Minecraft Brainstorm

Grade 10 - Minecraft Brainstorm

Throughout this PKE, I spent much time trying to incorporate Minecraft into my curriculum (Business) that would be challenging and engaging for the students. Unfortunately I was not successful for many reasons including:

• My knowledge of Minecraft was very limited and as a result I was easily frustrated with the game
• I was not able to think out of the box and stuck in my "Business Simulation" mindset
• Students were becoming over stimulated with all the technology currently used in my classes
• The graphics are horrible and it reminded me of the Atari we had in our family room...arghhh!!! give me an XBox

After having a discussion with my Grade 10 Business class in regard to the PKE, I was enlightened to find so many great ideas that these wonderful 15 year old students had. At this point, I decided to approach this project a little differently.

1. I created a a google form for kids to respond to in regards to their ideas for Minecraft in the classroom
2. Students were paired and brainstormed their best lesson plan and completed the google form
3. A mail merge was created and we instantly created 10+ organized lesson plans
4. Attached is the link of the Minecraft folder with the PDF lessons and google form I used.

The following are pics of the students working on their Minecraft Lessons/Ideas:

Experimenting with Minecraft

Experimenting with Minecraft in my Grade 10 Applied English Class

Students for the most part appeared engaged in the assigned activity.

Students have been reading the novel The Hunger Games and using Minecraft demonstrated their understanding of the novel's setting and it's importance to the novel and the character(s) involved. In addition to  creating the scene setting, they included supporting passages/words and a written explanation of their recreated setting. Below I have included some student examples.

Example 1: 

   

The Reaping 

Example 2:

 

“Somehow make it back to the cave” pg 289

“I cover the floor of the cave with pine needles “ pg 260

Example 3:

1. The two passages from the text that describe elements of the setting that I will recreate are from Chapter 12, page 148.

Below is an example of this student's selected passages.  In addition, to his additional written response this student included a legend.

Passage #1:  “Sixty seconds to take in the ring of tributes all equidistant from the Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which is at least twenty feet high, spilling over the things that will give us life here in the arena.  Food, containers of water, weapons, medicines, garments, fire starters.  Strewn around the Cornucopia are other supplies, their value decreasing the farther away they are from the horn.”

Passage # 2:  “We’re on a flat, open stretch of ground.  A plain of hard packed dirt. Behind the tributes across from me, I can see nothing, indicating either a steep downward slope or even a cliff. To my left and back, sparse piney woods.”

Example 4: 

Bird's Eye View of the Cornucopia                          The Forest

The Lake

The Cornucopia

In this following example, these two students were excited and went all out.

Example 5:

The Indian Creek Difference

We went to visit Indian Creek School in Chatham Ontario, this is a very progressive school that would alarm many traditionalists but was like a breathe of fresh air to me.  We were supposed to go there to see Minecraft lessons and samples from the staff.  What happened instead was much more valuable than lessons on Minecraft, what we witnessed was an incredible student focused school.  We learned about the norms and beliefs of the school community while going on a tour with principal Chris Moore and teachers Mr. Pattison and Mr. Aspinall.

The first hint that this school was different was when Principal Chris Moore showed our group that he had taken down the prominently displayed pictures of former principals and replaced them with current pictures of Grade 8 leaders in the school.  What this showed is that student's are placed front and centre and showed a focus on the people who are learning in the building now.  We were told that many students in Grade 7 now aspire to positions of leadership and want their pictures on the wall for a year.  What a way to instill a sense of ownership in the students.

  Another student focused thing that they do is that they minimize the amount of grades given and instead they focus on giving feedback.  A student is given at least a few feedback sessions before a student is considered done an assignment, the student receives their letter grade at the reporting period and not before.  The teachers are finding that the students make more gains under this system because the continual feedback loop keeps the students interested in learning and not just going for marks.  They have compared the new system to the old system over a number of years and have found the students are doing better with less grades and more feedback.  The kids actually improve over time because they learn how to be better learners, it is not important when the students learn but if they learn.  There is not a bonus for learning the material quickly.



One other cool thing that they do at this school is that they allow the students access to more of the building than I have ever seen.  There were students everywhere and they were well behaved.  They were working on green screens, they were working on building model playgrounds and they were quietly working on i-pads in the  French room.  The students work on passion projects and projects that they propose to their teachers.  In this way, the vast majority of the students really thrive  because they are so immersed in what they are doing!


