Professional Educator
--Originally published at el-mos
It is the part of the challenge, learn a new way to interact with students. When I started to do similar practices (making projects in class and leave readings at home), one of my main concerns was chaos in the classroom. I was afraid that students or the institution would consider that it was just fooling around to come to my class. As time passed by I realized that this flexibility was crucial, and that I had arguments to support it.
One of the things that I really enjoy doing this kind of practices is that everything that is forbidden in Tec´s classrooms becomes relevant and necessary, the cell phone or tablet, for example. Students can interact, speak, even rest if it is convenient for their projects. They can organize and pre-produce their videos and ask me if their PR was adecuate. I feel they feel more confident having me near, and I really appreciate their trust.
The hard part, all this is not for us as teachers, our ego should be minimized. We are not the center, even though, sometimes we are the person that makes more efforts to keep things going. At least, it is that way in the beginning. When students realize they are responsible for their own projects, you can feel how the heavy load goes off. This moment allows you to understand the power of a learning community and allows a different way of empowering students and teachers. I´m glad to learn new methods and techniques, specially when they are explicitly developed and taught, like flipped classroom.