Jordi, the teacher who dreams of a different school and records videos with the students in the classroom

In a world where all spheres of daily life coexist with technology, How to make kids pay attention in class? How attractive are still words on a blackboard or a fuzzy photocopy? Is taking their cell phone valid as a sanction or is it a useless practice?

These are some of the questions that professor Jordi Romero Castillo asks every time he arrives at school in Bogotá, where he teaches social sciences.

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See how Jordi, with the complicity of a colleague, acted in front of the class to explain micromachismo (Credit: instagram/el_profe_jordi)

Despite the criticism he receives from some colleagues, The 34-year-old professional showed that with his way of teaching, the boys not only manage to meet the academic objectives but also have more predisposition and interest for the contents.

“What I do on the networks and in the classes is genuine, it goes with my personality as a human being beyond my profession. Since I was a child I always thought of creative things and when I find spaces to do them, I exploit them, ”he said in dialogue with TN.

The impulse to create content was TikTok, where “I watched very silly, very banal videos”, but he understood that young people liked that network and that is why he was encouraged to open an account.

Jordi is very grateful to his students to whom he considers he owes the virality. Educating with songs, acting with another teacher to reflect on machismo and making humor about grades, he managed to build a huge community of followers on social networks: on TikTok he has more than 90,000 and on Instagram, he exceeded 13,200.

“Several colleagues see all this with great pleasure, but for those who are more linked to the traditional, it generates noise. They think that what I do is make a fool of the profession. I know I’m making the system uncomfortable, but boys and girls are grateful that there is a teacher who thinks differently”, he explained.

Romero Castillo assured that with his way of teaching “the learning process was enriched in class.” “I love what I do, I respect the students and I respect my profession, but I am convinced that, for example, a song contributes more than a photocopy or a few words on the blackboard“, said.

For “teacher Jordi” the “educational system has a thousand difficulties and is detrimental to education”. “There are classrooms with 45 students and it is quite a challenge to reach so many in such a small space, and the pandemic also greatly affected attention span,” he analyzed.

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The situation that he perceives in the classroom and that he described to TN is worrying: “The boys spent a lot of time with their cell phones and without socializing, that was a very significant blow to their concentration. The brain resets them very quickly, after five minutes of class you feel that you are losing them”, he counted.

For Romero Castillo, going viral was “surprising and unexpected” because he records “everyday scenes, very traditional.” However, he acknowledges “with one hand to the heart” that he would like, in addition to continuing to reach thousands of users with his content, but that this also represents an “economic recognition.” “I still do not monetize and I would like a salary because the salary in Colombia for teachers is not the most worthy”, he concluded.