As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've had the pleasure of playing and facilitating games with so many wonderful teachers and coaches.
- One of the first experiences was Jody Green's original Disney themed game she led for a TikiTOSA gathering during the runDisney Star Wars Half Marathon weekend on January 16, 2016. Ann Kozma's tweet captured the excitement we all had, meeting each other face to face after a lot of tweets and connections on #TOSAchat, an evening chatting and getting to know each other, and playing the BreakoutEDU game.
- Another wonderful BreakoutEDU experience was playing a game led by Lindsey Blass and Amanda Haughes at the first #ConnectedTL Meet Up, Tweet Up gathering, in Campbell.
- Of course, I always have to mention Valerie Sabbag's fifth grade class' integrated project involving BreakoutEDU - learning math through the study of measurement, area, volume, and angles as they build their own boxes, and writing their own games tied to their Reader's and Writer Workshops.
- Partnering with Sabba Quidwai during one of EdTechTeacher's summer workshop on design thinking during the summer of 2016, I got to facilitate a game in a professional development setting with teachers from all over the state and beyond.
The most recent game I completed started with a tweet by Kristi Van over winter break asking if there was an existing BreakoutEDU game focused on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for third graders. Over winter break, Kristi, Valerie, and I collaboratively wrote the MLK BreakoutEDU game. With the experience of writing my previous games, I was able to write clues that were appropriate for third graders to solve. It was definitely a collaborative approach with Valerie's idea, as I always find it most difficult to write clues for the directional lock.
This week I had the pleasure of facilitating the game to four third grade classes in PAUSD - Kristi Van's, John Brubaker's, Helena Holmes', and Penelope Sanders-Jones' classes. It was wonderful to see the third graders work together, use their research skills, collaborate, and exercise a lot of persistence to open the box! After each game I asked for feedback from the kids and got some creative and thoughtful suggestions to improve the game and also for future games. In all four classes, the students shared how much they enjoyed the game and thanked me for sharing it with them. To me, I was the lucky one - to have four colleagues that are open to me trying a BreakoutEDU game with their students.