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Each students has own portfolio where records their school life, idea, opinion, and improvement.

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In a MEM classroom, children have a lot of opportunity to present in front of others. The presentation could be 2 to 10 students, in front of 1 or more classes. This is a great chance for students learn to show themselves. Meanwhile, other students learn to respect, ask questions, give comments and feedback.

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Project is one of the crucial performance in children's learning result. There are 2 elements fascinate me. Firstly, the idea of project comes from small details children interested. The project might be inspired by some details in our daily life, however, sometimes we, as adults or teachers, do not pay much attention to children's curiosity. But, these can be very useful and meaningful topic to dig deeper. Secondly, the projects are well-organized. During the practice, I saw some previous projects, which are very well-organized. This demonstrates that children are capable if we allow them to develop.

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In the Friday afternoon, children and the teacher evaluate their performance this week, including the advance of projects, the fulfillment of personal classroom duty, and things they like or dislike.

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Weekly agenda provides a general outline of different types of activities children engage in during the week. At the same time, it is flexible and adjustable.

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After the Council, children are free to choose whether they want to play various types of activities or engage in projects.

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A group of children, 2-3 students, present their finding, result, or projects to the peer.

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Everyday in the morning, everyone sits around the table, if they want to, share their news to the classmates and decide what they want to do today.

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The last day of our school practice was also the Children's Day, our class decided to make some cakes to celebrate it. :)

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Parents are highly welcomed in the MEM approach school. Even though we do not see them everyday in the class, we can observe their participation in other forms. Firstly, while parents fetch children to the classroom, the teacher always converses with them to know more about the students. Secondly, parents are willing to share their family experience with other classmates. For instance, Francisca and her family went cherry-picking during the weekend, then the parents sent one box of cherries to share in the classroom. Thirdly, parents are also a part of the education system. They record some special events in children’s daily life, then share with the peers, such as Macarena’s parents made a poster, showing what they did during the Easter Holiday.

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The massive obstacle in this school practice was the language. Since my Portuguese level is quite basic, at the same time, most children in the class do not speak other language, so it was very challenging in terms of communication. Especially, communication occupies a crucial role in the MEM approach. For instance, a planning council everyday in the morning, meanwhile children share their news with other classmates, the meeting on Friday, when students construct their week plans as well as all the feedback they give to the peer. Personally, what I disliked most is that when there are so many things or questions children would like to tell me, however, I could not respond. For me, it is such a pity. If we were able to practice in some international school, while we could communicate better with students, I believe it would be beneficial to all of us. So that as observers, we can have a better understanding of the context, similarly, for students, they can have more experience of interacting with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

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Plenty of toys and costumes are provided in the classroom to promote children's play.

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Boys and girls are all welcomed to choose what to play, where to play, with whom to play with freely.

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Story corner is always one of the favorite for kids.

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Writing, Editing and Reproduction Workshop

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Writing, Editing and Reproduction Workshop

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Some students in this classroom are curious about writhing and typing. There are some flash cards next to the computer, so that students can imitate to write, type or draw.

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This is one of my favorite section which turns scary and boring Science and Math into interesting games and discovery. Then, students are welcomed to demonstrate their discovery to the peer. This is the best way for children to explore the world.

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After reading and discussing in the class, there are still some doubts remains, since I have only worked in a traditional school context.

1. Don’t children feel bored about some daily routines, such as long meeting, councils?

2. How to evaluate students’ performance?

3. How to promote students’ learning or play, if the role of teacher is not the leader?

4. What should the teacher do when there’s a conflict between children?

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Summary of MEM Approach (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003)

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Summary of MEM Approach (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003)

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MEM (Movimento da Escola Moderna) is a Portuguese teachers' movement. This cultural pedagogic movement has been guided by two fundamental goals: the first is the exercise of collaboration and solidarity in a democratic society, which encourages both adults and children to develop themselves as democratic citizens through the adoption of democratic behaviors. The joint reconstruction of culture is the second. This implies a sociocultural perspective on learning, as well as a participatory process in which groups not only have access to society's cultural information, but also actively participate in reconstructing it through a dialogic process of meaning making. In the MEM approach, three conditions are essential for early childhood education, (1) Groups are organized with children of different ages and abilities. (2) There is a climate of free expression. (3) Children are permitted time to play, explore and discover.

