Lessons I've Learned Teaching Minecraft

As a teacher, I often learn new things from my students or from the experience of designing the lesson, grading or creating the work. In nearly 15 years teaching, I don't think I've ever learned as much as I have in the past three weeks teaching Minecraft!

I designed my own course for an enrichment workshop I'm teaching at Natomas Charter PACT Academy. Students have an online reading assignment and an online quiz to take each week, based on a specific American symbol or icon we're studying. So far, we've tackled the Washington Monument, symbols like the Liberty Bell and the Bald Eagle and the Statue of Liberty. Students earn money in Minecraft for their quiz score and then go on to our school server to build this week's symbol.  Some of the important lessons I've learned this week:

Students *can* do it, if adults stay out of the way
I have students in 2nd through 8th grade working together. Some are novice Minecrafters, others consider themselves experts. Regardless of skill or ability in the game, the students are figuring it out! Through trial and error, they're working through their own challenges. Some are hesitant to build and be wrong, so they take longer. Others are hyper vigilant about a fellow classmate messing up their stuff on accident. The first few days I had over 100 emails from adults with questions, concerns, comments and more questions. As soon as I encouraged the adults to all step back and let the kids have at it, the email volume slowed down by about 90% and the students really stepped up.

Students need the tools to work entirely online
In our new technologically advanced world, we take many things for granted. As part of the last generation who grew up without internet, I remember a world where I had to go to the library to do research, scheduling a time to work on a group project and having to negotiate to get a ride there to do it. My Minecraft class takes place entirely online, at the student's own pace and time. They grew up in an internet world and for the most part, they have the tech skills to back it up. What they are severely lacking are the types of communication and interpersonal skills that are required in an online world. How do you ask for things in an online chat and get what you want? When do you need to use punctuation and check spelling and when is it ok to disregard? How do you make sure that the other person a few miles away in a computer can figure out how you're thinking and feeling, without getting offended? I thought I was teaching a history class in Minecraft. It turns out, I'm teaching an entirely different course about social emotional communication online. I LOVE it!

Students *can* do it, if adults stay out of the way
Wait... I know you're thinking "You wrote that one already!" and I did. But it's not just about the building and design, or individual student work. I have to reiterate this one again! Yes, some students have been angry, some have even cried in my office at school and been hurt and frustrated. Working out the kinks of online communication is very HARD! It's painful, it's frustrating and it's intense but it's 100% necessary. The kids have to do it themselves, with some gentle guidance and reminders. Just like on the playground or in preschool, when someone smashes down your block tower, you need to find the words and feelings to express yourself in a confident and appropriate way. And just like in preschool, when the adults intervene, they bring adult drama to the situation that might not have been there. I do intervene as the teacher and gamemaster, but only to offer coaching and suggestions for how to resolve the conflict and move on. No fingerpointing or judgement of parenting allowed.

Students will work harder than you can imagine for an engaging, collaborative experiment
I've really pushed my students these three weeks. They've read some incredibly boring National Parks websites and survived! They've learned about places they weren't particularly interested in, just for the opportunity to get quiz money and get back to building! They've had feelings hurt and pushed through. They've been unable to create the visual in their heads and learned to ask for help. Many of them have taken risks they wouldn't take in a traditional classroom because they don't have to have face to face communication or fear a conflict. They're bold and daring and I'm so incredibly proud!

Students will hold adults to a higher standard when they're engaged
Trust me, if my work and quiz isn't posted by Saturday, I'm getting emails about it! I've never had students email me begging for the next homework assignment in all of my teaching career. They not only expect timely assignments but they demand it! No slackers allowed!


I expected to teach this fun little class for seven weeks for the students, little did I know they'd be teaching me! I'm already inspired to run it again and researching new ideas for our next session in the spring. I wonder what they'll teach me next time around!

Only Minecraft and media focused entertainment? What?

One of my critics recently posted a review on a website that was less than warm and fuzzy. She clearly has a personal vendetta, but it definitely made me reflect. Her overall complaint was that I have a media-focused, entertainment based approach to learning. I thought this was quite hilarious and it compelled me to write this post. While her review was a poorly demonstrated version of how I am against some types of homeschoolers, it did more to show her own lack of concern over student engagement than anything.

