Minecraft Friends

I have found such a community in Minecraft.

It’s so great to log in and be greeted! And it’s so awesome to see how our world has grown.

Recently, I popped my head out of my house to find that an amazing railroad had been built. So I followed it and ran into others. I helped mine. I found my coordinates. I stayed alive.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This has been one of my goals as an ELL teacher in my district. We are always worrying about the academics. And we don’t worry as much about the community that our students really need to develop to keep them in school. To keep them coming back.

It’s a big problem in high school.

This year, we have lost about 10 students who have dropped out or are so close that it just seems it’s a matter of time.

With Minecraft, though, I could see reeling some of those kiddos back in. I could see crossing the language subgroup divisions. I could see the native English speakers popping up out of their chairs to help an ELL student learn something new in Minecraft as they move to a new mission.

I’m working to find out if I can make this happen in my district–before the new MinecraftEDU edition comes out.

I’ll have to come up with money.

I’ll have to get permission to use the server.

But I think this could be good. Really good.

Can I find ways to fit it into the curriculum? Yeah. Probably. By doing all sorts of calisthenics. But what would make more sense to me is to create an online and real-life community of people who just hang out and help. Like BardRose and MrsGeilin and all the Beths have done with me.

It’s been glorious.