Minecraft in the Classroom: California Missions

Chapter 1: Getting Started

My Mission

As I go down the never ending rabbit hole that is Minecraft in the Classroom, I decided it would be best to document my process so that others can benefit from my struggles and be left with a simple tutorial on how to set it um seamlessly.  

You see the idea of having a classroom of students create a government, map out their missions, and then bring them to life in a world with their peers sounds so profoundly beneficial to not only themselves, but to their teacher as well.  

In the past week now since I have begun, have dove so deeply into their lives and what 95% of them love to do, every day after school, and I have brought it into the classroom.  I have given each student a medium that they love to work with, and the time to create a world that is far beyond what they ever imagined.  This sounds like too perfect of a storm for an amazing learning experience.  And because of that, I have chosen to document every step of the way.

The Back Story

A year ago, I attended an Alan November seminar.  If you didn't know, the mans a world genius of incorporating tech into the classroom that has a true authentic purpose.  He showed us a possibility and I proposed it to my class the following day.  

"When we build our missions this year, you will have the opportunity to build it out of cardboard, or create in on Minecraft."  

I had never seen such open eyes drooling with excitement.  A few weeks later and hours spent on the computer, a student brought me not only a mission, but an experience.  You see this was far more than creating, this was his entire presentation.  He spent every second of that video describing what he had built and used vocabulary from class to paint the picture of his Mission.  

The Aftermath

After my Principal saw the level of work and rigor that was displayed, he immediately allowed me to purchase the game for the computer lab and getting the platform for every 4th grader to create one. Now I had to figure out how I was going to do this, you see, I HAVE NEVER actually PLAYED the GAME myself...EVER!

I did a little research, figured out how it would work at our school, and committed to the journey.  My following blogs will be a tutorial for purchasing the game, setting up your world, and weekly reports every Saturday night about facilitating their exploration.

Paying it Forward While Sleeping through the Night

The Back Story:

My wife recently cried out for help, as we were desperate to get some sleep, any sleep.  Our 14-month-old boy had been co-sleeping and nursing and no matter how many times we tried to break him of these habits, he would fight until he would throw up and we would cave.  

An average night was us rocking him to sleep by nursing, and rocking, and nursing, and rocking.  He would sleep from 9-11pm in his crib, then co-sleep with us taking over the entire cal king bed and nursing every 45 minutes.  Sound familiar?  My wife made a call out on a momma site and within hours received hundreds of responses.  We were willing to pay anything, but one lady gave us all the advice we needed and wanted nothing in return.

The advice we got from that mother of nine, with one on the way, worked on day one and has been the second greatest blessing in our lives, after our son of course.  When I mentioned it on Facebook, many asked for the advice and instead of calling everyone, I thought to better just write it out.

Weaning off the Boob:

We were advised to create our own "mother’s milk" by adding a small pinch of C&H light brown sugar to milk, warm it up and put it in his bottle. This creates a delicious taste, and even though he would not take it right away, after about 20 minutes of crying, he drank ever last ounce.  

Sleeping in his OWN Bed (Hallelujah!)

The first thing we were advised to do was to make his bed as comfortable as ours.  Why would any baby want to sleep in a cage, when they can sleep on a plush cal king size foam mattress?  So we broke down those walls.  You can either put the mattress right on the floor and make a little cave like atmosphere, or use a low to the ground bed with lots of pillows all around.  

We laid in that bed all day to get our sent embedded in the fibers.  We mimicked nap time to his sleep time and was told that even if he doesn't nap, at least try for the hour to keep him in his new cave.  At night, do the same, read stories, sing, tickle the chin, count to five on the fingers whatever it takes.  

The First Nap:

To my surprise, it worked wonderfully.  We tired him out by taking him to the park and I laid down with him in his new fortress for 20 minutes of fussing, then 20 minutes of relaxing by singing and reading, and then it happened, he dozed off for the first time ever without us rocking him to sleep!  Not only that, he slept for an hour and a half!

