Teaching with Minecraft - Literature explorations

Teaching with Minecraft - Literature Reflections

In my previous post, I suggested the Minecraft could be used to encourage reluctant writers -- utilizing the creation of an  'Adventure Map'  as the 'hook'. In this post, I am going to continue that theme but in a slightly different direction. Still using the device of the 'Adventure Map' and the student's creation of his/her own personal map, I am going to explore a different, though related area of language arts -- that of literature and reading comprehension.

I know that many teachers and parents are interested and concerned with the materials their students read. They want to be able to encourage and assess the quality and comprehension of the materials that their students are imbibing.  I found the following rubric for assessing reading comprehension here:   As I see it, this is yet another place where Minecraft -- and more particularly -- the Adventure Map -- can be of use

(I have also created my own rough rubric which can be foundhere at Dropbox. I will be tweaking it as I use it, of course and will update it as I go. If you do not use Dropbox but would like a copy of the rubric, please let me know.)

How can Adventure Maps be used as a Reading Comprehension assessment tool? Let me provide an example:

Currently my sons and I are reading the next in the 'Lost Hero' series by Rick Riordan. Anyone who follows Riordan knows of the Percy Jackson series -- Greek Demigods in the modern world battling to protect this world against the forces of Evil. In the second part of the series, Riordan introduces Roman Demigods who are attempting a similar feat -- and who have an historical antipathy to their Greek counterparts that must be overcome if success is to be achieved. Each book in the series is wonderfully full of descriptions -- descriptions of the places that the Demigods travel and the challenges that they face.  It occurred to me today, as we were reading the most recent book, 'The House of Hades', that the books were chock full of material for Adventure maps. I ran the idea past my eldest son... He agreed, though, he pointed out to me, that 'You'd have to really know the book and pay close attention to what you were doing when you created the map because people who liked the books and who played your map would be real quick to notice mistakes!'  -- AHA!  Eureka!  If a student has read and paid attention to the details of the book they will be able to reproduce that knowledge in the creation of an exacting Adventure map... one which they will be willing to share with a wide audience. 

To be truly successful at creating an adventure map from a beloved book, a map maker would have to do two things (1) include specific details from the book being careful not use them casually or out of order/ out of place (2)create options for the player(s) that allow for interactions with the map while moving them toward the conclusion. To be able to achieve both of these goals requires a strong grasp of the story and its basic elements. The student may need to return to book over and over again, to refresh, relearn, re-investigate the material.

Once the student is fully engaged in the map creation process, the teacher could then go back through the writing process that the student has to follow and ask questions:  Why is this here? What does that do? Why are you using Redstone here? What is the lava for? Are you spawning mobs? Why? Why not? Is this set on survival? Is it set in the Nether? 

These questions do require a certain knowledge/vocabulary of the game but that knowledge is one that the students will be more than happy to help you acquire. One of the best parts of teaching with Minecraft lies in the fact that because your students have a chance to teach you, they see you as engaged in their learning, they see you as a partner and are more willing to work toward a shared goal. The challenges that you pose them become a positive goal rather than something negative.

At the moment, I am writing up my own list of Literature related Minecraft map challenges. I shall run them by my sons, to see which ones interest them. They will, no doubt, surprise me. When we have something solidly underway, I will return and post pictures. Meanwhile, I, myself, am going to attempt to build a Hobbit town. Why? Well, in all honesty, because I want to build a REAL set of small hobbit houses out in the back woods of my home and building them in Minecraft seems to me a good first step...