Literatura para a infância e espaços educativos: a exploração didática do álbum narrativo no âmbito da Educação Pré-Escolar

Atualmente o álbum narrativo tem sido alvo de atenção crescente na literatura de especialidade, sendo realçada a sua mais-valia em contextos educativos diversificados, mormente na Educação Pré-Escolar, favorecendo o prazer de ler, aspetos bem vincados nas Orientações Curriculares para a Educação Pré-Escolar (OCEPE, 2016). No entendimento de que as práticas de leitura das crianças em contexto educativo se podem entrelaçar, de forma benéfica, com práticas educativas em contexto familiar, este estudo centra-se na exploração didática de álbuns narrativos, envolvendo a família. Procura-se, assim, responder à seguinte questão de investigação: «Qual o contributo da exploração didática regular de álbuns, envolvendo a família, no que respeita ao desenvolvimento do gosto pela leitura das crianças, no âmbito da Educação Pré-Escolar?». Face à questão colocada, estabelecemos os seguintes objetivos de investigação: i) compreender se o envolvimento da família em atividades de leitura pode motivar as crianças para a mesma; ii) analisar de que modo a exploração didática de álbuns narrativos, no jardim de infância, pode contribuir para motivar as crianças para a leitura; iii) promover momentos lúdicos de contacto com álbuns.

Feeding students’ creativity with language arts: a project developed at ESEV (2013-15)

Children live at a time when the rapid turnover of information and the ongoing changes in the technological, social, cultural, political and economic spheres make it more difficult for teachers to prepare lessons that enhance students’ interest and motivation. There is so much to be learnt outside of the classroom’s four walls that traditional methods of teaching may not be the most effective way to teach today’s learners. When it comes to classes of Portuguese language, teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching culture, literature, grammar and skills such as reading, writing and speaking in a way that involves students as active participants, that is, in a way that engages while also instructing. It means that several strategies need to be adopted, from games to the use of new technologies or, among others, an interdisciplinary approach with maths, (social) sciences and arts, for instance. In an attempt to motivate gifted and talented children that were attending elementary school in a small town near Viseu, in Portugal, The School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu was asked to be part of a project in 2013, in a collaborative partnership that proved successful and that was re-enacted in 2015. It is in light of the above that, in this paper, we aim to: a) describe the support that the School of Education provided to these participants, children who were between six and fourteen, by presenting Portuguese language activities that intended to stimulate creative thinking and artistic production; and b) discuss the results of the project, by analysing the students’ productions across verbal and visual modes (ie. script writing and dubbing an excerpt of an animation film, interviews, news reports, drawings, the creation and recitation of poems…). Future activities are on the table, meaning that the School of Education’s commitment to feeding the students’ creativity has shown promising results. Creativity in Portuguese classes is not a guarantee of success but it certainly is food for thought.