3 Things You Are Doing Wrong with Your Classroom Escape Room

1. Not setting expectations/ roles

If you are planning a classroom escape, it is wise to spend some time prior to the escape going over expectations and roles. The last thing you want to do is throw students in a group for a high stress activity and expect it to go smoothly.  There is always the bossy kid, the kid who doesn’t participate, and the kid who no one wants to work with. Consider having group roles so everyone has a job and it fosters team work.

2. Using time consuming locks

Ain’t nobody got time for that. Yes, while the ideas of locks are extremely cool, they are totally the opposite when you are talking about middle schoolers who have never opened a lock before in their life. (we don’t have school lockers) Throw in a variety of locks and you can see your frustration levels rise through the roof. Evaluate whether or not your students are capable of using a real lock. If not, consider doing a digital breakout where students simply enter a code into a google form, and it “unlocks”, taking them to the next page when they get it correct.

3. Not being able to assess your students’ knowledge

It doesn’t matter how much fun your students have with the escape, if you cannot assess your students’ knowledge of the materials, you are wasting time. By having several sections of the escape room, you can evaluate which areas students struggle or need additional time to complete. If you have puzzles or locks that are too challenging, you don’t know whether or not students struggle with the academic material or the puzzles or locks. Keep it simple.