Cut PowerPoint from my training
this is my Toy Story report!

Once upon a time, I was a teacher in the city of Antwerp. I was just like any other teacher.
Every day I commuted to Antwerp to deliver the best lessons that I could. More than often I even integrated some Technology tools to make it more interactive. So there I was running around waving my laser pointer to explain this or that and I asked for students to be silent as a form of respect. I was on my way to become a middle-aged teacher. My wife even said I was already dressed like one.

Until one day the roles were reversed I found myself sitting in a training where the teacher was very passionately explaining his topics and was running through his PowerPoint. Everything went super smooth we even did a Kahoot! Besides that Kahoot which I won. It was a boring lesson. At that moment it dawned upon me that from a student perspective, my lessons were not all that different from this one. Boring.

Because of that, I looked for ways to improve my teaching skills in order to create more interactive and engaging courses. In this search for improvement, I came Across the concept of “Training from the back of the room”. Immediately I was intrigued by the fact that brain science is behind this approach.

Because of that, I looked for a training session nearby which for my region appeared to be in Cologne. I wanted to get past the book. I really wanted to experience it, and breathe it instead of just reading about it.

Because of the experience I gained during that training, I started experimenting with the framework. I did some tryouts. In the beginning, students were hesitant because this was new to them and let’s be honest the approach was totally different from all other lectures. However, after a while, this approach became the reason they will remember this course ( for at least 2 years).

Because of the good feedback I received from my guinea pig students, I decided to TBR-ify all my courses.

Because of that, I removed PowerPoint from my laptop.

Until Microsoft 365 ReInstalled it again.

Because of that, I removed PowerPoint from my teaching toolbox and this has liberated me as a teacher.

I am much happier now.

Do you want to go deeper on this topic?