Minecraft Day 8 - 1 August

I have managed to extend the Kiwiana Project for another day, into Term 3. I sent letters to the parents of the students involved, asking if they are happy to allow their child to continue for another 6 sessions (I will be away overseas on holiday after that) - we will see how many are returned before next week's session, but many came back signed, the very next day after being handed out. I have also checked with the four classroom teachers of these students, and they are supportive of the project and losing their students for an hour a week for a little longer. Aren't they amazing!

The students are VERY excited at the prospect of being able to continue, because they know that I had originally intended to start a new group this term. I do have a lot of students asking if it's too late to be involved, but I only have the 13 spare MinecraftEDU licenses... I'm considering carrying on after school, one day per week - but it's a toss-up between Minecraft, and robotics! Decisions, decisions...

But we really need to wind up this particular project. So, although there was heaps of work to do, it's time to move on and I left the students to get on with the job while I took each Team out to record a tour and commentary through their section of the Theme Park. We got three of these completed (using Quicktime Player's record screen feature), and will do the final one (L & Pixels - the senior students) next week when the younger students will be away at a sporting event for the day.

One student from each team was asked to do the narration, others pitching in if they liked, and taking turns navigating 'me' through what they had made. I will publish these in subsequent posts. On the whole they were pretty good, and the students were keen to 'show me around'. Often they realised that there were things unfinished, and you will notice that the roller coasters weren't working very reliably.... Don't look too closely at the spelling on many of the signs; there wasn't a spell checker - so it's authentic!

I found it interesting to listen to the description of some of the Kiwiana features and 'props' in their projects, and to realise that their understanding about their country and what Kiwiana really is, was not as strong as I had expected. Perhaps they were more interested in the Minecraft and the rollercoasters they could make, after all it was pretty exciting to be using this at school. I think I'll tighten this sort of thing up in future projects...

There didn't seem to be any disagreements today, or at least not while I was in the room! There were lots of requests for Villagers to be allowed, but as they apparently might get in the way, I requested they be added at the end. However, during the tours, we did notice a few sheep had escaped from their pens; a pig appeared and was promptly killed...; a couple of dogs mysteriously appeared in one area (surprising the narrator at the time); and a similar situation occurred with some villagers.... Say no more!

I returned at the end, about 10 minutes before pack-up time, to find a group of VERY happy students, totally engrossed in (apparently) blowing up a wall in one team's building area - all allowed because the team had decided they didn't need something. (Where did that TNT come from..?! There was a look of sheer delight on their faces at this opportunity for legal demolition! It made me smile too :-)

Next week, we'll record the senior team's work, and I will discuss with them the next project, which will have to be short, and will be based on farming (in Survival mode - after many requests, although some are now expressing concern that they may not survive...). It'll be interesting to see if there is more collaboration this way! I also want them to enjoy the MinecraftEDU Tutorial - I hope there's time for all of this!