Learning is viewed as an empowering process that equips autonomous and responsible people with the tools they need to effectively participate and act in the world. Schools are locations where children learn how to learn and how to behave in a democratic society in this sense. In terms of children's learning, there are several forms of knowledge: content knowledge, knowledge acquisition process, knowledge regulation, and, most crucially, the formation of cooperative attitudes, moral and ethical ideals.

Group life and curriculum are managed cooperatively. The fundamental institutionalized ritual for decision-making is frequent Council meetings. Planning and assessing children's progress are formative activities that help them comprehend their own learning. Simultaneously assessing their own (and others') goods or activities allows them to reflect on and gain a deeper grasp of learning processes. The piloting tools are part of the group organization and assist children in integrating their individual experiences into the group as a whole. The MEM groups are made up of people of various ages, with the elder ones explaining the procedures to the younger ones. The adult must know the child and work in her ZPD for the MEM process to take place. providing the essential support (scaffolding) for children to move forward.

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Apart from classroom activities and projects, there were also some field trips together with visits during our practice, including a field trip to the zoo, a visit to Alvalade Market, and a two-days-trip to Castelo de Bode. Before the trip to the zoo, students were working on one of their projects about animal distinguishing, so they initiated the idea of visiting a zoo. Then they also learned how to read the map of the zoo, so that they know where to go. In the market, young learners acquired knowledge about vegetables, fish, price and the neighborhood. Castelo de Bode is a small town where the school owns a farm. In the farm, students assimilated and associated themselves with nature and the animals.

One thing worth mentioning is that most of these visits are proposed by the children. Curiosity is children’s nature, they desire to explore the world. The best way of illustrating is simply showing them the real world. In the MEM approach, the dynamic is quite flexible, students have the right to decide what they want to know, where they want to go. On the contrary, in many traditional educational settings, the teacher might be able to show students the world by mult-imedia, such as pictures, videos, and sounds, which are second-hand materials.

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One day, Maria brought some beautiful cactus to the classroom, then other students decided to sketch.

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Folque, M. A. (1998). THE INFLUENCE OF VYGOTSKY IN MOVIMENTO DA ESCOLA MODERN A EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN PORTUGAL. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 19(2), 131-139.

Folque, M., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2003, September). Children and pedagogues learning together in the early years: The Collaborative Process of the Portuguese MEM Pedagogy. In European Early Childhood Educational Research Association Conference (pp. 3-6).

Folque, M. A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2011). Fostering communities of learning in two Portuguese pre-school classrooms applying the Movimento da Escola Moderna (MEM) pedagogy. International Journal of Early Childhood, 43(3), 227-244.

Sutton-Smith, B. (2009). The ambiguity of play. Harvard University Press.

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This school practice benefits me a lot, it challenges me in many ways from teaching experience to philosophy. With this experience, I hope to share what I saw back in my country and wish to bring them new ideas to stimulate the status quo.

Firstly, the MEM approach reminds and convinces me that children are capable. In the research of Folque & Siraj-Blatchford (2011) mentioned that “children’s involvement in planning and evaluation promotes meta-learning and empowers students as self-reliant learners” (p.3). Sometimes, from the perspective of an adult or a teacher, we perceive children as deficient or incapable. We believe that children need help and protection from adults. However, childhood is a period of time in our lives, during this period, children learn from the environment, from the experience, and they are capable to learn and do many things by themselves. From my observation, students in this school learn to manage their time, find out what they want to learn, and they are autonomous, responsible to their choice.

Secondly, learning from play is possible. Play in my society has always not been considered vital or serious in school curriculum. As Sutton-Smith (2009) mentions that the rhetoric of play as frivolous, what is usually applied to the activities of the idle or the foolish. In usual school days, the schedule is filled up with all subjects, students are only permitted to play between classes. After school, students still go to cram schools to reinforce their academic performance. As a result, there is no time left for children to play freely, to be creative, to express and relate themselves to others.

