Cartografias da vida: memórias, experiências e novos caminhos: memorial descritivo para promoção à classe de professor titular

Abstract

There are words that draw our memory, and others that give it new meanings. This memoir arises from the act of revisiting experiences and interpreting the teaching career as a continuous formative process. Prepared as a requirement for promotion to Class E – Full Professor in Basic, Technical and Technological Education (EBTT) at the Application College and Basic Education School of the Federal University of Uberlândia (CAp ESEBA/UFU), it transcends the formal requirement by constituting a reflection on the teaching of Geography and on the meaning of being a teacher. The text organizes memories and experiences that highlight the complexity of teaching, articulating affective, intellectual, and professional dimensions. It is based on theoretical contributions that understand teaching as a practice traversed by multiple relationships—with the knowledge, the world, and others—and engages with perspectives from Geography in the contemporary context of education. More than a mere account, this memoir is an intentional pause to examine one's journey in depth. In narrating professional memories, it reveals origins, family history, significant experiences, and accumulated learning. Inspired by José Saramago's metaphor of the journey, it understands the teaching path as a continuous movement: 13 each experience allows one to see what was previously invisible, reflect on transformations, and renew commitments to education. The text begins with a brief personal introduction, revisiting my rural origins, basic education, and the path through undergraduate and graduate studies, culminating in a critical analysis of my teaching practice at ESEBA/UFU. It highlights that being a teacher is a constant process of construction, renewing oneself with each challenge and learning experience, in a trajectory always open to new meanings and possibilities. From the first lesson taught, marked by the insecurity and enchantment of someone embarking on a teaching career, to the most recent journey at ESEBA, the movement of learning from others, revisiting practices, retracing paths, and recognizing, in each moment, the transformative power of education persists. To be a teacher is to continue traveling between memories and the challenges of the present, with the curious gaze of someone who is enchanted by the act of teaching and learning. It is to understand that teaching is done in the journey: between the past that shapes us and the future that is projected in each gesture, word, and (re)encounter.