Pedagogy
The pedagogy is a result of more than 30 years of research in several countries, with 2,250 children on the streets and slums in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The methodology alleviates or solves the problems of these children in the cognition area; improving memory, focus, spoken and written language, associations, attention, concentration, quick and analytic thinking, logic, reading, math and behavior.
The main objective of the UERÊ-MELLO pedagogy is to positively influence the transformation phases of childhood and adolescence of a population exposed to constant conflicts, with distortions caused by risky situations and traumas that prevent the development of their vital potential. Traumas that can interrupt the growing and mental and physical development with aftereffects throughout their life. Our pedagogy also helps the students to understand their biorythm and their level of comprehension.
The problems presented by children that come to PROJETO UERÊ comprise the reflex of a group of symptoms that are the psychological and biological answer to traumatic facts that modify their everyday lives.
The proposed pedagogy is primarily focussed on the concept of associating mind and emotion, on brain plasticity, speedy storage of information and on a very simple way of explaining curricular contents.
To do that, we have to understand the brain functioning, so that we understand the learning variations and do not label children as diseased, just because they cannot follow an imposed rhythm.
A child or youngster traumatized by any kind of violence will present a dysfunction of circuits that affects her/his whole cognitive and emotional part. It is on that cellular level, where learning disabilities emerge. Traumas during childhood lead to a delay and a disorder in the cognitive centre.
The pedagogy is based and focused on the student’s problems and her/his comprehension of these problems, with the intention of maximising a healthy brain potential. There exists an unassailable intelligence as well as individual genetic issues that belong to the individual. However, intelligence alone does not lead to a full development of potentials.
At PROJETO UERÊ, learning strategies are defined based on the life and the daily emotions of children, with the purpose to facilitate an easier understanding. We also created a system that we call „Bolhas (Bubbles). We teach children and youngsters to function within several bubbles: home, school, leisure, work, friends, love. These bubbles are always above our heads, and the secret is to never let them fall and pop. Each bubble is a facet of life, and they learn to circulate within them and through them. That is the balance of life we try to teach so that Uerês become happier people.
Our main criteria, from the learning point of view, are:
- Learning process with a more interactive understanding.
- Division of the classroom in groups for oral exercises: groups are different every day: oral exercises not only improve knowledge storage but also adapt knowledge.
Focus on the individual and the emotional:
- Body-mind.
- Space-time.
- Subject-object.
We use some strategies to improve learning:
- Mind organization and acceleration
- Constant monitoring
- Room organization
- Study division in short-term moments: classes are always divided in oral and writing moments
- Content review
The UERE-MELLO pedagogy is based on the attention span in which the student is able to store quality information. Quality means learning and retaining. When we refer to children living in at-risk areas, this approach is of crucial importance.
Classroom time is divided in 12 moments. Each moment should not take more than 20 minutes, except for extracurricular classes.
