![]() Mix things up to ensure they are really reading the clues. If you hide a clue under a desk in one game, that’s going to be the first place they look in the next game. This teacher blog post has helpful ideas for creating clues that align with your subject area and the types of lock you have. Those are helpful, but you can also just map it out on your own and have a colleague check that it all makes sense. The Breakout EDU website has excellent templates to create your own games, both physical and digital. It does not have to be an expensive endeavor, and you can find games that do not require some of the more niche items, such as invisible ink pens and UV flashlights.Īfter trying several pre-made games, I was ready to create my own. I decided to take the latter route and cobbled together my kit by borrowing a toolbox, buying supplies at Target and online, and using locks from the school office. If you’re ready to go all in with a physical game, you can buy kits on the website, but they also share a list of items in the kit in case you want to purchase them on your own. There’s no recovering from students flooding in the classroom while you’re still hiding clues! It can take a little while to hide the clues, set up the countdown clock on your projector, and feel ready for the game. If possible, do your first game when you have time to set up in advance. Once you’ve gathered your supplies and decided upon a game, you’ll want to prepare your classroom (or media center – see the video below). Without fail, the reflection time ends with the question, “When can we do it again?” What does a breakout game look like in the classroom? In my class, we discuss what we would do differently in future games, give compliments to students who stepped up during the activity, and share what we learned. It also sets the precedent that we are going to reflect frequently in the class.īreakout EDU has provided their own debrief protocol, but it is up to you to decide what works best with your students. It tells the students that my class is going to challenge them in exciting ways, and it helps me get to know the students’ personalities in a way that other activities don’t. I love starting the year with a breakout game in the first week. ![]() It’s fascinating to see how different students react to the pressure of a time clock and see who takes a leadership role, who persists in the face of frustration, and who can think differently and solve the clues. A group of students even planned their own breakout game as an end-of-year project, which is the ultimate curricular compliment.įrom the teacher’s perspective, breakout games encourage everything we want our students to learn: problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, risk-taking. After our first game, a cheer would erupt whenever my students walked into class and realized it was arranged for a breakout game. What are the benefits of using breakout games in your class?įrom the student perspective, they are an incredibly fun way to introduce or review content. ![]() ![]() How does it work? Simply put, groups of players use teamwork and critical thinking to solve a series of challenging puzzles in order to open a locked prize box before the countdown clock ends. ![]() Since then, students all over the country have been engaged by these games. Academically focused escape-style scenarios were popularized by Breakout EDU, which was founded in 2015. Traditional escape room games are when people are locked in a room and need to find clues and solve puzzles to get out before time is up. This is when you might try a breakout game.īreakout games can also be good ideas for start-of-school, when teachers are looking for ways to begin to build class culture, promote the idea of team effort, and pick up on some of the personality quirks that make middle grades teaching unlike any other. Teachers and students have a lot of material to review, but also need to be engaged and energized, especially when it feels like spring break is a distant memory. The end of the year is an ideal time to try something new in your classroom. ![]()
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