Don't be a Jerk - Minecraft Edition

It seems that when you give someone a computer and an internet connection that bad behaviour results.

As a Christian teacher I have often struggled to find a way to teach my students that their online behaviour should reflect Christ in the same way that the rest of their life should.

Last night my Minecraft project gave me a golden opportunity to illustrate this point.

In order to enter the world I've set up for them, students have to complete various assignments to unlock access. The first assignment was to write a character description of the protagonist of the story we're going to write centred around the Minecraft world.

Some students didn't finish their assignment on time, so they didn't get to play.

At the first location in the game I had placed some chests with supplies for the students to share.

There's only one rule I've implemented for this game. "Don't be a Jerk!"

Well, the first students who went online, promptly acted like jerks. Despite being told that the supplies were to be shared, they took everything.

At first I was very frustrated, but then in dawned on me. What a teaching opportunity!

So, when students get to school this morning, those students are going to discover that they have all been locked out of the game and their inventories stripped of items. Digital consequences for digital misbehaviour.

We'll see where this heads. 

What a fascinating journey!

Minecraft in my classroom

So this week I've just finished setting up a minecraft game server, running in Texas, for my class to use in English. I can already hear some of you say, "Gaming in English class? How does that work?"

One of the challenges I've had when teaching short story writing is getting all the students engaged in writing stories. Sure, there's always been a few students who are keen, mostly girls. I wanted to do something that would engage all of my students. I wanted to tap into something that many of them are excited about and interested in. A large number of my students enjoy playing minecraft and I had heard of other teachers who've been using minecraft in their classes. Check out one website here.

So how in the world does it work?

I'm going to use the game as inspiration for their writing.

Our story begins here:

This is the King's Throne room.

This is the King's Castle.

Here is the deserted island on which our settlers have just landed to build their new homes.

      "Wait a minute," you ask, "How does the King already have a castle if they just landed, who built the dock, and are those ruined buildings there amongst the trees?"

Well, I can't tell you those things because that's all part of the story we're going to tell in the game and my students will write about. You see, my students might read this blog and I don't want to give anything away just yet.

The first writing exercise my students do, will be to complete the character sketch of the character they will play in our story. This character sketch will then be included in the introduction they write about. Which they will then post on their blog for all to read.

Of course, the introduction has to end with an Inciting Action that reveals to the protagonist what the problem of the story is.

The King has summoned all of the townsfolk to the castle, a disaster has befallen the kingdom.......

The Pain of New Things

Today I had a conference with a concerned set of parents. Their child has been struggling in my math class.

The thing you have to keep in mind is that I've flipped my math class. All my instruction is done via pre-recorded video. This is only the second full year I've been doing this, with some dabbling in the previous years.

This young student has been falling further and further behind, Mom and Dad were quite concerned. My method of teaching was not working for this student. And here I am jumping off a cliff into the unknown with their child in tow.

I can't express my appreciation for these parents. We had an excellent discussion about their child and about what their child needs. They shared with me their concerns and we began to brainstorm solutions. I hope that they left our conference understanding that I am committed to finding the best educational opportunities for their child and every other child in the class. When I'm made aware of a problem I will act. I can't promise that what I do will work every time, but I can promise that they will see my best efforts.

When we try new things it isn't all going to be a bed of roses. There will be bumps and pain along the way. I appreciate the feedback these parents gave me as it will only lead to my classroom becoming more effective.

We can't let our fear of the pain of new things get in the way of trying.