Sunday 19 August 2018

Minecraft Lessons and Supporting Teachers

Recently as part of my role, I have been scouring the internet and going through lessons in all subject areas across all year levels and trying to find high quality lessons that teachers can just pick up and run with. This is way harder than I would like it to be, many lessons available are just roughly sketched out ideas, without a great deal of support for teachers who are new, or even old hands at teaching in Minecraft.

That is not to say that these lessons are not valuable, I am sure they were fantastic when (if?) they were run in the teachers classroom that published that lesson online, however, in my opinion there is still a lot of key information missing that would support teachers both new and old to run these kinds of activities in their classroom. If I am going to re-scope or create resources for these published lessons to make them a viable option for new teachers here, I might as well design one from scratch and make it work for my teachers and our local curriculum as the amount of work for both options is pretty much the same.

So here is what I think every 'published' Minecraft lesson should have, in no particular order, to support teachers to run these lessons in their classroom, and by published I don't mean formally, I mean in any way accessible online as a 'lesson' and not an idea.

1) A script, seriously, a blow by blow introduction as to what should be said, what sorts of answers to expect from the students, and any key information that needs to be given. I have done this in the past for Sheep Probability, however, no matter how hard I look I cannot find that original script, but it is something that I am in the process of going through all of my own lessons and adding in before I make them public. It doesn't have to be word perfect and 'say this, then say that' kind of script, but should definitely include suggestions of discussion topics, expected answers and any verbal instructions for students to get started.

2) Outcomes, make it clear what outcomes you think this lesson should cover, it doesn't have to be set in stone, but at least suggest what it covered in your class when you taught it the way you designed it. It doesn't really matter what 'curriculum' you use to base your outcomes on, teachers are great at converting curriculum from around the world to their own. In all my lessons, before running them, I knew what outcomes I was expecting from the students, of course as it happened in the classroom there were some that surprised me, and I made sure to note down what students demonstrated for future reference. Remember, you designed the task and other people are not in your head, so the more information you can provide to support their understanding of your plan, the better.

3) A world, a well thought out, designed for students AND teachers, world. All game settings dialed in correctly, ready to just pick up and run. This takes time, testing and then more time, especially if your lesson has specific needs, but that is time you, the expert in your lesson, can put in and not every other teacher trying to run it has to. In all the lessons I currently have in development, I have been working on putting in "Teacher Control" platforms, where, alongside my teacher step by step instructions, they can just 'get things started' with the press of a button. Don't use 'seeds' to tell people what worlds to use, world generation changes sometimes, and doesn't carry between different platforms very well, which makes these seeds useless and confusing in the future.

4) Suggest the teacher run through it by themselves first, this is something you have no control over, but a suggestion from what they are perceiving as an expert (or at least expert enough to try your lesson) is valuable, and likely to be taken on board. When I tried this years ago with Shane, to pick up and run a lesson he created in my own classroom, without going through it before hand, it would have been an absolute disaster and turned me off using any others' lessons ever again if it wasn't for my own knowledge and experience in teaching in Minecraft. So take the opportunity, whether you are releasing, or exploring others' lessons, run through it as a teacher with no experience may, try to go back in time to when you just began, and see whether it would work for you back then or not and adjust accordingly.

5) A student worksheet, at an appropriate level. I have written worksheets for my own students level, and I am not thinking that you should do anything other than that, however that worksheet or student instructions are very important to a beginning teacher. They not only show the teacher the steps that students will go through during the lesson, but can also be used support the students to reach the outcomes. Students move through the lesson at different speeds, we all know that, and having instructions in game is great, but can sometimes be missed in the excitement of the moment. So having the instructions for each activity clear and accessible is a brilliant idea and supports the teacher with minimal stress of students being in multiple stages of the lesson at the same time.

6) Step by step instructions for the teacher explicitly outlining each activity you expect students to do in the classroom. This is kind of an extension to number 5, and the same instructions may be used in parts, but teacher comfort is a key here, make it specific to them, and provide tips and suggestions along the way about discussion points, or places where students may need extra support from your own experiences.

7) Have reflection ideas and suggestions built in. Minecraft does not teach, I still firmly believe this. Using Minecraft in a classroom does not change the role of the teacher, it is still their role to 'direct' the learning, assess the outcomes and discuss the learning with students and then of course plan the next steps. A big part of using Minecraft in my classroom was as a discussion starter, taking what students had done in the Minecraft activity and then talking about it, in depth, and reflecting on what they learned along the way, how it related to the real world, or what it meant for them in context. So make sure you include opportunities for the students to reflect, or the teacher to lead discussions to support students understanding, and explicitly list these for the teacher.

8) Make sure it has been play tested with students. This is perhaps the most important thing to have done. An idea is just an idea, until it becomes a reality by running it in a classroom. There is no value in putting a lesson out there as 'good to go' if it has never been tried in a classroom to see if it is viable. You may also find that your idea is much more powerful, or less, than you initially thought. Having students go through it, even if only informally at lunchtime, is a supremely rewarding experience, and also the ideal way to ensure your lesson is ready for other teachers and students.

So I guess one thing that needs to be discussed is, when does something stop being an idea and start being a lesson. I think it is at the point where the creator says it will support others to run this in their own classroom. So, if you release something and espouse how wonderful it is at supporting teachers to use Minecraft in their classroom, take that step back in time, to when you were just beginning, or go out and find someone to test it as it stands, then take another look before hitting 'publish' and making it a lesson, rather than an idea.

Why am I ranting about this now? There is a growing 'movement' in Minecraft and education, which means that there are many more teachers than ever before looking to get started. The last thing we want to do, is destroy their confidence, or give them a terrible experience in their classrooms. Those of us that are content creators, particularly for the education side of things, need to step up, and support these newcomers properly so that the whole community can move forward and push education and Minecraft beyond the current position it is in.

Thanks as always for reading, there may be some follow up posts with examples and more suggestions, as I feel this is an important enough topic to warrant more in-depth exploration. If you have any comments, please feel free to drop them below.

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