol Romano about happiness. In the talk, Carol shared about how she started to study positive psychology in order to meet the needs of a client in her innovation consultancy. She dove so deeply into the research that she went back to the university - today, she is also a psychoanalyst.

In addition to the meeting with all the collaborators, Carol Romano also gave an interview to the SPOTLIGHT magazine. Next, check out the expert's thoughts after hearing the definitions, from some of our learners from Concept Ribeirão Preto, about what happiness means to them.

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... When we are with the family or here at school we are happy to be able to have a home, a family, and to be able to eat!

… It's love and friendship.

Pietra, 10 years old

Lavínia Fonseca, 7 years old

... When you feel good doing something, your brain releases dopamine and it makes you happy in some way.

For me, that's when I'm doing art, creating things.

Mariana, 9 years old … Is to be happy and play.

Pérsio, 7 years old

The family argument is valid: the most extensive research done on happiness, which Harvard has conducted for 80 years and it is with its third director, revealed that the secret of happiness is to have good ties, to have someone to count on. It is the primary antidote to the feeling of displacement that many people experience in cases of depression and anxiety.

What triggers vary from person to person, but there is a common denominator among these diseases and it is the feeling and fear of loneliness.

Therefore, “family” for Pietra and “friendship” for Lavínia represent the core to guide you to belonging. It is essential!

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Hardly does Mariana know, but doing something that makes you feel good has to do with the three stages of a happy life, presented by Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology. The first stage is our ability to experience pleasure in everyday life. If you think about it, culture plays against it: first comes work, then, if you have time, fun - and bringing joy to your daily life is a skill to be developed. The second stage is engagement; when we look at our talents (which is not so easy, as we tend to focus on drawbacks), we build a life based on them, like having a career in which we can do well what we like.

The third stage is about having a meaningful life, in which we put our talents at the service of more people.

Playing, as Pérsio tells, reminds us of that child mindset, which is worth us reconnecting to it sometimes. Happiness is not something as distant as " when I win my million dollars” or “ when I hit the jackpot.” Happiness lays, as children can feel while playing, in the ordinary things of everyday life.

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The feeling in the quarantine is that the windows were closed, but even with the window closed, it is possible to enter light" Sofia Rocha Boselli Grade 8B São Paulo.

Excerpt of reflection on the pandemic for Pathways meetings with educational counselour

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