I’ve always been interested in using play and games to
engage my students in content. I
remember back in my early years as a student playing Oregon Trail and similar
games to not only learn computer skills, but to also explore topics and themes
presented in the games.
This summer, I was introduced to Minecraft Education Edition
at the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert U.S. Forum in Denver,
Colorado. Along with many other
exciting, inspiring, and engaging activities, I was able to attend a session on
using Minecraft in the classroom.
Previous to this session, my knowledge of Minecraft was extremely limited. I knew what it was, and that my students
absolutely loved the game, but didn’t have a clear picture of how it could be
relevant in my class. Todd Beard, the
MIEE in charge of running the session, along with some of the Minecraft
Mentors, illustrated some exciting ways to integrate the program into a typical
classroom. I learned the basics during
my session, and came away excited to integrate it into my class.
After returning from Denver, I consulted with my co-teacher
and school administrator about potentially trying to implement Minecraft into
my co-taught Humanities class. Last
year, our year-long project in Humanities (module work) explored the idea of
the settlement, organization, and growth in various civilizations. I knew that Minecraft could be the tool that
we needed to step up our “game” in the classroom (like what I did there?) and
provide an opportunity for students to apply their learning in a new way.
After garnering positive feedback and support from both my
co-teacher and school administrator, the idea, which seemed so great at the
time, became daunting. I didn’t know how
to play other than how to walk around and break things. While I understand that this is really all
that you NEED to know, I felt insecure about being able to help my stu
dents
with the program. This feeling of
insecurity and fear of the unknown really came to a head as my co-teacher,
Steve, and I began planning our modules.
He had absolutely no knowledge of Minecraft and my knowledge was
extremely limited.
We looked closely at the model lessons posted on the
Minecraft in Education website and started to get excited about the
possibilities. I spent a large amount of
time looking at the ‘Support’ page and really trying to conceptualize how this
would work in my classroom of 35 students.
In the next few posts, I will continue to explain our journey and will give
you a glimpse of the program in action.