Doing to Learn

Yvette Jimenez

On May 28th, 2025, our study abroad group had the opportunity to visit a private school in the city of Sao Paulo Brazil. The school's name was “Lumiar.” The school first was an institute for research and was owned by a businessperson. The man found that people waited on him for order and he disliked this because he wanted people to take initiative. This led to the creation of the school and its teaching style of Montessori learning, which is hands-on learning, independent exploration, and self-directed activity. The school consisted of fourteen classrooms for the entire school year of 2025. Many areas of the school caught many of us off guard because of how different this school was. Students were freely in the hallways transitioning alone between classes and were even allowed the option to wear socks inside the school. They had a concept of tutors and masters. Tutors were more homeroom teachers that built in-depth relationships with the students, while masters were teaching the children skills. The school allowed the students to evaluate the teachers and teachers evaluated students after a prolonged project. They refused to have tests be a crucial factor for grading but instead graded based on how much the child learned and grew throughout the project of their interest.

The school was extremely different from anything that I had ever seen or heard of. I did not know schools like this existed. We talk a lot about wanting to see this form of teaching in America because we want to focus on the interest of students instead of testing students on subjects that are not their strengths or interests. However, I did want to keep in mind that just because a school appears to be “perfect,” this does not mean that it is perfect for all students. I kept in mind students with special needs because this school is centered around student independence. However, students with special needs need extra support. It is important to keep an open mind with a school of this sort because one person may think it is the best school for their child, and another person might think the school is incapable of instructing their child. 

More about Lumiar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTNxVZbkp9k