13 de July de 2026
Reading goes beyond decoding words: it is a cultural object that needs to be taught and experienced with intentionality, through interaction and the mediation of others. Based on this understanding, referenced in the work of researcher Ana Teberosky*, Labedu develops weekly reading meetings with educators from Maranhão participating in the project Learning: Inside and Outside of School, carried out in partnership with Seduc/MA. Titled Reading Journey, the initiative offers a space for literary practice for adults working with child language development. Behind the initiative is the belief that by investing in each participant’s personal reading experience, we ground their conception of reading and, consequently, their perspectives and actions in early childhood education.
The Reading Journey was born out of the Learning training sessions, which since 2019 have promoted spaces for reflection on pedagogical practices and strengthened teacher professional development. In this new format, contact with literary reading gains more space, taking place at a separate time from the pedagogical training meetings. The idea is to encourage reading to become part of the weekly routine, inviting participants to recognize themselves as readers and to engage with works that provoke reflection and expand their literary repertoire.
The weekly online meetings are led by Labedu researcher Paula Cruz Pereira. Each session consists of moments for collective discussion of the weekly readings, followed by questions and activities proposed by the mediator. Thus, the group is encouraged to construct shared meanings while experimenting with and practicing reading strategies, such as formulating hypotheses, identifying universal themes, and the aesthetic appreciation of language.
In the first semester, the group read the work I’m Still Here, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. In this edition, the chosen title was The Head of the Saint, by Socorro Acioli. The choice pleased the participants, who are engaged with the meetings. “The book is funny and very faithful to Northeastern culture. It shows a way of life we recognize—the faith, the humor, the difficulties, and the daily life of small towns. It reminded me of ‘A Dog’s Will’. I really liked the choice,” reports Dilma Pessoa, Regional Trainer for LEEI (Reading and Writing in Early Childhood Education program, a teacher training initiative coordinated by the Federal Government).
For Paula Cruz Pereira, the Reading Journey is also an opportunity to inspire more authentic and high-quality reading practices with children. “It is much more likely that an educator will develop readers when he or she also lives and knows the experience of reading in their own life. Those who read learn to recognize metaphors and irony, perceive dialogues with other works, and see relationships and differences between their opinions and those of others, knowing that there isn’t always a single correct interpretation. The essence of reading is there, for us and for young children as well. And group-mediated reading enhances all of this,” she states.
She also reinforces the role of teachers as reading influencers. According to the 2024 Portraits of Reading in Brazil survey, teachers appear among the main references that awaken a taste for reading. “We want to make reading literature something much more tangible, more accessible. The proposal is to simplify and bring texts closer to us,” she adds.
The initiative continues as a space for exchange and continuous training, showing how the literary experience of trainers can be reflected in professional practice, as stated by Regional Pedagogical Coordinator João Bosco Gurgel, from the municipality of Açailândia (MA). “The Reading Journey, in its essence, has been contributing very positively, especially in the perception of certain values, beliefs, and ways of seeing, feeling, and reflecting, through the unfolding of literary reading. As a trainer of trainers, I understand that literature makes various connections with the training context. Many of its metaphorical devices play a fundamental role in stimulating others to draw out a wealth of feelings and emotions that align with what our brain processes during reading,” he concludes.
*Words to teachers who teach reading and writing, Ana Teberosky (2020).