Black History Month Build
On Friday in February, the staff was inundated with sickness, and we had several teachers out. I received word that I would need to cover a 7th-grade class all day, and as it turned out, there were no lesson plans left. This was unusual. A teacher came by and left me with 4 copies of six renowned individuals that related directly to black history. I do not remember who they were other than they were scientists, inventors, and political figures who made important contributions to their fields of study.
I saw this as an opportunity to try something new and add a Minecraft-building component to this assignment. After a 5-minute brainstorming session, I decided to use some building plates I had created for students to make their build on. Most of the students were very engaged.
Task: Students were to read the write-up about the figure in their possession and think of a structure they could make to represent that person’s contributions.
Materials: Students laptop, one-page write-up from prominent figure in Black history.
Time: 45 minutes
Set up: students were encouraged to work independently however, teams of two were allowed if they finished their own build
Challenges:
- Only 10 Minutes of prep,
- 7th graders see Minecraft as a kid’s game, something beneath them.
What worked well
- When I first introduced the lesson, I did not tell them this was going to be done in Minecraft. Rather, I told them they needed to read the article, answer the questions on the worksheet, think of a structure or item that would represent that person, and make that structure in Minecraft. Presenting the assignment as a Minecraft build as an intentional afterthought increased the students’ buy-in.
- Telling the students I would be taking in-game pictures of their build and sending them to their teacher.
Reflection: This went well. Most of the students got into the building. There were a few students who were disinterested and not engaged. However, it was a Friday with a sub (for the third day in a row), so given that, it went well. I took some in-game pictures and sent them to the teacher, and I thought a few of the other teachers would be interested. The principal took notice and mentioned the extension in her weekly newsletter.
Student Examples of the Building task