I could add much more to this post but I won't, what I will say is that I was really impressed and here are a few takeaways:


1. This environment took 6 years to build
2. Student voice and a love for students was crucial for their success
3. Technology is big but the pedagogy behind the tech is bigger
4. We have always done it this way are dangerous words
5. Pay for your tech use by reducing other costs like photocopying and printing
6. Let your staff make mistakes without penalty- keep improving
7. Feedback can be oral too
8. Students who work on their passions are more likely to learn and less likely to misbehave

Thanks to the Indian Creek Family for the tour and keep up the great work!

Inspiring Day at Indian Creek Elementary School - Chatham

So I began the day thinking that I would be seeing decked out classrooms.  Stark white and gleaming floors.
Charging stations in hubs with whiteboards and smartboards in every class.  Some of my predictions were true, there were smartboards in every class, there is a room with a charging stations and a green screen.  But there was stuff EVERYWHERE!  One classroom looked like the basement of a frat house with ripped couches, make shift coffee table and dirty dishes.  Another room looked like a toy maker's reject closet and yet another looked like a storage space for desks and unwanted teaching supplies.  Children were all over on the floor, in a closet, on couches and at their lockers.  At face value, I wondered, how could any learning be done in these rooms.

 When I walked and looked at what was happening in the clusters of students or individuals, each child was engaged in their work.  The tools chosen varied, ipads, phones, chromebooks and laptops.  It didn't matter who I asked, each one told me what they had to do.  And, the children were happy to share, they were not shy at all.  They were proud of their work and they owned it.  FACT, there is no correlation between a super organized, alphebetized, sanitized and nice smelling classroom and student engagement.

The school has a pretty amazing culture.  The students are empowered and are able to choose how they will best be able to accomplish assigned tasks.  There is space for learners who flourish in chaos and activity.  There are areas for learners who need quiet and a more focused direction.  In many ways it is literally like a scene from the movie, Inside Out.  All pieces of the brain are able to find a space that makes them heard. The most refreshing thing to see is the freedom and the empowerment that children are given to take command of their learning.  The children are happy and engaged.  Not a single child was falling asleep or watching the clock.

A learning environment like this is definitely overwhelming and scary.  It absolutely goes against any traditional learning we have all experienced.  But that is what progress looks like.  I love that the teachers are not afraid of technology and the culture that the students are going to be living in.  They embrace it.

I get that it is difficult for teachers to separate from a traditional markbook and averages.  On an elementary level anecdotal and conferencing for marks is a little more do-able.  It is so true that students who are the A's/Level 4 will typically always be that.  The Level 2/C students will take their graded assignment and shove it in a dark corner for nobody to see.  The feedback type of marking may not necessarily always render a quantified mark however, the level of learning is better.  The directions towards meeting curriculum expectations are more personalized and focused towards individual needs.  And I believe that the students will understand more about their learning and they as a bonus, they will know how to better retain history, science, math or literacy information.  

I cannot pretend to know how what is being done at this school will fit at a high school.  From the get, secondary schools  have more to answer to such as students who need quantified work for college and university acceptance.  Perhaps let marking and more feedback.  Maybe just the idea of empowering students more.  Or maybe high schools just need more technology to begin with.  All schools need more spaces that can facilitate as a learning lounge however, I do b that there have been attempts on this but the areas have been abused, vandalized and torn apart.

Driving home I realized that I had not even talked a bit about Minecraft.  Colin touched a bit on the Makey Makey and other sweet apps.  And while I would have loved to immerse myself in a head to head geekfest about coding, I realized that technology and innovation in education is secondary to developing the right culture and philosophy of a school.  At the end of the day, it is very easy for me to compare my teaching situation to Indian Creek and say all the things I cannot do because of this or that.  For myself, I have been inspired and I know that some of my own ideas are possible.  I left the school with a renewed spirit and the possibilities of the year to come.  And although I absolutely cannot wait for summer, that crazy teacher personality in me is also super excited for September and the possibilities and challenges of course, that a new school year will bring.

PKE Reflection

In the PKE meeting we closely looked and discussed teacher's practices, and the added benefits both teachers and learners obtain when they work together as a team.  Today's session proved just how true creating a congenial relationships in the work place at all levels allows individuals to share and improve in their practices.  In fact, lots of great discussion took place during the session demonstrating just how important team collaboration and sharing is to the teaching profession. The benefits discussed centered around student learning and measuring success in terms of "student learning" and not in terms of the content and manner in which curriculum is being covered. The idea that when we share with one another versus keeping to ourselves in "our own classroom" with our "own students" and "our own lesson plans "allows us to be better teachers.  All teachers have "golden nuggets" of knowledge and practical experience to bring to a classroom. It is when this knowledge and experience is shared  that everyone wins is something that stood out for me today.  Today was a great learning experience and looking forward to working with everyone.