One of her biggest complaints was that I rely heavily on Minecraft. I appreciate her dropping this in there, as adding Minecraft to anything is sure to boost hits online. Do I use a lot of Minecraft in our homeschooling? Yes, but the message was clearly missed on this critic. I use Minecraft precisely because that is where my student's engagement is high. I'd hope that every homeschooling parent would take a look at their student's interest and hand tailor the curriculum to reach that perfect level of engagement where the student doesn't want to walk away from the lessons, even when they're finished. This isn't a fault, it's quality homeschooling. If you disagree with Minecraft, that's ok by me- I support and write for any homeschooler that is interested in a better academic experience for their child. In your house, that might be through cooking, gardening, travel, reading the great books or some other family centered activity. Whatever your adventure, take the concept of my descriptions of how to use Minecraft and spin it for your family to meet your needs.

Her second biggest complaint is that I favor movies over literature. I'm pretty sure she's gotten me confused with some other person, or perhaps the one time I posted a link to Teach with Movies she took that to mean all we do is watch movies. I'm laughing over here while writing, though my son is definitely not. He's pretty insulted at the notion that he doesn't do "real" work. He's finished more than 60 books this school year. Real books, including classics like A Tale of Two Cities and popular topics like Ender's Game. Did we see the movie of Ender's Game? Yes. Did he write a lengthy compare and contrast essay about the differences in the book and the movie? Yes. By the way, he far and above preferred the book.

Then we come to the root of her complaint, that I am anti-religion. I'd really like to put this one to rest, since it seems to be where people focus when they read the first ten pages of my book. I am not anti-religion. I am not against homeschoolers who are religious. I wrote my book to help support and encourage the small percentage of an already small population of homeschoolers who are not homeschooling for religious purposes. This is a huge distinction that perhaps I haven't made clear or the critics haven't stayed reading long enough to discover. I support all types of homeschooling- from those who are free spirited unschoolers to those who school at home, to those who are homeschooling for religious purposes, to those who are Classical or eclectic or Charlotte Mason or some little dabble of each. Whatever your reason or purpose for homeschooling, it's still homeschooling at the core and I support your endeavors.

My intention in writing the book, was to support my fellow homeschoolers who live in an area where every park group requires a statement of faith, where every co-op is part of a church group. Any reader who stayed with the book past the first few pages would note that I give credit to homeschoolers for religious purposes who have built up homeschooling and made it possible to homeschool legally in all fifty states. Because I am not homeschooling for religious purposes doesn't mean I can't appreciate your family's decision. If you are of a different faith, or of no faith, or simply don't want to be a part of a group that by definition is exclusive, that's also a family decision.

Academic Homeschooling is about reminding you that you are not alone if you forego the statement of faith and that if you keep looking, you'll discover others just like you. Isn't that the real beauty of homeschooling? That we can step back, encourage our kids to flourish and grow without a box and follow whatever path fits our family's needs best?

All Minecraft all the time

I had written over the summer about the benefits of Minecraft and why families should be encouraging use of Minecraft for homeschooling purposes. This piece was more of a way to convince families that it was ok to let the kids go and use this spectacular educational tool for whatever inspired them! Shortly after, several friends asked me about limiting screentime and how I manage to maintain balance at home.

As Minecraft becomes more ubiquitous, more people have asked me not why we're using it but HOW we're using it. The kid has managed to convince me that Minecraft really does relate to everything in life, so I encourage you to ask YOUR kids how you can use Minecraft at home as well. I promise, they have a hundred ideas if you just let them run with it!

Book Walk-Thru
The kid doesn't like to write. He hates to write actually, and due to some motor coordination issues, writing actually causes him significant pain and takes a million years. In discussing book summaries, and how setting is important, he asked me to allow him to do a walk-thru of the main setting of the book The Maze Runner. He did this project last year and it was his first attempt at screencasting a Minecraft walkthru. We talked a lot afterwards about controlling your video movement, using a storyboard and how to make sure your thoughts are clear before you start talking.

Historical Architecture and Tours
Remember having to make a California mission in 4th grade? Or building some other absurdly expensive, large project that your parents ended up having to help you construct at home? Take the same project, put it in Minecraft and you now have a high-interest, easily manageable and historically accurate architecture project. You could even find some villagers to work in your Colonial shop or man your California farm fields! In this screencast, you can see the immense amount of architectural work, and understanding of symmetry that goes into building in Minecraft. He also demonstrates a solid understanding of the components of a ziggurat. Still working on not making people dizzy though! In this screencast, nearly a year after the first, he's describing a study of ancient Chinese tombs. He's definitely gotten better at not making you feel like you're spinning in circles!

Online Collaboration and Netiquette
Perhaps one of the most unexpected lessons to come out of Minecraft for us, is the lesson of how to deal with people online. Quite often, the kid is playing online with people that he doesn't know in real life. He takes several online classes through Minecraft Homeschool and Athena's Academy and both require online collaboration, conversation and negotiation.

