The Truth About Breakout Rooms The Past Year-and-a-Half has Taught Me a Number of Things: Part 3

When I began using Zoom as my classroom in March 2020, I did not dig into its many features right away. My colleagues talked about screen-sharing, polls, and breakout rooms, but I felt pretty proud that I could actually meet with my students in this “place” to have class. So, I waited to use these features. I kept it really simple.

In August, when we found that our school year would begin in all distance learning, I decided to employ some of these Zoom features. A few teachers with whom I work closely told me that they present a mini-lesson and then put the students in breakout rooms to work. One of my friends put her students in individual breakout rooms to do their work. For years, I had asked my students to turn-and-talk. I had asked them to read their writing aloud to other students. I had asked them to work in small groups to generate questions or come up with lists of ideas. I thought these would be perfect uses for breakout rooms.

So, as a follow-up to a few grammar lessons, I asked my students to fill out a Google Form giving me the names of two other students with whom they would like to work. I used these Forms to build teams, and these teams became breakout rooms. I decided to use breakout rooms to run my grammar competitions. See “Everything Old Is New Again: Grammar.” This worked well. The competitions were lively. Of course, not every team—every breakout room—found success, but that is how competition goes. Not everyone wins.

I was encouraged. I decided to use breakout rooms the next time we did some writing. My traditional method of this sort of thing was to place my students in groups of 3 or 4 or 5. Sometimes, I allowed them to choose. Sometimes, I had them count off by 7’s or 5’s or…whatever. So, I allowed the breakout rooms to be made automatically. I set a timer. Then, I began visiting the breakout rooms. Nearly 100% of the students in my breakout rooms were muted and off video. I was the only one talking. I was shocked. I was discouraged.

So, I called everyone back to the main room. I asked everyone to un-mute themselves. This meant that about 75% of them un-muted themselves. Sigh. Then I asked if what I just witnessed was unusual. What I got was a barrage of honest answers. “Mrs. Tisch, no one talks in breakout rooms.” “It’s always like that.” “Everybody turns off their video in breakout rooms.”

I asked, “Why?”

Again, a flurry of answers including, “It’s so awkward.” “It’s uncomfortable.” “We don’t know what to say.”

I promised not to use breakout rooms for actual conversations again. I offered to place those who wanted to work together in breakout rooms if they requested it. I only used breakout rooms for competitions from this point on.

I found three things to be true about middle school breakout rooms:

1. They can work when they are extremely short—1 minute.

2. They do not work for conversation and group work.

3. They are a surefire way to make seventh grade students stop talking.