Joana Marques

I am passionate about being a teacher, and about learning new things every day.  I believe in the potential of every single student, empowering students with voice, choice, and ownership. I see in my class that when students live in an environment that encourages them to discover and develop their talents and grow academically and personally. I believe students’ success can only be achieved with teamwork, collaboration, mutual respect, and a united community.

For the past two years, I have been working as a Preschool Classroom Teacher at the Pan American School of Porto Alegre using the PYP curriculum. Since 2013 I've been exploring different cultures worldwide and getting to know different learning environments as a mother, student, and teacher. 

In 2013 I moved to Paraguay, continued working as a Portuguese as a Second Language online teacher, and worked as the ASA teacher at the Christian Academy of Asuncion. At the American School of Asuncion, I worked as a substitute teacher and TA for grades 2 and 3. In 2014 I became a mother and decided to embrace the life experience of becoming a homestay mother. In 2015 my second child was born my intentions of returning to my professional life had to be postponed. However, I continued my online and in-person Portuguese teaching practice, became a certified essential oils coach, and completed the teaching certification program. 

I work every day with Specialists and Student Support counselors to promote the best learning experience each student deserves.  At the beginning of each UOI, together with my TA, we create student-led inquiry and play-based nooks to promote exploration and social skills development. Each UOI planned involves language arts, math, science, and social studies in a group or independent work activities ensuring differentiation of all learning needs. Every day we promote a caring, supportive, purposeful, and stimulating classroom environment where students take responsibility for their learning and for our school and resources. At the beginning of each day, we have pair-sharing moments, and SEL activities and we go through our daily schedule to help with expectations and transitions. I use digital and media learning resources to expose students to a multidisciplinary program. Every week I display students' work in the classroom and around school and I use a digital documentation tool to record the classroom environment and students' daily work. I take responsibility for the management of other adults in the classroom to ensure effective teaching and learning.