Derek Carroll
@carroll-teach.bsky.social
Middle School Teacher, Board Gamer, Competitive Pinball Player and Eternal Theatre Kid
I put my game prototype in front of students yesterday. They're going to be making characters for it as a form of medieval biography. If a student researches Hildegard Von Bingen they would make a character card for her in the game. It went way better than expected. Can't wait to see their designs!
November 18, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I put my game prototype in front of students yesterday. They're going to be making characters for it as a form of medieval biography. If a student researches Hildegard Von Bingen they would make a character card for her in the game. It went way better than expected. Can't wait to see their designs!
Every year I play Diplomacy with my coworkers, and every year I remember I hate playing Diplomacy with my coworkers...
October 28, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Every year I play Diplomacy with my coworkers, and every year I remember I hate playing Diplomacy with my coworkers...
My administrator finally approved after school pinball club! Now I just need to secure some grant funding.
October 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
My administrator finally approved after school pinball club! Now I just need to secure some grant funding.
I was talking to students about their thoughts on AI today, mostly because I'm teaching them to do a skill with their brains that they'll have the option of using AI to do next year. What I accidentally learned was horrifying, often they don't know when they're using it.
October 16, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I was talking to students about their thoughts on AI today, mostly because I'm teaching them to do a skill with their brains that they'll have the option of using AI to do next year. What I accidentally learned was horrifying, often they don't know when they're using it.
I've been playing the rerelease of Final Fantasy Tactics and I'm enjoying it a lot. Every so often the enemy tactics will do something that's legitimately funny and thematically makes sense, but I'm not sure its intentional.
October 4, 2025 at 2:13 AM
I've been playing the rerelease of Final Fantasy Tactics and I'm enjoying it a lot. Every so often the enemy tactics will do something that's legitimately funny and thematically makes sense, but I'm not sure its intentional.
The past couple days I've been teaching the lesson that I ran as part of an ISTE playground this past summer. It's been such a hit that the school counselor asked if he could join as a student today.
October 3, 2025 at 10:15 AM
The past couple days I've been teaching the lesson that I ran as part of an ISTE playground this past summer. It's been such a hit that the school counselor asked if he could join as a student today.
I played the very first prototype of the game that I'm designing today, and the session didn't have the punch I was hoping for. People that have designed and developed games, where do I go from here? Do I play it a few more times as is? Do I make tweaks than replay?
September 24, 2025 at 8:11 PM
I played the very first prototype of the game that I'm designing today, and the session didn't have the punch I was hoping for. People that have designed and developed games, where do I go from here? Do I play it a few more times as is? Do I make tweaks than replay?
I think I accidentally designed a board game while trying to improve a beginning of the year project that I assign to students.
September 20, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I think I accidentally designed a board game while trying to improve a beginning of the year project that I assign to students.
I'm really glad that the discourse around the use of AI in the classroom rapidly arrived at "is it cheating?" and stopped without fully progressing to "what are the unintended consequences?" /s
September 18, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I'm really glad that the discourse around the use of AI in the classroom rapidly arrived at "is it cheating?" and stopped without fully progressing to "what are the unintended consequences?" /s
I just picked up the starter adventure for Draw Steel. The layout and design is super user friendly. I'm already very impressed.
September 18, 2025 at 12:46 AM
I just picked up the starter adventure for Draw Steel. The layout and design is super user friendly. I'm already very impressed.
I just ran a weekend long session of 5e for a friend's bachelor party. I haven't touched a TTRPG in about two years, and it felt great to dive back in. Now I want to get a group together and go again.
September 15, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I just ran a weekend long session of 5e for a friend's bachelor party. I haven't touched a TTRPG in about two years, and it felt great to dive back in. Now I want to get a group together and go again.
Sometimes I get an overwhelming urge to leave teaching to start a career in boardgames. I never act on that urge, but after a week of trying to sort colleagues out with a digital textbook they use, that I don't; I'm closer than ever. Anybody in boardgames hiring?
September 4, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Sometimes I get an overwhelming urge to leave teaching to start a career in boardgames. I never act on that urge, but after a week of trying to sort colleagues out with a digital textbook they use, that I don't; I'm closer than ever. Anybody in boardgames hiring?
A new school year which means even more busted AI agents integrated into platforms I used to enjoy using. I just want an option to turn those features off
September 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
A new school year which means even more busted AI agents integrated into platforms I used to enjoy using. I just want an option to turn those features off
I was going to actually think, but I decided to ask my magic 8-ball instead.
