BreakoutEDU on the 1st Day of School? Why Not!!

BreakoutEDU on the 1st Day of School? Why Not!!

I designed a Breakout for the first day of school, and the energy was electric. The kids have been begging for another one, every day since. After participating in a BreakoutEDU session at the Stanislaus GAFE Summit this summer, I was intrigued. In order to really understand all the pieces though, I had to make my own. That’s just how this girl’s brain works!

I started out by thinking of the things I would normally do the first day: Put students in ABC order by their first name, have them join my Google Classroom, get them to explore my website, etc… Then I worked out how to make those tasks into clues. It took me many pages of scratch paper, a Google drawing, and several hours of my summer to put it all together, but it was so worth it!!

Here is my map with all of the pieces, put together on a Google Drawing.

I started it off with a Google form I wanted to them to fill out so I could get to know them better. At the end, they saw the following message. My intent here was to get them familiar with the logo.

Next I had them line up in ABC order by first name to get their class numbers. I recorded their names on the number chart, and put the list right underneath this sequence of numbers on the board. This would lead them to the 5 letter word lock.

Then, I showed them the Google Form that would be their lockbox for the day (My next breakout will be with a physical box and locks, but the digital one worked great too!). Each lock is set with Data Validation so they had to put in the exact code in order to break out.

I explained how a Breakout worked and that a key piece would be teamwork. I made it clear that for this Breakout, they could help each other, share ideas, and that the whole class was one team. It was helpful that each student had a chance to enter the codes in on their own Chromebook so that they all felt success.

The date lock came from this poster I had on one of my bulletin boards. I put the Breakout logo on the bottom as a clue, but it was the last clue they discovered!

To get to the directional lock, they needed to join my Google Classroom and open their first assignment. I posted the Classroom logo with my class code in several places around the room. The students had never participated in a Breakout before, so I gave them more hints than I will in the future.

The discovery of this lock took about 15 minutes, and went something like this:

Me: Does anyone know what this logo is? (Pointing to the Classroom logo)

Them: Yeah, Google Classroom.

Me: Hmmmmmm.

Them: (Not getting the hint)

Me: (5 min later) So… Has anyone joined my Google Classroom yet?

Them: No, how do you do that?

Me: I don’t know, can anyone figure it out?

(They used Classroom last year so they knew how to get to it)

Them: OK, I’m in classroom, but I don’t see yours! How do we find it?

Me: I don’t know! Is there anything on the screen that will help?

Them: (The excitement is building, and buzzing around the room) Hey! Click the plus sign!!!!

Them: It says I need a code!!! What is your code??!!!

Me: I don’t know!! How can you figure it out?

One of them: (Yelling across the room) I found it!!! It’s right here on the board!! Type in z1dd4l!!

A bunch of them: I’m in!!! There’s an assignment!!

(They open the assignment)

One quiet student whispers to her team: I figured out the directional lock.

It took a while to trickle around the classroom, but they eventually all got it. Now the energy is spiking and there are kids all over the room with Chromebooks. They are working with different people, asking for help, sharing ideas, and watching for the next person to pick up a trail. I can’t stop smiling.

The next clue involved a note I left on their desks to welcome them into the room in the morning. After they read it in the morning, I told them to put it in a safe place because they would be needing it later.

The clues here led them to a page on my website with an infographic where they discovered that I had 6 job titles, 2 college degrees, 3 hobbies, and 3 professional pillars. This was the number lock.

(Thanks @creativeedtech for the template and idea)

I had shared this infographic with them earlier in the morning, and one student figured out that the note referred to the infographic. He asked where he could find the infographic, and I told him it was on my website. That clue trickled around the classroom, and they eventually discovered a bit.ly link on the board that took them there. Number lock solved!

The first pair that broke out had the best facial expression. I wish I had captured that to share!! They all helped each other figure the pieces out, and we gathered at the carpet for a reflection session.

Here are some of their comments:

“It felt good when I was the one who discovered what the clue meant.”

“I liked the challenge.”

“I liked the teamwork.”

“It was exciting.”

“I was glad when someone helped me.”

It was a winner of an activity that achieved the main purpose of a BreakoutEDU: Collaboration. I will definitely be doing more, although now that I get the ins and outs of the whole piece, I will gladly use one that someone else has already built!!

Thank you, Mark Hammons and James Sanders for sharing this goodness with the educational community. You can join the movement here: http://www.breakoutedu.com/ There’s a very active Facebook group and Twitter feed as well where people are sharing ideas all the time. Not only is this getting students to collaborate, but educators too! @breakoutEDU