Tales mill on a carpet of stories
Team:
Diana Cassel
diana.cassel@gmail.com
Letícia Leão
lelé_sll@hotmail.com
Social Group:
Patrícia Pereira, professora de educação infantil
Escola Municipa lFrancisco Alves, Travessa Pepê, Botafogo
We performed the project at Francisco Alves Municipal School, in Botafogo, with Patricia Pereira, a primary education teacher of a class of 5 to 7 year 0ld students. During the first meetings we listened and collected phrases that were said during the classroom activities. Daily practice begins with students arranged in a circle and in this context Patricia begins the literacy process, encourages the creation of stories, exercises spelling and invites students to register their processes through drawings. From the set of words that make up Patricia´s vocabulary universe, we recognized the “aim-phrase” for the project: “The image of the circle provides you with a whole Today.”.
Through experiments we recognized the alternative adopted for the work developed by the teacher: surprise elements that stimulate the creation of stories arranged in the circle and support for drawings about a narrative. We built a fabric carpet, organized in an Origami like fashion that refers to a wind mill. The pieces that make up the form are 45 cm x 63.3 cm, four externally covered by a turquoise-green cloth and four by a beetroot color. The structure rigity is achieved by the use of a hard interlining and each piece is internally coated with satin fabric to make them slippery in order to convert into an octagon form. Illustrated cards that encouraged the creation of stories were cut hexagonally. The illustrations were done in watercolor and pen, and wrapped with a translucent plastic. The words present in each card were handwritten, in order to approximate them to the children’s universe. Accompanying these, there is a surprise cotton bag to put nets that simulate a mesh of pixels, and are used for the staging of children.
This set of elements is used in Patricia’s class to stimulate children's creativity, when exercising the creation of narratives, working memory, logical reasoning of cause and effect and stimulating the transmission of messages through drawings.
Letícia acknowledgments:
This project is something beautiful; the whole process is a construction that brings us many lessons. I changed a lot not only as a designer but also as a person; I gained a new outlook on things that are around me and the way I relate to them. This project goes beyond building a carpet in a wind mill format and finding that circular cards do not render nice plastic cover finish. In that process tent we learn to be humble designer, because we have built together. The carpet was not created by me; it was created by us, in other words, me, Diana, Patricia, Ana, Vicente, Luciana, and all the others who were present in the process. Inside the tent I learned a methodology that I intend to follow for the rest of my life; watch the other and build with others; try to change that arrogant vision that exists within the industrial design that we know what is best for the other without going into contact with him.
I greatly appreciate my partner Diana, for leaving me with so much difficulty to find an adjective to describe her, there is not an adjective that could describe who Diana is, because she goes beyond the capacity of any word to describe something, she goes beyond everything. Having had the opportunity to work with someone like her was a privilege that I will never forget. The project was wonderful because of her empathy and the way we had with each other. I hope Diana in her path never stops being this amazing person and designer, always with clever ideas, good humor, wisdom and funny stories to tell.
I thank my intercessor Patricia for doing such a beautiful job in the classroom and having welcomed us so warmly in this project. It was a pleasure working with this teacher who not only teaches Portuguese and Mathematics, but also manages social transformation. Throughout the process she surprised us and gave us wonderful messages. I had a wrong view of how a public school worked. Whenever I saw children in their uniforms on the street I would think "poor kids, they study in a school without much structure and with teachers who do not want to teach", my stereotyped view changed completely after I met Patricia. Now I wish that all children between 4 and 6 years of age have the opportunity to have classes with a "Patricia", a public school teacher that focus on teaching today in order to achieving a different tomorrow.
Diana acknowledgments:
The 1002 project created in me the desire to stop “willing to be” to actually becoming. Me, that have always preferred to omit, found myself facing a process that cheered interrelationships. Classes beneath the trees put me sitting with my teachers and classmates and the closeness between us made me realize that it was necessary to communicate. I began to realize the pleasure of accompanying the other’s projects and this led me to realize that I should not need be afraid of criticism. I noticed that my project was taking shape, size, color... As my dear partner shared her experiences and feelings with others. Witnessing these great transformations and exchanges generated in me the desire to experience this same humble generosity of speaking and knowing to listen. This route also made me question my role as a designer and now I understand that it is not in mass production, but in line with those who we want to reach. I learned to replace the fault of excuse, by gratitude. I understood the importance of my mistakes and realized that when an action enchanted me there was a space inside me that was empty, in which something began to germinate.
I thank Patricia for the love that she shows in each gesture with children, colleagues and us. I identified in its softness and generosity the importance of caring for what she does. These qualities have supported us in many moments when we felt unfairly treated and therefore we wanted to create a gift that best suited our partner. On the final experimentation, our partner once again surprised us by giving a new meaning to the carpet. This was the highest payoff we could expect and for which I am eternally grateful to her.
I am grateful to my dear partner Leticia for promoting me so many insights. With her, I learned to respect the idea of the other, to be sympathetic, to seek help from others and to learn to provide assistance when needed. Through her, I met the incredible work of other students, which created in me the desire to want to be better. In time of conflict and through their tips I could look at me and know myself. She encouraged me to overcome expectations, communicate and relate to others. Hers spontaneity, charisma and joy, created in me a great admiration and willingness to accompany her in many other processes.
Review of intercessory:
The project developed by the students Letícia Leão and Diana Cassel (PUC) was interesting. First by their commitment and the empathy they both showed. And secondly because they were able to capture all the creative spirit I like to develop with my students in the classroom and to transform everything they observed in a material that used the techniques of design without sacrificing pedagogical practice that sets up in my classroom. Both of them are to be congratulated!
Disciplina: DSG 1002
Turma: 1AC
Professores: Ana Branco e Luis Vicente