A Cambridge Public Schools teacher is one of this year’s winners of an award from the Massachusetts Council for Social Studies (MCSS).
Fabiane Noronha, an elementary social studies and science teacher at The King Open School, received the Barbara Capron Award for Excellence in Teaching Elementary Social Studies. Noronha was awarded this recognition for her empowerment of “students of as agents of change” in the bilingual civics program in which she teaches, according to a CPS press release.
“This award is not mine, it’s an award that a whole community got to receive,” Noronha said about her coworkers at King Open’s Olá Program, a two-way Portuguese-English bilingual immersion program. (As opposed to traditional bilingual programs, two-way immersion programs feature instruction in both languages for students of both language backgrounds).
The Olá Program, one of only a few bilingual immersion programs in the district, features social studies and science instruction fully in Portuguese, with math and English Language Arts courses in English. Although Olá originated as a transitional program for Portuguese immigrant families, the program mostly serves English-speaking students looking to improve their linguistic and cultural understanding of Portuguese, Noronha said.
That shift happened after Massachusetts passed legislation that restricted bilingual education in the early 2000s, replacing it with English immersion instruction. Noronha called the law a “blessing in disguise” for the Olá program, which was forced to rebrand from a bilingual program to a dual-immersion program, subsequently attracting more English-speaking students.
“The Olá Program is everything I believe in in terms of social justice,” Noronha said. Students in the program gain a “deep understanding of Portuguese language and culture” through a “lived experience” of immersion.
Noronha said she does not see bilingual instruction as a “challenge,” but as an “opportunity” for more engagement. “People come here to visit, and they are in awe of how much the kids really raise their hands and [use] the Portuguese that they have, even though it’s not perfect yet.”
Noronha graduated from college in Brazil, where she studied for two months under prominent Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. Freire is primarily known for his “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” where he makes an argument for two-way instruction where both students and teachers co-create knowledge. Noronha said her time with Freire ignited her passion for social justice and her understanding of “civics as a verb” and “teaching as learning.”
Noronha moved to Massachusetts in 2011 to pursue a master’s degree in Instructional Leadership at Harvard. It was only after transitioning from teaching at elite schools in Brazil to the public school system in Cambridge that Noronha fully realized her impact as an educator because she was able to reach students from “all walks of life,” she said.
She taught Kindergarten at King Open for nearly a decade before transitioning in 2022 to the third and fourth grade cohorts she currently teaches.
The Cambridge School Committee passed a resolution officially congratulating Noronha on her award at a March 17 committee meeting, just a few days after the March 13 MCSS awards ceremony where Noronha accepted her award.
The recognition is an example of “the type of relevant and impactful education that we need more of across all of our school communities,” Superintendent Dave Murphy said at the meeting.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.