NÓS. Porque educar continua a ser o mais extraordinário ato de esperança.

Because educating continues to be the most extraordinary act of hope.

Some speeches are used to present projects.

This is not how it works.

Today I just wanted to tell you a story.

Our story.

The story of so many teachers who, despite everything, continue to believe.

(Pause)

Can I start with a confession?

I am scared.

I'm afraid that one day school will cease to be the place where a child discovers that they are important.

I'm afraid that one day we'll manage to teach everything... but then we'll stop educating.

(Pause)

I'm also afraid that a student might know how to solve equations, interpret texts, speak several languages, master all technologies... and yet never have met an adult who truly believed in them.

Because there are lessons to be learned…

that never appear on an agenda.

(Pause)

Perhaps a teacher's first mission was never to teach.

Perhaps it was seeing.

Look beyond the grade.

Seeing beyond behavior.

See beyond the mistake.

See the person.

Because everyone needs someone to see them.

There's a phrase that scares me.

Just three words.

"Is that so."

That's exactly why students are demotivated.

That's exactly how tired teachers are.

That's exactly how the school resigned itself to it.

(Pause)

No.

It doesn't have to be this way.

It was the day we stopped accepting that phrase…

That's where it all began.

We don't start by creating a project.

We started by refusing.

We refuse to accept that a student is merely a number.

We refuse to accept that one mistake should define a child.

We refuse to accept that a teacher should stop dreaming.

We refuse to accept that the school could lose its joy.

It was because of that refusal…

From there, everything else was born.

Over time, we discovered something extraordinary.

Schools change when people change the way they look at themselves.

We discovered that belonging comes before learning.

Trust comes before performance.

Relationships come before resumes.

Because nobody truly learns in a place where they don't feel seen.

That's when we realized that this way of looking needed a name.

We called him…

The Size of the World.

Not as a project.

Not as a methodology.

Not like a recipe.

But as a culture.

A way of being.

A way of believing.

We believe that no child is born to fail.

We believe that no amount of money can measure a dream.

We believe that learning is an act of trust.

We believe that a teacher can change a life without ever knowing it.

We believe that educating is much more than just transmitting knowledge.

It's about offering a sense of belonging.

It's about building hope.

It's about sparking fascination.

Because fascination is not a luxury.

It is the principle of learning.

When a student feels fascinated by a person…

He begins to believe in himself.

And when you believe in yourself…

You start learning in a different way.

That's what we discovered.

One student helping another.

An assembly where every voice counts.

A colleague who decides to walk alongside us.

A team that stops working next door…

and they start working side by side.

A teacher who decides to believe one percent more.

None of this seems revolutionary.

But, together…

It transforms a culture.

Sometimes we are asked:

"What exactly is DoTamanhoDoMundo?"

And the answer is never simple.

Because DoTamanhoDoMundo (The Size of the World) doesn't fit into a definition.

It fits into a way of looking at things.

It comes down to the daily decision to believe that no one should go through school without feeling that they are important.

It comes down to the courage to keep dreaming when it's easier to give up.

It fits within the conviction that educating is a profoundly human act.

And it falls, above all, on each teacher who, despite the fatigue, continues to enter the classroom believing that that day can change a life.

Today I'm not asking you to take DoTamanhoDoMundo to your schools.

It wouldn't even make sense.

Every school has its own story.

Each school has its own identity.

What I'm asking of you is much simpler.

When they enter the first classroom of this new year…

Choose a student.

Just one.

Look at him as if no one has yet shown him who he can become.

Perhaps this is the most beautiful definition of a teacher.

To be the person who sees someone…

before that person can even see themselves.

(Pause)

If we can do that…

Perhaps, thirty years from now, a former student will mention our name.

Not because he remembered the subject matter.

Not because we were doing different tests.

Not because we were using better methodologies.

But why, during a brief moment in his life…

We made him feel important.

(I slowly close the book)

And maybe…

at the end of a lifetime of teaching…

There is no greater legacy than this.

Because, in the end…

It was never about building a project.

It has always been about building people.

That's why we're still here.

Together.

Us.