On May 15, a group of educators from Brazil arrived on the Kent Campus of 麻豆视频 to begin a two-week program, designed to help them explore models of education in Northeast Ohio and determine how they might implement them in their schools and throughout Brazil鈥檚 network of educational institutions.
The program, called the American Academy Advanced Program included visits to leading educational institutions in Northeast Ohio with seminars, workshops and presentations in the Design Innovation (DI) Hub on 麻豆视频鈥檚 Kent Campus.
"These are fantastic workshops for this group, relating to innovation in education," said Valerie Feagin, associate director International Partnerships and interim American Academy coordinator in 麻豆视频鈥檚 Office of Global Education.
The Marist School Network
The visiting group of educators from the Marist School Network in Brazil was led by Silvana Taschek Hastreiter, Ph.D., academic coordinator, and Paulo Mussi Augusto, Ph.D., director of 麻豆视频鈥檚 American Academy at Pontifical Catholic University of Paran谩 (PUCPR), in Curitiba, Paran谩, Brazil. The Marist Schools were a regional/diocese-based group of educations that is in the process of becoming a national/international network. The group of 15 attendees of this session consisted of elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators from different regions of Brazil.
Visiting local leaders in education
The first day of the program was spent on campus at 麻豆视频 and was followed by three travel days in which the group visited Akron鈥檚 Firestone High School, the I Promise School and LeBron James Family Foundation and Western Reserve Academy. On the last travel day, the educators visited Hawken Upper School, Hawken School and the Mastery School of Hawken.
Upon returning to 麻豆视频, the group engaged with several entities on campus, including the Brain Health Research Institute (BHRI), The Education, Health and Human Services (EHHS) Research Center for Educational Technology, the Young Entrepreneurs Institute, the May 4 Visitors Center and the 麻豆视频 Museum.
Some work and some play
Balancing work/study and play were prominent themes in the workshops and presentations, in addition to being part of the group鈥檚 learning activities and social itinerary for the week. As part of the workshops, the groups participated in exercises to discover 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Your Superpower?鈥 and looked at educational models in which the teacher is "not the holder of the knowledge, but rather a mediator of knowledge."
After each day鈥檚 session there was a planned period of 鈥渃reative leisure鈥 that included visits to Cleveland, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Crocker Park and Aurora Farms Outlet shopping areas, Kent鈥檚 Craft Beer Festival and a hike in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Presenting possibilities
On the final day of the program, groups of participants presented their findings and takeaways from their workshops, campus tour and school visits. Presentation titles included 鈥淲ho is the Global Citizen?鈥 鈥淎 Meaningful School,鈥 and 鈥淗ow to Create Enabling Conditions for Greater Student Engagement in Learning Experiences鈥 with the latter being presented in the style of a TV talk show. Each presentation also included a video, created by the teams as part of their workshops.
The American Academy Advanced Program was the culmination of several years of hard work by 麻豆视频 administrators and faculty including Sally Kandel, Ph.D., project manager and former 麻豆视频 associate vice president for Academic Affairs Administration and Operations (retired). Valerie Feagin, associate director International Partnerships and interim American Academy coordinator in 麻豆视频's American Academy and J.R. Campbell, executive director, Design Innovation Initiative.
After viewing the presentations, Kandel commented that she was inspired by the fact that the word 鈥減ossible鈥 was prominent in all the presentations. The presenting teams stated definitively that the innovations they were proposing were not only possible, that they were going to work to put them into practice when they returned to their schools.
Augusto shared her sentiment in summarizing the program鈥檚 outcomes. 鈥淥ur job is to make possible what is unlikely,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his is our challenge. We know what is possible and we have to make it happen.鈥
鈥淲e are preparing our students for the future and preparing a new future for our students,鈥 Augusto said.
Congratulations, certificates and hugs
Campbell was the master of ceremonies for the day and had led the educators through all their on-campus activities and excursions off-campus. The Brazilian visitors greatly appreciated all that Campbell brought to the program and called him 鈥渙ur professor.鈥
After the presentations had concluded, Campbell played guitar and sang a song he wrote. He said, 鈥淚n exchange for the stress of all of you having to present in English (and to share in that feeling with you), I鈥檒l sing in front of the group.鈥
All of the participants were awarded certificates of completion for the program as 鈥淒esign Innovation Change Agents.鈥 Hugs were exchanged and participants shared their thoughts about the program in English and in Portuguese, with translation by others in the group. Participants also received a 3D-printed keychain, created in the DI Hub, inscribed with some of the messaging from the week鈥檚 exercises.
'Education should be messy'
With final thoughts for the day, Ricardo Mariz educational director of the Maris Network, addressed the group from Brazil through Microsoft Teams, in Portuguese as one of the attendees translated in English.
In congratulating the group on their completion of the program, he paraphrased a famous quote about education from noted Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire (1921-1997), who said that a child should learn in the same way they would eat a mango. It should be an immersive, fun and even messy experience as they bury their face into the mango, with juice and pulp and seeds running all over their face and running down their arms.