Learning how to get the rest of the group to work together, in a timely fashion and create a project that meets the requirements of the assignment is a tricky, political and complex requirement when you don't actually know the participants. Most of us growing up, learned how to navigate the group project but we always had the social stigma of going to lunch or presenting in class with the slacker that didn't work. How do you figure that out when the slacker lives 2000 miles away? It's been fascinating watching groups of 9-14 year olds sort this out, all online, usually in TeamSpeak but often using in-game chat. As the working world becomes more reliant on online collaboration, this is the most useful skill coming from Minecraft right now and it's not something I can replicate easily at home!

Creative Writing Sparks
As I mentioned, Minecraft Homeschool has several classes that all take place online in Minecraft. Their academic work is required to earn you money to buy bricks for building in Minecraft. It's high interest, engaging and always well managed. Soon, they're also starting up a creative writing class- which offers yet another pathway into using Minecraft for school. This is a pathway I hadn't considered and haven't tried, but I can see how for many kids, it would really spark imagination and creativity!

I'm always looking for new ways to keep our work exciting and engaging. How are you using Minecraft at home?

Wrapping up 2013

They say time flies when you're having fun. Somehow, it's suddenly the end of December and while I'm not sure I'd categorize the fall of 2013 as "fun" it has definitely been busy! Adjusting to a new routine, new work schedule and a new middle schooler attitude has kept both of us on our toes and encouraged me to revisit and revise all of my plans on a weekly basis.

This is also the time of the year that I look over what my son has accomplished, the hits and misses of curriculum and what needs to happen over the spring to be a successful year.

Hits

1) Dumping literature curriculum for The Book Whisperer style homeschooling.
My son has complained about being told what to read, when to read it and doing all sorts of assignments along with it. But as a teacher, how would I know he was reading? How would I prove he understood it? This year, I listened to him and Donalyn Miller and decided to set him free with one small exception. If you want to see the movie, you have to read the book first. Since July, he's finished 26 fiction books, countless non-fiction articles and small books and read more than 4,000 pages. He polished off Ender's Game and Catching Fire in time for the movies. He takes a book with him everywhere, all the time. I probably should have listened to him last year. Donalyn Miller was right. Be brave, let the kids read!

2) Finding ways to make Minecraft into our homeschool lessons.
Minecraft is the pervasive conversation topic, the mode of communication and the entire social foundation of my son's life right now. It's all Minecraft all the time. So I found myself walking the fine line between allowing him to be obsessed and ruining all his fun. It got easier as we balanced when and how Minecraft is learning vs. social. If your kids aren't playing Minecraft, you're really missing out on an amazing learning tool. But that's not to say that it isn't also the most annoying, frustrating and time-sucking hobby! Using Minecraft for lessons in literature, science and history helped me justify the volume of hours he spends playing. The biggest, most successful find however, is the Minecraft Homeschool classes. Now he has his history lessons, quizzes and Minecraft builds all wrapped into one!

3) NaNoWriMo
We LOVE November. Love it. I can't say enough about how every student, of any age, should be able to participate wholeheartedly in NaNoWriMo. Take a crazy idea and write a novel, in a month, with no editing or self-critiquing allowed. It's a perfect experiment for perfectionists. It encourages each author to really push into the hard parts of writer's block and work through it. More than 10,000 words written in November and the kid has completed his fourth NaNo novel. Completion means December and January are all about editing and turning that long ramble of creativity into a well-written, creatively woven plot.

4) Other Curriculum Success
A few other successes this year so far:


And the Intellego Unit Study Ancient Civilizations  was also a big hit. I've used Intellego products before and while sometimes the links are broken or redirected, it's definitely worth the inexpensive price to not have to make up your own curriculum. The kid loves the online components and they find fantastic resources to use!

Misses

1) A regular Algebra 1 class

Since the kid is far accelerated beyond his grade level in math, we had high hopes that integrating into a standard high school Algebra class would be a success. I wasn't concerned about the math, but was hoping he'd bond with a teacher and we'd have a path to higher level math without any advocacy on my part. Unfortunately, the class turned out to be moving at a tortuously slow pace, with tons of work and no learning. He finished the semester, having lost one entire point the whole semester and not yet hitting any work he hadn't seen before. Back to the drawing board!

2) Bravewriter's Writer's Jungle

Poetry Tea was awesome! I learned a lot about writing styles and coaching writing while reading Writer's Jungle. But what I didn't learn was how to get a reluctant, dysgraphic, extremely creative writer to somehow take on the challenge of any sort of academic writing. He'd happily write stories (see NaNoWriMo above) but the minute you ask him to analyze, report or discuss, it all goes out the window. I've decided to outsource our writing with a class from Athena's Advanced Academy for spring semester instead.   