The First Night:

Along with the brown sugar and milk, for dinner we pureed some white rice in his sippy-cup to give him that extra full belly.  he ate decently well, but not really, took a long bath, and we did our same bed time ritual.  Then it happened he climbed to bed, I blocked all the exits with my body and he cried and cried.  My wife brought in the "Mother's milk" and we explained its from her, that her boobs are not working anymore, but he would not drink it.  We felt defeated.

Nonetheless I kept at it, tickled the chin, sang "Simple Man" over and over and read books, and alas within the hour he was asleep by 8:30!  Not only that, he slept comfortably until 1:00am.  The longest he has ever been asleep in his life.

Then he woke up!  I laid in bed with him, mom made some new milk, and the routine happened the same, he cried for 20 minutes, except this time, being so tired, he took the bottle, and drank every last ounce of that milk.  It was beautiful and he started drifting to sleep.

Then a major set back.  Mom came in to check, Alan woke up, stared right at her and started to cry all over again.  I told her "You ruined it, go back to sleep I've got it.  She replied with"I'm going to punch you in the face!"  (I'm telling you this part of our adventure because it is completely normal to freak out at this moment.)  My wife is so used to a routine and when she feels deflated and not able to comfort her ailing child, its very easy to become nervous.  Once again probably normal for a sleep deprived mom losing her reality.  While I was taking over for the night and hoping she would FINALLY get some sleep,  she wouldn't.  All she could do is stare at that monitor and feel helpless.

She left peacefully, our son cried for another 20 minutes, and then fell asleep.  He slept this time till 5am!

This time he woke up and was wide awake.  Momma came in and changed the diaper, (god bless her soul), and played with him till 7am; since now he was wide awake.  Then she noticed he was getting sleepy and decided to try to lure him to sleep on her own.  Despite her boobs being right in his face, she kept reminding him the factory was closed, and her milk is now in these bottles.  He drank a little, and slept for another two hours.

I am writing this out because this was one of the best nights of my life, and I feel for so many other families going through the same thing.  Hopefully, they can get peace of mind as we now have!  Make their bed cozier than yours and embed your scent so deeply in the fabric and you will all finally get some sleep!

How to Repair Education...Or At Least Where to Begin

Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky once told the world that we learn best while observing or interacting with someone who is a bit more educated than we are.  This Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) follows the idea that we gradually develop the ability to solve certain tasks without help when observing others.  This same philosophy is used in schools across the world 89 years later, because it works. 

           

At their desks, students are often paired with those close to them in skill to help create a maturing process that is neither overwhelming nor immature. Yet, if this concept works so well with our students, why aren’t we asking our teachers to do the same?

             

Colleges are using collaboration as a way to excel student learning.  Sure, schoolteachers have Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in their schools to discuss ideas, but how do we tap in to the depth of knowledge that successful schools in New York, Texas, or Illinois are drawing from?

           

Being a teacher means being a life-long learner.  We are forever journeymen who shall always continue our quest to become better. Our education system cannot be patched together brick and mortar; it needs drastic change to become successful. 

To do this, every principal and teacher should be both a mentor, and apprentice.  Three times a year, a teacher should observe someone more educated and experienced than they are.  Someone less experienced should also observe them.  This not only holds teachers accountable to teach well, but it disperses knowledge quickly.  Teachers take those ideas they learned and bring them back to their schools, their PLCs, and diffusion occurs naturally.

The cost for three subs a year per teacher will not be extremely cumbersome for districts to fathom with.  This certainly is a cheaper way to conduct professional development days where districts pay some company thousands of dollars for the next “magic bullet” that will raise scores drastically. Not to mention only one teacher per grade can attend, and usually are not allowed to “share” the copywrited material.

We don’t need new curriculum, new computers, more teachers, or fewer students.  We need a platform to both hold teachers accountable, and disperse our knowledge from the ground up.  Top bottom approaches that companies offer simply do not work.  They are merely tools to use.

