Second Week #evomc16

Second Week #evomc16

Today was the first day of the second week.  I attended an online forum about the possibilities for using Minecraft in education.  One of the points made in the presentation is that students are working at home with sophisticated Internet technology to create and build, and, in comparison, school textbooks, worksheets, group work and classroom videos are dull.  I think about the second-grade ELL who told me all he knew about volcanos, lava and obsidian but would not write about his personal scientific interests.  My reaction at the time was all about BICS and CALP, but after this morning's presentation I wonder if he was just bored and wanted to go home to Minecraft.  I hope that this MOOC  will help me to better comprehend such moments  and find a way to connect Minecraft with paper and pencil work.

I think I am spending too much time trying to figure out the basics and that I am doing something wrong.  My understanding was that in creative mode you can build anything your imagination conjures, but I can only punch holes and chop down trees.  If I go for a walk, I collect things I don't even want, like rotten flesh, apples and oak saplings.  They just show up in my inventory.  I tried to give a horse the apple, and I think I killed it.   I can't figure out how build.  And I get really anxious in the MOOC server because all I can do is fly and punch holes.

Actually, I can do more than fly and punch holes; I can walk forward, backward, left and right.  I can change perspective so that I am looking at my person from the front or back.  Today, he got caught in a hailstorm and looked miserable.  I was truly upset that I could not build him shelter.  I didn't even think of flying back to the MOOC-built structures.  So this week is figuring out how to build in my solitary creative world and then transferring those skills to the MOOC.