August 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
I was going to actually think, but I decided to ask my magic 8-ball instead.
Just got back from presenting at my first ISTE/ASCD. I had a ton of fun presenting about using tabletop boardgames to teach historical thinking.
July 3, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Just got back from presenting at my first ISTE/ASCD. I had a ton of fun presenting about using tabletop boardgames to teach historical thinking.
I'm getting ready to co-present at ISTE this summer. I'll be talking about using table top games as an anchor experience to help middle learners engage in historical thinking. To prep for this I've been using our last few classes of the year to experiment and push the envelope, I'm learning a ton!
June 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
I'm getting ready to co-present at ISTE this summer. I'll be talking about using table top games as an anchor experience to help middle learners engage in historical thinking. To prep for this I've been using our last few classes of the year to experiment and push the envelope, I'm learning a ton!
Playing John Company 2nd Edition tomorrow with some other educators. It's the concluding session of some professional learning that I organized this year around using games in the classroom. It's definitely the heaviest game we've played along this journey.
May 31, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Playing John Company 2nd Edition tomorrow with some other educators. It's the concluding session of some professional learning that I organized this year around using games in the classroom. It's definitely the heaviest game we've played along this journey.
Sometimes I'm shocked at how fast our educational system adopted AI. Then I remember that one of our biggest systemic issues is that we value end results over process. That's when it makes perfect sense.
May 9, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Sometimes I'm shocked at how fast our educational system adopted AI. Then I remember that one of our biggest systemic issues is that we value end results over process. That's when it makes perfect sense.
Today one of my classes decided to pull an April Fool's joke. They decided they would be entirely silent. I picked up 30 seconds into class what they were pulling, realized that it was a research block, so I played the fool for a blissful 35 minutes of silence.
April 1, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Today one of my classes decided to pull an April Fool's joke. They decided they would be entirely silent. I picked up 30 seconds into class what they were pulling, realized that it was a research block, so I played the fool for a blissful 35 minutes of silence.
If anybody is looking for something to do on a dreary Saturday evening, I highly recommend checking out the Women's World Pinball Championship qualifying being streamed by backhand pinball on twitch. Some great play on display!
March 29, 2025 at 10:24 PM
If anybody is looking for something to do on a dreary Saturday evening, I highly recommend checking out the Women's World Pinball Championship qualifying being streamed by backhand pinball on twitch. Some great play on display!
Maine Council for the Social Studies annual conference, great professional learning; Weird March Snow Storm, terrible drive home.
March 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Maine Council for the Social Studies annual conference, great professional learning; Weird March Snow Storm, terrible drive home.
New England Pinball League finals were this weekend, and I got to play a few games that I never see anywhere. I also played them super poorly. I had a ton of fun in the pop up loser tournament though.
March 24, 2025 at 1:47 AM
New England Pinball League finals were this weekend, and I got to play a few games that I never see anywhere. I also played them super poorly. I had a ton of fun in the pop up loser tournament though.
Every so often I play Diplomacy with coworkers, and it is very clear that we play this game for different reasons. It ends up being a fascinating look at how quickly a design can degrade as a result of how people interact with it.
March 21, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Every so often I play Diplomacy with coworkers, and it is very clear that we play this game for different reasons. It ends up being a fascinating look at how quickly a design can degrade as a result of how people interact with it.
Just finished reading The Game Changers by @timclare.bsky.social. It was so good! It was the book I was reading during our 15 minute silent reading time at school. Twice this week students had to ask me at the thirty minute mark if silent reading was over.
March 19, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Just finished reading The Game Changers by @timclare.bsky.social. It was so good! It was the book I was reading during our 15 minute silent reading time at school. Twice this week students had to ask me at the thirty minute mark if silent reading was over.
#Edusky What's your dream learning opportunity to offer students? For the sake of argument, let's say all logistical issues are solved.
I'd like to partner with our STEM, Computer Science, General Music and Art classes to create a pinball machine themed after a historical period or event.
I'd like to partner with our STEM, Computer Science, General Music and Art classes to create a pinball machine themed after a historical period or event.
March 18, 2025 at 8:10 PM
#Edusky What's your dream learning opportunity to offer students? For the sake of argument, let's say all logistical issues are solved.
I'd like to partner with our STEM, Computer Science, General Music and Art classes to create a pinball machine themed after a historical period or event.
I'd like to partner with our STEM, Computer Science, General Music and Art classes to create a pinball machine themed after a historical period or event.