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.
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