Mobile Escape Norms - by Mike

Transitioning from a classroom teacher to an Escape Room Facilitator has been organic and smooth (like expensive peanut butter), and I’m carrying a lot of my toolkit with me. Like, a lot of it. There are infinite examples of best practices that universally apply, but I’ve discovered something deeper that could have made my life as a teacher way easier and will absolutely continue to make escape room facilitation awesome. I’ve often wondered what the most efficient approach to classroom management was (yes, classroom management exists in the escape room world too), even though it was one of my strengths, and I think I may have stumbled onto something great: use the norms you have with colleagues as the same norms with your students.

Instinctively, this can sound problematic or even ridiculous, because after all, how can we expect kids to behave the same was as grown-ups? I would answer this with, “Empower, challenge, and convince students to be your colleague and your peer.” Granted, we’ve got the luxury of being the fun-loving escape-room-master-making-outsider-with-a-cool-shirt and yes, it changes the dynamic between us and our students, but not enough to eliminate the necessity for quality classroom management or to stray too far from what an authentic classroom is like. Distilling my experience as a teacher and facilitator, I’ve compiled a list of norms that we use as grown-ups at Mobile Escape, as well as with the kids we have the fortune of instructing.


Collaboration

This seems stupidly obvious, but it’s foundation upon which Mobile Escape operates. There are rarely any tasks that are completed solo or at least without checking in with someone else. Heck, we even draft emails so that we can collectively proofread. This may come off as micromanage-y or hampering, but I think it allows us to act with more confidence. Anything I do, is going to go through a filter of at least two other brains, and they will offer feedback so that we can deliver the best we’ve got. I also get the safety of having other people to catch me when I fall, and knowing that someone always has my back is very reassuring. In the classroom, this takes shape in a gazillion (that’s totally a real number) different ways. Of that gazillion, my favorite is allowing the students to act as your consultants, and you as theirs. It’s much less of me telling them what to do, and us finding a reasonable middle ground for our endeavors. This also manifests between students because we are regularly modeling this for them even in the way that we do briefings and debriefings during the residency program. Leadership will naturally emerge, but we are constantly consulting with one another. Now, it should be noted that collaboration is most effective when we keep our minds open, which brings me to our next norm.


Openness

Flexibility. Open-mindedness. Pliability. Reasonably accommodating of feedback. Whatever you want to call it, it’s Critical (notice the capital C). This one is tricky, because it requires a degree of humility and vulnerability that is not always easy for people. Nobody likes to be told what to do, and much less, nobody likes to be told that they are wrong. Of our norms, this is super important to model. It starts with rarely saying no, and asking a lot of questions of the students. Chances are, that most ideas are just alright or outright bad, but you can use those mediocre ideas to evolve into something incredible by asking good leading and divergent questions. Allow me to demonstrate with a conversation I had this week with a Grade 5 student:

Mike: What kind of puzzle should we make out of this painting?

Student: We should cut it up into 100 pieces!

Mike: Wow! That seems like a really cool idea! Would that be kind of a lot to solve in a 15-minute room?

Student: Yeah that’s probably too much.

Mike: I think so too, but we should definitely use your idea to make a jigsaw puzzle.

And we did make a jigsaw puzzle and it was totally sweet. In fact, we added a UV ink and flashlight element to it (as suggested by another student) and it was easily the coolest puzzle during the residency. Between myself and my fellow Mobile Escapers (or is it Escapee, or Escapist, or Escapitos?), we have a revolving door of ideas that spins for eternity. Some of these ideas make it through the door and become a thing, but honestly, most don’t, and that’s alright! We’ve established this norm that most ideas have at least some merit, but most ideas need to be refined. This is something that I absolutely say at the beginning of a residency. Show your students that they can trust you, and tell them that you trust them. The vast majority of students have never heard someone use those words specifically, and it lays the groundwork for…

