Mexican teacher wins award for teaching to the rhythm of rap

Juan José Holguín Bernal, a Tec 21 model professor at the Hidalgo campus of Tec de Monterrey, won first place in the National Innovation competition because of how he gives his classes: by singing rap songs.

The call for submissions consisted of sending a video showing how teachers were innovating in the classroom during virtual classes. Business School Dean Ignacio de la Vega informed him that he was the winner.

“Weeks had passed since I sent my participation video. Suddenly, there was an email from the dean saying he’d loved my video,” says the professor.

Juan José did not have a particular methodology: “If your teaching practice was innovative and was helping to rethink the classroom, you had to share it.”

The story didn’t end there. Weeks later, he received another email asking him to attend a webinar for Tec 21 model teachers in which the dean used his video as a reference.

“Winning first place at national level has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” he shares excitedly.

Market Strategies and Differentiation: the winning subject

The teacher began implementing a different teaching method in his Market Strategies class.

“It’s difficult to be online. We get tired taking a class for two or three hours, but we can watch Netflix series for six or twelve hours.”

That observation led to him asking the question: how can students spend hours watching something on the internet but not a class? What can I do to change that?

Many teachers began working with new types of software or used case studies, but he decided on something informal: rapping about the situation or the problem he was discussing in class.

The students began writing songs to help them understand different topics. They also included memes in their presentations, trying to explain content through stories.

The class used more accessible ways of interacting, occupying virtual environments on the Virbela platform, and creating their own avatars.

These were the ways he developed engagement with his students through the different options available.

“Innovating consists of looking for stimuli which reconfigure how we see the teaching process. I tried to go back to what we did when we were little: learning while having fun,” adds Juan José.

A positive response from students

In an interview with CONECTA, Holguín explains that he became aware of his students’ reactions when they began to turn on their cameras during classes.

“The important metrics are seeing how they laugh, how they pay attention, and how they interact in the chat, as well as the Student Opinion Survey results.”

His students shared various songs and memes that they’d created with him, even contacting him outside the classroom.

The professor has had a lot of support Hidalgo campus since he began teaching classes at the Tec in his demonstration class, when he suggested a contest involving different professors.

“Through this type of learning, I’ve managed to develop a very good relationship with my Tec 21 students. They’re more motivated to collaborate and try harder.”

“Online classes have given me an opportunity to make content interesting, but it is a challenge, and you have to make an effort to be able to do that,” he concluded.

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