Sunday, March 13, 2016

#learningisjoyful with Minecraft

#learningisjoyful


A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a few third grade boys talking about Minecraft in the cafeteria.  I was really intrigued and decided to ask them a few questions.  They were soooo excited to tell me about Minecraft that I invited them to have lunch with me in my office to learn more about it.  Minecraft has been around for a few years but the educational experiences that come from experiencing Minecraft seem to be gaining new life. I’ve always wanted to learn more about it so I figured why not have the experts in the field teach me.  Yes, these third graders are experts and passionate about Minecraft.  Their vivid language, vocabulary and examples of how to play the game went way beyond what I could master in one setting, I was in awe and as a result, we have decided to meet once a week so they can continue to teach me.  The only problem is that it started off with four boys, but a few more boys heard about it as well as a few girls. What started off as a small lunch club has the potential to grow into something amazing! What a great problem to have...I just have to figure out how to make it work!

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What are your students passionate about?  Have you taken the time to ask them about their favorite joyful learning experiences?  Remember - you do not need to be an expert in everything- what can you learn from the experts in your class?  



2 comments:

Unknown said...

When I was a kid, I was passionate about monster movies. So, thanks to Mr. Kreuser, I was allowed to write a LONG series of novels that starred The Hand.

The Hand was sometimes good but, to be honest, was mostly bad. Like serial killer bad. I learned sentence structure from that.

My HS newspaper advisor owed a debt to my 5th grade teacher

Ali Collins said...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this post! My daughters are addicted to Minecraft. Talking with them not only shows them that I value what they care about, I am learning about some of the amazing learning opportunities out there via technology. Thanks for writing this! I will share it with other great teachers I know in the hopes that it will inspire them to ask students to share their expertise in subjects they are passionate about .