If you love teaching, learning new things and bringing creativity and engagement into your classroom, then you're an ever growing educator, too. HI! 👋🏻
we did NOT escape the room
I took a group of college students (my student board) upstate last week.
As part of our retreat and team building, we went to an escape room.
There were a few levels to choose from - and the students ambitiously chose the more advanced one.
Well, spoiler - we did NOT escape the room.
Lots of college level math (or maybe those were red herrings?) and clues that we just couldn't figure out. 50 minutes later, and it was the first escape room that I, and some of the other students as well, did not escape.
But here's the frustrating part.
So as we left, I asked the woman who opened the door for us, "So what is the answer to this?" She said, " I can't say." I thought she was kidding. I said, "No, seriously, we failed already. Can we get feedback?"
And she said, "No. The rules say that I can't say." I was like, okay, she doesn't get me.
I clarified, "We're leaving now. We aren't escaping the room. We’re just trying to see if we were close or totally off base. If we would have called you for a hint, you would have told us."
But she wouldn't budge.
It left all of us with a "ugh" feeling.
We got no feedback. Was the Sherlock clue of 1897 connected to the maze as we thought it was? Did we do the right thing with the guitar string? Were the rotary phone and morse code cards connected?
But she wouldn't share. Zero feedback.
It was a defeated kinda feeling.
And it made me think of tests and assessments.
And the importance of feedback.
‘Cuz even with a “FAIL” (hey, we failed the escape room) we wish we had feedback. What we could have done better, what we were close with, and what to look out for next time.
I know it’s summer (at least on this side of the world in NY!) but my brain can’t go off teacher mode ever. And when this happened, it made me think of assessments and the feedback we give.
Is it just me? Or do you also have thoughts of school during vacation time? hit reply
Mushkie
@EvergrowingEducator
PS: I wrote a song parody of “One Day” that’s all about assessments. You can enjoy it here.
PPS: Was this email forwarded to you? Now that’s a great friend/boss/co-worker! Sign up for resources + educational inspo here.
Ever Growing Educator
If you love teaching, learning new things and bringing creativity and engagement into your classroom, then you're an ever growing educator, too. HI! 👋🏻
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