3) Too much or not enough scheduling

This is always the balance isn't it? Academic homeschooling is a very narrow line between too much and too little. There were too many days where it was 11am and I couldn't imagine how we had possibly finished our work for the day. In turn, there were too many days where it was 4pm and he still hadn't come close to finishing. In my perfect homeschooling world, we'd have great ideas together and they would magically balance out with the perfect amount of too much and too little. They'd appear on the lesson plan already designed and sketched out in a way that made both of us happy. I'm still researching how to make this magical world actually happen! 

Limiting screentime?

I've already opened the door talking about Minecraft; might as well dive headlong into screentime! Many people have asked me how we control screentime in our house and what my limits are.

Before we get to our current computer policy, it's only fair to give a little back story. Computers have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. While many of my generation grew up in a computer-free household, my father worked in computer programming and systems engineering. My brother and I grew up playing Kings Quest and Police Quest, learning to program Basic and playing Pong on our Atari. We had internet early on where you dialed up the phone next to your ear first, then listened for the squeal and connected it to the modem. We were early adopters. 

The kid has had his own computer since before he was two. After attempting to finish a work project related to University of California accreditation, while the kid was banging on my keyboard and demanding time to play Little People Airport, it was time to relent. With the typical attention span of a toddler, he self-limited to around 30 minutes at a time before he'd go do something else. Around three and a half though, all bets were off as he discovered a variety of JumpStart games that were more engaging and you also had to feed your pet! And so began the begging for just a few more minutes so his pet doggy wouldn't die during dinner. 

So how do we contend with screentime issues? It's complicated. My husband is a gamer and between us, we have nine working computers for three people. Not all nine are currently up and running, but they're all in working order, just hanging out waiting to be scavenged for parts. We have three computers on three desks, all in one room and we often play games together (or in the same room on our own games).  I prefer short and light games that require no commitment, while the boys prefer complex story lines, strategy or excellent graphics. 

Now that we've been homeschooling two years and we're heading into the third, it's apparent that the kid's preferred learning style is "anything on the computer." He'd much rather do Khan Academy than a printed worksheet, even if the problems are the same. He takes several online classes and spends countless hours each week learning on the computer. Is that screentime? Is it school? Where is the line between whether a TV show is enjoyment or learning when he'd choose something like Mythbusters for either?

The simplest answer is that we don't limit screentime. I stopped counting because it was too complex to figure out what qualified and what didn't. When you have a solid negotiator for a kid, he can argue his way out of anything including whether or not his Minecraft Hunger Games time qualifies as learning. Once we started homeschooling, the clear line blurred from entertainment to edutainment to education and it was simply easier to forget about the line altogether.

That doesn't mean he spends 16 hours a day on the computer. There are plenty of days (especially in the summer) where I just say "Enough!" That line depends on my mood, his mood and whether or not we have anything else to do. He'll work on a Lego project, hang out with friends, go swimming, read a book or work on a DIY project instead. As a competitive fencer, the kid spends between 4-6 hours a week at the fencing academy. He's well-rounded, creative and thoughtful. I'm not worried.

To be fair, our screen limits also heavily depends on whether or not he got off the computer without drama the day before when I said "Enough!" I have threatened to password protect his computer after he was getting up at 5am to play Minecraft and watch dreadfully lame videos of other people playing Minecraft. But a hard and fast two hour rule? Well... since I don't have any intention of following that myself, there's really no point!

You're not using Minecraft?? You're missing out!

If you have a child somewhere between ages 6 and 18, you have likely heard of Minecraft. Sometimes referred to as "Mind crack", it is the newest, and one of the longer lasting crazes among video gamers. Parents everywhere are devising strategies to deny, avoid, repel or distract their children from Minecraft.

Confession time. I love Minecraft. I don't play it and I don't enjoy it personally, but I love the social magic it has brought to my son's life and the educational value behind it! I'm here to convince you that if you're not using Minecraft in your homeschooling, you're really missing out on a huge educational opportunity!

10 Reasons Why You Need Minecraft

1) Spatial processing
First of all, there is the logic, spatial processing and hand-eye coordination that is required to simply play Minecraft. If you think of Minecraft as virtual Lego blocks, you can start to imagine the possibilities. Now add in realistic gravity in some settings, design elements and patterning and the infinite ways you can assemble blocks and you can start to see attraction.