Last but not the least, the role of an adult as an assist or booster. Traditionally, teachers or adults play the role of leader in the classroom, they design what to learn, how to learn and how to assess learning outcomes for students. The MEM approach is child centered, students are welcome to express and plan their learning, at the same time, the role of the teacher is  planning the environment and activities, monitoring children's work and evaluation (Folque, 1998). As teachers, our role is boosting their learning. This is a great lesson and reminder for me to see things from a child's point of view. From here, we can construct education based on students’ needs and create democracy in our education and the whole society.

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After four weeks of observation, I am still curious about some aspects, so I interviewed Susana, questions and answers are listed below. It is a pity that due to the language barrier, I could not interview perspectives from other assistants and trainees.

1.What is the difference you observed between students in a MEM classroom and traditional one?

A: There is a significant difference that students who receive MEM approach are more autonomous. In school, they learn to express themselves freely, and at the same time, they learn to respect others. Children are free to choose what they want to do, what they want to play, and what they want to learn, so that they learn to manage their time and study. Compared to traditional education, most of the school time is adult/ teacher-led activities, students have no time to develop their own opinion.

2. What is the process of material preparation?

A: All the materials in the classroom are carefully chosen and arranged. Before the semester, teachers gather together to decide what books, toys, materials we need in the classroom, following the categories in the MEM approach. Also, during the semester, children are welcomed to bring anything from home, meanwhile, depending on young learners’ interests, we add some new materials from the internet or real life, these are all crucial for us.

3. What is the reason that makes you devote yourself to the MEM educational approach?

A: I see that students really enjoy “studying”, or I should say “playing”. For me, play is the best strategy for kids to learn about the world. Through play, they explore, they share, they learn from each other. And all these processes depend on them, instead of teachers or parents, this is the vital element to arouse and boost their motivation.

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Practicing in Colegio Piloto Diese is an amazing experience, which leads me to reflect my own teaching/learning experience, from details in the classroom to the whole society. I always enjoy working in school a lot, not only because children are lovely, but also, in Asia, we consider education a sacred occupation, which shapes our future generation, and then the whole society. However, compared to my previous experience, I have observed many differences which make me to re-exam my teaching technique, methodology, and philosophy. Furthermore, it challenges me to wonder about the essence of education, and what kind of society we want to construct together. Here I would like to note some key elements I have noticed. Moreover, by observing and interacting with students, teachers, also the environment, those doubts I had before school practice, all the answers appeared themselves.

Firstly, children are permitted time to play, explore and discover (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003, P.2), and a great amount of time. This is the first and most obvious difference I observed. Play is permitted and included in the curriculum. There are different corners with different purposes. During the class hour, students are free to play and explore those materials without adults’ supervision and assignment. Compared to traditional classrooms where play is considered as what children engage in between classes and activities. Besides playing in the classroom, students also spend time in a playground which has divergent types of toys than in a classroom. At the same time, it provides opportunities to interact with students from other classes and other age groups.

Secondly, I am impressed by how they arouse children’s curiosity, then allow children to explore and discover. The materials in the classroom are well-organized and accessible allowing children to use them independently in many categories as I mentioned above. Take the book “Ciencia a Brincar” for instance. In this book, there are all interesting and simply scientific games and activities, which allows children to experiment. At the same time, they discover the scientific principles behind it.

Thirdly, the interaction in the school is great. There is a lot of interaction happening in this society, from within the classroom to the family participation and community. In the classroom, every morning every child has the right to decide whether they want to share something or not; after one event, questions, comments, feedback are welcomed as well. There is always an opportunity to partake in and it is also children’s choice. Interaction between classes takes place frequently as well. Sometimes students present their findings or tell a story in front of classmates, sometimes to several classes, including younger or older students. Moreover, parents proactively participate in children’s learning by sharing their family activities, creating posters and portfolios together, and joining extracurricular events. Furthermore, children’s learning is not limited within a classroom nor in school. When students are curious, teachers encourage them to find out more by themselves, which might take place in the classroom, the market, the park, so that students are able to interact with the community around them.

