Here, both teacher and students can explore Minecraft in a relaxed environment without the pressures and challenges normally found in a classroom setting. I find a perfect place to start is an after-school or lunch-time club. Whenever I try something new, I try, where possible, to pilot it with a small group first. Once a new day has dawned, in Minecraft a day equates to roughly 20 minutes, stop the students and ask them to write about what they did, how they felt and describe what they saw. Simply ask students to launch Minecraft: Education Edition, create a new world in survival mode and challenge them to survive their first night. Best of all, it’s quick and easy to setup and requires very little experience of Minecraft from the teacher or the student. Because Minecraft is truly immersive, students are provided with auditory and visual cues to help them with their writing. One of the biggest challenges I find with students is that they find it difficult to write about things they haven’t experienced. Survival mode, I find, is great for supporting literacy such as creative or descriptive writing tasks – it’s also great for encouraging reluctant writers. In survival mode, as the name suggests, players have to survive by foraging for food, building rudimentary shelters and avoiding the plethora of monsters and creatures out to get them. One often overlooked feature but an ‘easy win’ when using Minecraft in Education is survival mode. The way I see it, there are three ways to use Minecraft in the classroom – Creative, exploration, and survival mode. If you can’t find a lesson suited to your needs, you could try finding a similar lesson and adapt it yourself. The starter kit includes training videos, sample lessons, starter worlds, and links to other Minecraft educators, to make your Minecraft journey as smooth as possible. As well as a plethora of lessons, you will also find a useful starter kit. Here you will find hundreds of lessons, created by teachers for teachers, spanning every phase from primary to secondary and all searchable by subject and age. One of the easiest ways to get started is to download a lesson from the Minecraft: Education Edition resource page. Minecraft Education Edition resource bank With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of simple tips and tricks that have helped me along my Minecraft journey and that may hopefully help others too! Getting started A question I often get asked by teachers is, “What’s the easiest way to get started with Minecraft?” Obviously, the answer to that question depends a lot on the desired outcomes, the teacher’s previous experience and how much time they are willing to invest.
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