Four Tips When Using Breakout EDU for the First Time
Author: Morgan Gibson | 4th-grade teacher in San Diego, California
Breakout EDU is a great program that promotes teamwork and collaboration among students. Any group of students can benefit, but sometimes it’s hard to ease your students into something new without overwhelming them. I decided to incorporate Breakout EDU for my 4th graders to improve their teamwork and problem-solving skills and the process couldn’t have gone smoother! Read more to see how I integrated Breakout EDU into my classroom for the first time to ensure student success!
#1- Start slow.
For our first meeting, I started slow. My goal was to have my whole class successfully create their accounts so that I could begin assigning them games. I was worried we might not have enough time, or that they would need a lot of guidance through the process. However, they were able to successfully create their accounts and we even had enough time to play a Lock of the Day! The whole class was interested and said they looked forward to trying their first breakout the following week! Shortly after, Lock of the Day quickly became a favorite activity that my students asked to play even on days we weren’t using Breakout EDU! It has become a great activity that we enjoy playing every school day.
#2- Play digital games first, then use Breakout EDU kits.
To facilitate our first experience, I had students get into small groups (about 4 per group) to do a digital Breakout EDU game online. I chose a game from the list of Starter Games that are designed to be a great introduction. It went really well and almost all groups broke out before class ended! They were focused on helping each other to break out, even though they got frustrated at times. It was amazing that after only one game, one of my students, who has had a harder time academically, had a huge confidence boost as a result of participating in the game. This student solved the last clue and turned to me and proudly said “Look, Ms. Gibson! I helped my team break out!” For the next few meetings, we continued to use digital games to build confidence and to become familiar with the process. Now that my class understands how to solve clues and open locks, we are playing Breakout EDU kit-based games. Creating a good foundation of understanding has helped our experience with physical Breakout EDU games go much smoother.
#3- Only step in when needed
During each Breakout EDU game, I am ready to provide structure but only if the frustration levels get too high. During our first Breakout EDU kit-based game, my class did okay for the first 10-15 minutes but after that, it was apparent that students needed a role to stay on track. I stepped in and assigned everyone a job within their team. I had a few go-to each clue, and a few to stay and be in charge of the locks. They worked together much better this way! There were some frustrations within some of the groups, but these students worked together to resolve their issues. It was a great experience and they even broke out with two minutes to spare!
#4- Don’t skip the reflection
After each Breakout EDU game (digital and kit-based), we used the 4C cards to have a quick discussion to reflect. We talked about what went well, what didn’t, how ‘heard’ everyone felt by their peers, and what we could do better next time. This helped them reflect on the experience beyond just opening locks. They were able to think about how they worked together and how communication and collaboration are an important part of breaking out. Over time, I can see how this helps as they each listen and communicate with one another better over time. We also revisit these reflection conversations before we play a new game to remember what we want to do better.
Overall I think Breakout EDU taught my students a lot about what it means to work together. In the future, I plan to incorporate Breakout EDU games into my academic lessons not only to keep developing their collaboration skills but to also deepen their learning and make the academic work more fun! As a bonus, my class was even featured playing Breakout EDU in the school newsletter!