Respect

You could probably give me a great definition of respect, so I’ll focus on what might make us unique. The first is avoiding sarcasm. As a naturally sarcastic person, this is hard for me, because this is a huge piece of my sense humor. Now, I am absolutely going to throw around some sass when we aren’t trying to accomplish something, but task time is kinda sacred. To clarify, when you are focusing or collaborating on something that is time-sensitive and directly work-related, sarcasm can simply make things more confusing. Don’t create situations where a joke is going to obscure your meaning. In an environment where ideation and spit-balling concepts is paramount, you’re going to hurt someone’s feelings. Most school-aged children don’t actually understand sarcasm, and a surprising number of high school kids don’t get it either. Lastly, and quite simply, watch where you’re walking. I am admittedly the clumsiest member of Mobile Escape, and I have to pay close attention to where I am walking. Our workshop in Calgary is chock-full of important bits and pieces (as well as deadly power tools), and if I nudge something the wrong way, it could fall or become victim to one of those deadly power tools. In residency environment, this is the same. Kids are clumsy, and you need to encourage them to be spatially aware. It is highly unlikely that a kid will maliciously sabotage a project, but negligence is common. Remind them to pay attention and…

Focus

We typically have a little time to do a lot. Turning a blank room into a thematically rich escape room is challenging and affords few opportunities for thumb twiddling. As any member of our staff can attest, there is not much “chill” time during our residencies. There is always something to make, fix, implement, refine, or polish. Again, modeling this for students makes a considerable impact. It is necessary for us to be busy bodies traveling throughout the room delegating tasks to students, offering feedback, and assisting directly when we have to. We use timers in the escape rooms, and using them during the building phases of a residency gives students the impetus to use their time wisely. Now, kids will always find a way to make time for thumb twiddling, but providing them with ample choices of tasks helps to eliminate this. It works like this as well with us as adults. Typically, there’s tons to work on. So much, in fact, that we occasionally daydream of the times we get to go work on other projects instead of the mythical concept of “free time”. As a company, we divide out our tasks, delegate, and execute. It functions the same way with our students. In order to capture students’ attention and get them to focus, we take advantage of their interests and hopefully #awakenwonder enough to motivate them. Use interest as a resource for task completion. Which brings me to my next norm:

Resourcefulness

The most powerful tool and resource that we have at Mobile Escape is human capital (and cardboard and packing tape). Each individual in our company contributes some way. Whether it is working directly with kids in a classroom, answering dozens of emails each day articulately, or tinkering in the workshop - we bring these talents to the table and the table is full. As a small organization, we have to ensure that we are highlighting and empowering one another regularly so that way we tap into the best potential. People are our hottest commodity. When working with children, it is no different. It is no surprise that kids are great at so many things, and capturing that capacity is essential for making great escape rooms. During a residency, we encourage students to observe one another to try to figure out what everyone is good at. For example, little Timmy may not know how to hold a paintbrush or a pen, but he can sure build some impressive props for the room. It’s important that Timmy is acknowledged (publicly and privately) for his ability to build.

Another facet of resourcefulness is problem solving. “Problem solving” is a buzz word in the education world, that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, because that skill set is invaluable. We face children’s perplexed faces when we show them a pile of cardboard and some markers while telling them, “We are going to build an escape room out of this!”. After a day of building has completed, most kids are astonished at what can be accomplished by multiple classes during a day. The building process is merely problem solving. Students are solving the problem of turning cardboard and paper into beautiful, sound structures and clever puzzles by just thinking about stuff in a different way. Eliciting that creativity is what it’s all about.

Creativity

Creativity is not something that just happens on its own. Everyone is a little bit creative on their own, but creators will thrive in an environment that cultivates that creativity. You may be thinking to yourself: “Self, this seems so abundantly obvious, why did Mike save this for last?” Well, in order to make that environment, you’ll want collaboration, openness, respect, focus, and resourcefulness (see above for I have explained). Ultimately, creativity is about being comfortable with your vulnerability. At Mobile Escape, we pour much of ourselves into our craft and what we accomplish isn’t possible if we don’t trust one another or feel comfortable enough to share something. The act of making is an extension of who you are, and it’s scary to share that with the world. Nobody wants to be susceptible to the criticism of others especially when it is such a raw piece of yourself. Empowering students to feel comfortable being is no small feat - and it starts with establishing the five other norms. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have laid the foundation upon which innovation can be built.