Reflection:

Nice change to collaborate with colleagues who have the same frame of mind.  Bouncing ideas and positive reinforcement amongst the group encourages everyone to become a better teacher and colleague.

The unplanned activity with Padlet (a la Sisco) was engaging and will definitely be utilized in my classroom. Members had some great insights on Professional Learning Communities followed up with insightful discussions.

The second article Improving Relationships within the Schoolhouse
has some very good suggestions on how to improve a school atmoshpere.  One of the most notable suggestions is the relationship between staff members with each other and administration. "Collegial Relationship" is one of the hardest things to strive towards but is the most effective for school success.

Goals:

• More collaboration amongst the group
• Sharing with other faculty
• Utilizing the game minecraft in the class

Our first meeting: What is a PLC?

We met for the first time today to launch our PKE initiative.  What great discussions we had!  Chad, who has been working on PLC's for years, led us through our first session about the philosophy behind our PLC. We used a great protocol for discussion articles that had us identify our favourite word, our favourite phrase and our favourite sentence.  Here is my favourite passage from "What is a Professional Learning Community" by Richard DuFour.

We also learned to use Padlet.

A shout out Tammy, Lisa and Kristine for blogging for the first time.

I am so excited to work with this great group.  We are awesome.  Now, on to Minecraft . . .

Day 1 - PKE

What I've learned:

- A familiar face (Sean C.) is nice to see when you walk into a large high school and don't know where you are going.  Elementary schools aren't this big.

- I was able to meet a great group of educators with a wide variety of backgrounds.

- We talked about developing a strong PLC and we used two articles as a springboard.

                    i) What is a Professional Learning Community

                    ii) Improving Relationships within the Schoolhouse

- When sharing our thoughts we used a cool tool called Padlet - Favourite Sentence, Thought, Word

- During a lunch time discussion with Joe Sisco I learned about a new Google Ad-on - autoCrat

- I've included a YouTube video explaining autoCrat

- I can't wait to use this as a tool to sharing information with both my students and their parents.

Moving Forward:

I'm looking forward to continuing this journey with this great group.  I've already starting exploring Minecraft on the iPad with my 6 year old son and feel like I have so much to learn.  Can't wait to see what "Dustin" has for us next time we meet.

Messing With Minecraft

I left the world of detentions and suspensions for a day to engage in professional learning with our fellow teachers.  It was great to talk with other staff about the benefits of collaboration.  The article that we discussed that got the most traction was:


http://www.allthingsplc.info/files/uploads/improvingrelationships.pdf

This article discussed how the adult relationships in a school are so big in creating a culture of learning.  The better the  quality of the relationships between the adults the better the learning will be in school.


I loved the quality of the discussions, the teachers are ready to learn a lot about Minecraft and to help each other as we go.  This is going to be good, thanks to Jessica Renaud and Joe Sisco for staying and learning with us.

Building Relationships

Today, we met as a group at Holy Names High School in Liana Côté's classroom, Room D252. Liana inspired trust among us by letting us into her classroom. This was the theme of the day for me as we discussed and shared a lot about how successful PLCs depend mostly on the relationships among their members.

As a participant, I was excited to learn from my colleagues and their unique experiences. We did an exercise where we read an article and then were asked to give a favourite sentence, phrase and word. Some very rich conversation came out of the sharing in this exercise. It was great to learn different perspectives that included John Foglia from St. Angela Elementary, many members of the HNH English Department and Chad Barrette, VP of Holy Names High School.

The padlet below includes some of the ideas shared about "What is a Provincial Learning Community?"

Created with Padlet

messing with minecraft- PKE

-fantastic session- great time sharing teaching practices
-Great article-"Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse"- centers on improving the school environment- and how teachers have such an influence and need to focus more on their positive contributions and less on the negative

-"school improvement is impossible when we give nondiscussables such extraordinary power over us"'- how teachers need to speak up about their concerns or share ideas - and how it only benefits the students and the learning environment

-" if one day we educators could only disclose our rich craft knowledge to one another, we could transform our schools overnight"  -- oh, how true this is!!

Reflection

     In the PKE today, I've learned that many of my colleagues have the same concerns that I did about technology.  It's refreshing to know that others struggle as I do with classroom technology!  Through this session, I am more willing to step out of my comfort zone to try to incorporate Mindcraft into one of my classes this semester.  My goal is to use this with other classes in the future.
     I enjoyed discussing ideas about education with others because it helps me to be a better classroom teacher.  I'm looking forward to our next session.

Welcome to our blog.  We will document our journey messing around with the idea of gamifying our classroom.