Can an ant feel a desire to live in another anthill?

reflections on teacher listening through child-questions from a field school

Abstract

We believe that teachers listening to children's questions can dislocate, erode, and make it possible to reflect on pedagogical practice and approaches. This study aims to analyze the potential of teaching to open up the field of other thinking, based on the narratives presented by rural children who live on the island. This qualitative research brings together the experiences of a multi-year classroom comprising students from Early Childhood Education and Elementary School I, in a school located on Rasa Island, Guaraqueçaba, on the coast of Paraná. We used narratives as a methodological tool and the analysis involved elements of interculturality. The results point to three questions formulated by the children that mobilized reflections and impacted teaching practice, demonstrating their desire to leave the countryside and migrate to the cities, with a view to obtain a place of “prosperity”, “improvement” and “progress”. In the questions, we found the power and possibility of promoting listening to teachers as an instrument for teaching and socializing knowledge in the classroom. We understand that this study is an important way of proposing reflections and new directions for children who are part of a countryside education.