The ones teaching know how to teach best.  But that knowledge will never be accessed if they never leave the classroom.  These teachers in their isolated pods, I mean classrooms, are begging for networking via Twitter and Pintrist.  Le that process happen naturally, locally, and let teachers hold each other accountable to better improve and inspire us all.

Effective Change in STEM Education

Interested in creating a more hands on learning environment for your students but do not have the resources to provide the enrichment?  At Fair Oaks, a few teachers have gotten together on Donors Choose to ask for science equipment and over the past 3 years we have acquired a wealth of material to enhance science education for our school.  Materials like digital microscopes, safety goggles, bacteria growth dishes, human anatomy figures, board games and more are just some of the things that have been donated to make a more engaging and hands on experience for our students.  All the items are equally shared between the upper grade teachers and everyone benefits.

Hands on realia is one way to engage students but it is not the only.  At an elementary level it is important to know that their interest in the science fields and understanding that all of them are scientist is the number one goal for STEM.  Many believe it is too hard and the vocabulary is too much of a barrier to pass.  But when you approach science from their interest levels, they often forget they are doing science.

Recently, students in my class, who are all highly interested in soccer, had to build a soccer kicking machine.  They worked together to engineer a machine that could kick a Ping-Pong ball various distances accurately and effectively.  Many had no idea they were applying science skills to the task.  But when reflecting on the lesson, they then discovered that the process of collaborating, building, and replicating a procedure over and over was in fact the scientific method.

Lastly, students need to understand that they can be successful in the field, otherwise they will never apply themselves for the skills will seem useless to learn.  Students need to be taught a history of science that we as educators never learned before; a cultural perspective.  When students learn that people just like themselves, who grew up in similar ways, with similar families became famous scientists, they then have hope for themselves.  For all teachers out there, I wish you to try this as a first step in building a STEM classroom.

To help you, here is a list of a few scientists who students may be interested to learn more about.  I recommend a weekly scientists that students learn about who did not come from a rich affluent family and may have a handicap with socially or mentally.

Alexander Graham Bell - learning disability
Thomas Edison - slightly deaf
Albert Einstein - Aspergers
Henry Ford - dyslexic
Stephan Hakwking - motor neuron disease
Dr. Temple Grandin - Autisim 

I know there are many minority scientist as well that should be shared and discussed.  Please share your favorite scientist that you think students should learn about and tell us why?  Together we can create a list of scientist for students to explore.

From Drones to Homes

       

Fifty years ago, The Russians launch of Sputnik propelled our nation to do something great; send a man to the moon.  It awoke a passion and vision in our citizens and leaders to not only surpass a satellite in orbit, but to invest in our nations infrastructure, something we have declined to do lately.  Education is Americas best tool to stay competitive (Aarons, 2008).  But for this movement to take off a fire needs to be lit.  “Our response to sputnik made us better educated, more productive…and more ingenious” (Friedman, 2010).  What will Americans respond to today, to make them come together to rebuild America’s infrastructure and instilling in our children the importance of STEM careers?

If you were thinking China, you may be right, but China has been surpassing us for years and nothing has changed.  Our nations capital is still spending more overseas than it is at home.  It may frighten you to hear this, but Al-Qaida has won.  It’s sole objective was not invade America, it was to bankrupt it.  Spending hundreds of billions a year on foreign investments and military defense, borrowing trillions from China to fight a war on credit, this nation has stopped investing in itself and instead gambling on other lucrative ventures abroad.  Waiting for the government to shift focus from drones to homes is not going to happen anytime soon.  A grass roots movement from the people is the only way tomorrow’s course will be altered.

It is the private sector that has been taking the lead on this so far.  Programs like the EXXON Mobil STEM Educational Initiative have been the face of STEM and the lead in awakening our culture to the importance for our nation to stay competitive.  It is the teachers who discuss the vast potential and opportunities with their children that these fields hold.  It is the companies like Apple and Google who invite students to their studios to engage them in the tech world.  It is the parents who give them an iPad to explore their curiosities and not just play games.

