Assessing Students with Breakout EDU

About this time last year, I discovered Breakout EDU, and I've been hooked ever since.

If you're not familiar, it essentially turns your classroom into an escape room environment where students solve a series of puzzles to get INTO a box. (That part confuses them at first, but they get over it).



The best part is that once you get started with a kit, the possibilities are endless! There are tons of breakouts available for free on the website, and once you get the basic idea, you can modify them (or even create your own).

I've been using them this year with my intervention students as our "fun day" activity. Little do they know, I've been selecting and designing the puzzles to force them to apply the skills we've been working on.

Do I want them to pay more attention to details? Hide the clues deeper in something they have to read.
Do I want to see if they understand coordinate planes? Include a clue that uses one.

You can make clues that have to do with a variety of content topics and skills, and you're able to see very quickly who has a handle on things and who doesn't. It's been a great tool for me this year as I'm working with my math intervention students on problem-solving skills and my reading intervention students on close reading techniques.

I have a "Breakout EDU Wall of Fame" that I post their pictures on after they breakout. I try to do one a month, and I have to add it to our classroom calendar so they know when it is (or I get asked every day when the next one is going to be).

Can you assess all things all the time with Breakout EDU? Of course not - but it certainly deserves to have space in your assessment toolbox.

If you're not interested in purchasing a box from them to start, you can "open source" your own kit at stores in your town for not too much money. Regardless of how many students you have, you can get by with one box (see this blog post for the how-to), and you can start with a game that doesn't use too many locks. If you want to go all in with an official kit, you can try a Donor's Choose project!

So, the next time you're looking for a fun way to engage students in assessment - give Breakout EDU a try! I'd love to hear from people how they use Breakout EDU in their classroom or other fun ways to engage students in assessment.

Better Late Than Never, Right?

So, late in 2016 - my friend and colleague Matt (@MatthewWeld) and I had a conversation about how we both wanted to blog more. We had just completed a Twitter challenge, and through our discussion came up with the idea of #12monthsblogging writing challenge.

Over the holiday break, I brainstormed some possible topics and questions, and he put everything together into this great blog post creating month graphic and question starters. If I haven't been clear enough - he did pretty much all of the work.

Fast forward to today, February 14th, and I haven't posted a single blog. Which brings me to the question - should I still do it? I'm well past the "due date" of January for my first blog about the generic topic of "The Teaching Profession". What good will it do now??

Here's the thing - it will still do a lot of good. The process of being reflective about practices is valuable whether I am completing it in January, February or December.

In other words - I can still learn from the assignment even if it's "late".

I have to wonder, if I were being graded on this practice and had already long ago earned a zero (we are 14 days into February after all), would I still do it? Would I still be engaging this reflective practice? Would I be so overwhelmed that I'm almost two blog posts behind that I would shut down on the whole project?

As teachers, we ask kids to do a lot of things - some have a lot of value, some have not so much. If in the end, it doesn't matter if they do the activity or not - why are we even asking them to do it in the first place? And, if it does matter that they complete the assignment, why do we create systems that allow for them to opt-out?

I'm not sure I really have an answer to these questions. I do think that as educators we have a responsibility to our students when they are not completing work to really think about it. I have to ask myself, as their teacher, what am I doing to both support and stifle their learning processes.

I feel like we need to encourage students to engage in the experience I had today. Yes, I'm well past the due date, but there is learning value in this activity - so I'm going to do it anyway. Learning for learning's sake. No grade is given, no money is earned - but here I am (at the public library no less) typing away - a true life-long learner.

So many of us have that in our school or district mission statements, but do we really create school experiences that help students get to this point?

Lots of questions today, but not many answers. Thanks for reading my post, even though it's late.

One School, One World, One Teacher's Reflection #1S1W

Earlier this week I had a conversation about #1S1W with my 8th grade language arts students.

I was inspired by Pernille Ripp's post HERE  after she reflected on the day with her students. I also adapted the discussion questions (and used the classrooms around the world and Detriot, MI article links) from Ms. Korver HERE.

First we looked through the pictures from the Twitter feed. Many students expressed disappointment in what these classrooms have that we don't. I asked students to write about what similarities and differences they noticed between the classrooms we were seeing and ours, and if they noticed any "voices" missing from the conversation. I explained that this project was designed to be a snapshot of classrooms across the country and around the world. Did it seem like that is what happened?

We then looked at some photos from classrooms around the world (from the link shared by Ms. Korver above) and some of the pictures from the Detriot school's suit. I asked them to think about why more schools like this weren't part of the #1S1W project on Twitter.

They had lots of valuable things to say, but a few things have remained with me now that we are a few days away from the conversation.

1. They recognized that people choose to share parts of their school that they were proud of on the #1S1W Twitter feed. They suggested letting students and/or parents choose what to photograph to maybe get a different view of the school.

2. As we were looking at the Twitter feed, one student said, "Where are the black kids?" 8th graders aren't known for their tact; however, that student was right. For a nation that's quickly becoming a majority minority, there wasn't a whole lot of diversity in the photographs we saw.

3. They were very astute in recognizing that teachers could get in trouble for posting pictures of their school if it were seen in a negative light. I'm not sure that I realized so many of them would understand this.

And finally, this is the one that is staying with me most of all...

4. One of the students, in the best way, (I so wish I could remember the words used exactly) explained that perhaps this is making kids who are in schools that are less that desirable feel bad. "Isn't it like we're bragging? or just putting them down to make ourselves look good?"

And so, this is where I am today. I feel so grateful to teach in a school that is safe where we have the things we need. As we talked about this week, do we have everything we want to have? No. But, we have a lot to be thankful for. I want to help my students recognize this fact. I want to continually remind myself of this fact. But how can you look at everything you have, without seeing what others do not have? And how can you look at what others are so lucky to have, without feeling badly that you do not have those things?

Now, I am looking for ways to continue this conversation - to keep thinking and learning from the wisdom of 8th graders.