Fourthly, the democratic attitude. In the class, all children have the opportunity to share their opinions, then discuss together. Compared to traditional education where most activities, learning, and decisions are made by the teacher or school administration, here children have the right to express their voice. What impressed me most is that in the Friday meeting, children discuss about something or some behaviors “we like” or “we do not like”. From this list, when children share something they do not like, then they try to resolve the problem together, or reach an agreement, instead of asking adults to provide a solution. For instance, children in my class didn’t like that some students pulled their hair. After discussion, they agreed that if someone pulls your hair, you have to tell him to stop, then he should stop. This might not be the best solution, however it is important for children to learn how to cooperate and interact with people around them.

Fifthly, flexibility is essential in the MEM approach. In my personal experience, there must be a fixed goal for learning or teaching, most of the time it refers to academic performance. As a teacher, I must teach students something I planned, and students are required to reach a certain level. However, here in Colegio Piloto Diese, I found that it is not necessary for teachers to design or lead all activities, children should be the leader in their own learning. For instance, when deciding their project, children are free to research what they are interested in. What is more important is that it is fine if we want to change the topic or we are not interested in this anymore.

In the end, in the class, I also had a lot of conversations with Susana, the homeroom teacher. I feel very lucky to observe in her class, she is a professional  practitioner and loving educator. From time to time I ask her some questions about the MEM approach, her teaching experience, as well as some classroom emergency management. I found that she is passionate, patient and experienced. The most important and inspiring idea for me is that she truly believes in the cruciality of play in childhood and children are capable. These are the two cornerstones in early childhood education, under such a premise, children develop depending on their own interest and curiosity.

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Time Organization (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003)

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Time Organization (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003)

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The organization of time is structured around two different units of time: the day which consists of 5 hours and the week which refers to 5 weekdays.

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The Classroom Spatial Organization (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003)

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The Classroom Spatial Organization (Folque & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003)

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The resources in MEM nursery-classrooms are divided into distinct categories, providing children with opportunity to participate in various activities and engage in various epistemological discourses, all of which are linked to the key thematic areas of the Portuguese Curriculum Guidelines. The resources are well-organized and easily accessible, allowing children to work independently.

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9th of May to 1st of June; 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 13:00 p.m. to 16:00 p.m..

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0:00 / 2:46•Watch full video

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The class includes 27 lovely three to five years old students, 1 teacher, Susana Francisco, 1 assistants, Dora Soeira, and occasionally some trainees.

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Folque  Siraj-Blatchford 2011 IJEC-cópia

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Folque  Siraj-Blatchford Learning together 2003 EECERA new

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Our motto:
Our institution’s educational project has the motto “Rights that give us a voice!” , since we recognize the importance of the child, not only as an educational agent with the right to be heard and to actively participate in the learning process in which they are involved, but also with rights that must be respected and defended.
The Model of the Modern School Movement:
The MEM Pedagogical model understands democracy as a matrix of organization and human experiences committed to human and children's rights. Therefore, the model is guided by three main purposes, which we discuss in next pages.
The families
Whether for two fingers of conversation, for sharing a news or in a moment of meeting, the family is always present in the school.

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www.colegiopilotodiese.pt http://pilotodiese.blogspot.pt/ Av. Almirante Gago Coutinho nº 162, 1700-033 Lisbon, Portugal

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Av. Almirante Gago Coutinho nº 162

1700-033 Lisboa

Fixo: 217 970 313

Telemóvel: 961 038 376

E-mail: geral@colegiopilotodiese.pt

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An open school that appeals to the active participation of a school society that extends to the entire community, with a high value in the learning of others. Since it was created, it has been a long journey that, investing in continuous training and with an eye on the demand for professionals, seeks to respond to the needs of those it serves.

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Colégio Piloto Diese - Sou criança, tenho direitos e voz!

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A campainha tocou e do outro lado algúem abre a porta. Segue-se um "Olá! Bom dia!", acompanhado por um abraço que leva a um beijo no rosto. Logo depois somos convidados a nos juntarmos aos restantes que, de olhos curiosos e sorriso nos lábios, aguardam ansiosos por um dia de amizades, carinhos, afetos e muitas coisas para aprender!