Rebuilding America starts with rebuilding our youth and investing in the infrastructure of our schools that in turn defines us as a nation.  The importance of teachers focusing on STEM education is widely important because it gives our next generation the greatest opportunity for potential success.  Taiwan has no oil, natural resources, and is nothing but barren rock, but because they have invested in themselves and their infrastructure they now have the worlds 4th largest monetary reserve (Friedman, 2010).  As other countries surpass us, America needs to wake up and prepare our future leaders for the 21^st century world.

Once the nations people have taken wind of rebuilding our infrastructure, they will pressure our leaders to bring our troops home.  More importantly, that pressure should continue to invest in all of our troops to re-acclimate them to society and become leaders in the job sector.  It starts with scaling down our military and focusing more on our own nation, than on those abroad.  History has shown that societies are not built from foreign entanglements. That money spent abroad can not be focused on what makes this country great, our children, our troops, and our ingenuity.  

References:

Aarons, D. I. (2008). New skills seen essential for global competition. Education

Week, 28(4)

Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our Sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York

Times [Late Edition (East Coast)]

iPad Weekly Schedule (Beta)

Monday - Become an Expert

• Students use teacher directed websites to research and discuss a topic of study

Example:

Tsunami

Asteroid

Volcano

Earthquake

Cant get enough information?

Search your topic here at KidRex!

Directions: Take notes from the links.  Use those notes to convince your group the disaster you choose is the deadliest of all!  Include: 1. How/why does it start? 2. What would it look/feel like? 3. What long-term damage would occur? 4. How could we be prepared?

Tuesday - Newsela

• Students read the same news articles, but at their lexile level.  
• Students take a quiz on the reading, and may re-read the story at a higher level

Example:

Lexile 1140: Bullfighting on the ropes in Colombia

Lexile 1010: Columbia's bullfighters face extinction as arenas go empty

Lexile 690: Bullfighting tradition fading away in Colombia

• When finished, students must comment on at least 2 others kidblog posts from monday.

Wednesday - IXL Math

Thursday - Close Reading

• Students close read with an article on Prism
• They use three colored highlighters to answer three Common Core questions

Example:

Use the yellow highlighter to highlight any confusing or outstanding words.

Use the pink highlighter to show where the author is comparing a _____ to a ________.

Use the green highlighter to show the main idea.

• When finished, continue the academic conversation from Tuesday.

Friday - Open Inquiry

• Students who have completed weekly work will research, take notes, and prepare to present their findings to the class on a question or topic of their discovery.
• Students with incomplete work will finish their assignments and then continue to their open inquiry.

Natural Disasters - Highly Engaging

Students, especially boys, love to see something destroyed.  Not knowing the consequences behind such destructions make the experience more enjoyable.  So, when they get a chance to learn about tsunamis, asteroids, volcanoes, and earthquakes they are jumping out of their seats with excitement.

Taking the students down to the computer lab to research is not always a fun, quiet, and calming experience.  Yet, when we researched natural disasters, not a distraction graced the classroom in over an hour.  Every student was engaged in the videos, interactive games, and kidrex safe search engines.

To make this empowering, I wanted the students to become the experts. In groups of 4, students studied their own natural disaster and had to prove to their group it was the deadliest of all.  The notes, and evidence they found were amazing.  They enjoyed discussing these and soon realized the scary effects these "cool" destruction's could have on the world.

The mood grew more somber as they became aware of the consequences of each disaster.  In one hour, students took something the saw and loved and saw it in a different light.  It was a very empowering experience I wish all teachers to do with their own classrooms.

5th grade blogger example - 3/19/14

A tsunami is the worst thing that can ever happen. It is caused by a earthquake off shore. The bigger the earthquake the bigger the tsunami. A tsunami is a giant wave that can flood a lot of areas and life. The waves can bring cars, houses, and other items down with it. More than 150,000 people can die from a tsunami. It could take years to repair a very deadly tsunami. People are trying to prevent or prepare for tsunami. They prepare for one by building stations to see if a tsunami is coming with a detector. But they don’t give enough time to let people evacuate.