2) No fear or criticism
Have a perfectionist? Minecraft is perfect for building because if it doesn't work out you just take it down and put it right back up again. Many kids we know have attempted grandiose replica builds that they'd never attempt with Lego due to fear of failure, time and the pure cost of bricks. One 4th grader we know personally, is currently working on replicating the entire California mission trail, including building the missions that are accurate from aerial views. He would never attempt such a long endeavor outside of his computer, for fear that others might critique it or that he wouldn't finish. My own son is currently working on the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

3) Logic and computer code disguised as fun
I listened to an adorable 3rd grader tell me all about how to build a watermelon slicer the other day. He had spent several hours working on his redstone repeaters to get them lined up properly and in the right order. As he was explaining it to me, his mom was visually irritated that he had "wasted" so much time. I congratulated him on figuring out the code to make the slicer work. I explained to him that what he had really been doing was working on logic processing- the steps required, in the exact order, to make the computer do what he wanted. I gave him a high five for being a computer coder. Mom was stunned- she had never thought about it from that perspective.

4) Determination and perseverance 
Kids that tend to be quitters need to find a passion. If that passion to "get it right" is fed by building something in Minecraft, or setting up a server etc, it provides a valuable lesson in perseverance that can transfer into other areas with gentle parenting.

5) Research and internet skills
What's a wiki? What's the Minecraft wiki? How do you figure out how to build something that seems too confusing? Where can you find appropriate YouTube videos? What's the server op command to turn off rainfall? These are all questions that we've covered at home as part of our Minecraft lessons. Don't ask me, I don't know but I'll teach you how to find it!

6) Internet safety
As our world becomes increasingly internet based, our kids need instruction in how to survive and thrive in a world where your friends may be people you met online and have never even seen in real life. How much information is too much? What is "personal" and what isn't? We've spent countless hours talking about internet safety and internet etiquette so that my son can play multiplayer servers with players around the world. These skills are as important as learning how to type and will be the base of his future interactions for decades.

7) Social interaction
As homeschoolers, this is hugely important to us. It's simply not possible for my son to spend as much time with other kids as he may like, because we don't have 30 kids in our house every day. But with Minecraft, we DO. He can play and chat online with friends in our area or far away, stay in touch with camp friends and more. He has Minecraft parties at our house where we will invite five or six people over to play a specific Minecraft game, like Capture the Flag. A room full of boys and girls, all laughing and talking up a storm, while running through a virtual world is a perfect way to spend a hot summer afternoon! Minecraft extends beyond the game as well, and has given him social capital and a way to enter conversations of complete strangers, just based on their discussion or a comment on his t-shirt.

7) What's a LAN?
Beyond basic computer logic within the game, Minecraft is the perfect foray into how computers work, how the internet works and what all these crazy acronyms mean. When my son wanted his own server, rather than just getting it for him, we told him to figure it out. He now has cloud space in Texas that he manages, runs the upgrades of both Minecraft and Java, notifies his players of upcoming changes and rules and has learned numerous operator commands to make his server do what he wants.

8) High interest, high quality school projects
"Hey kid, today we're writing a report on setting in the book you just read," is sure to elicit grumping, whining and complaining. "Hey kid, today you're recreating the setting from the book you just read, doing a screencast walk-thru and explaining the importance of several locations, all in Minecraft!" Suddenly, your entire school day just changed from lame and boring to you being the coolest mom ever! At the same time, you will likely get higher level analysis, better understanding of the topic and more commitment to the project. We use Minecraft whenever, however possible. With "mods", you can experiment with physics, gravity, black holes, farming and agriculture supply and so much more. If you have no idea how, ask your kid "How would you like to do this in Minecraft? Tell me what you'd do!" Watch the eyes sparkle!

9) Inspiration
It's amazing to me to see what so many kids have dreamed up in Minecraft. From a girl I know who built a disco club complete with music and strobe lights, to another that built an entire amusement park with roller coasters, water slides and shops to buy snacks, the ideas are endless. I've seen my son, who never draws for fun, sketch out something when he's away from the computer, so he can put it into action when he gets back to his desk. Experimentation and design is easy in Minecraft and it's low-risk and low cost. I've met several kids that have gone on to study topics outside of the game because they saw something built in Minecraft and wanted to know more. One teen we know has built a working nuclear power plant in his Tekkit Minecraft mod. He spent hours researching nuclear cooling strategies outside of the game, so he could get his plant as realistic and as safe as possible, because it will blow up if it's wrong!

10) Because you can
Why not? Isn't this the best part of homeschooling? You can do it because you simply can! No school internet access policies, rules for use of bandwidth or judgement. Just because you can! I've yet to find a topic that my son couldn't incorporate into Minecraft in some way!

Ok, now I know I've convinced you! So go grab your own license and start imagining the possibilities- https://minecraft.net/