Minecraft Mondays: Wild Wild West

Now that Minecraft is up and running, we finally started an after school club, which overflowed before it even began.  This year's club is running in mini-sessions, since the popularity of it means it fills quickly, the mini sessions allow for more opportunities to participate.  In order to do so, we're running each mini-session with it's own theme, the first session being the Wild Wild West!

I mean, who doesn't love the Wild, Wild, West, especially in Minecraft?

One of the great parts of Minecraft is how simple it is to infuse concepts of all kinds into the learning adventure.  In this case, we took a peek into the real old West, observing the materials in which buildings were built, the different "stores" that existed, the way the towns were organized, and the why behind it all.  We also talked about the differences between life then and life now.  From there, kids had to sketch their contribution to our Minecraft world, justifying each of the choices they made.

While I thought that part was fun, the real fun began as they started building.  Kids had three weeks to take their town from wildly sketched on paper, to the Wild West of Minecraft!

Minecraft Experience: Recreate the Wild, Wild West

Minecraft Mondays: Finally!

I love Minecraft.  Not shy to admit it, either.  I play myself, and I love when I can play with students.

However.

When Minecraft EDU became Minecraft Education Edition.... UGH.  I lost a whole year of Minecraft with students because Microsoft made Education Edition way more complicated than it needed to be, and between their customer service and a plethora of other priorities, it took me and the IT crew a while to figure it out.

It. Was. Not. Cool.

Even now, it's not perfect.  I mean, it went from something SUPER simple [read: teacher logs in, students log in, everyone sees everyone, teacher in control] to a dual platform Minecraft Education Edition and Minecraft Classroom Mode, which, for some reason, do not like to speak to each other.

That's beside the point.

I've decided that since I've struggled to make myself sit down and write, Minecraft is now my excuse!  Hence, Minecraft Mondays!

I'm excited to share the learning adventures we're having with Minecraft Education Edition here at school, from the 2nd graders through the 8th graders, with the hopes that others may jump into the World of Minecraft and add some adventures to their learning experiences!