Comments on: What Is The Effect Of Using Minecraft As A Descriptive Writing Prompt?

By: davedodgson

davedodgson — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 17:13:25 +0000

I have also made extensive use of Minecraft with EAL students and I agree with a lot of what you are saying here: the context of the world they have created provides a great backdrop for descriptive writing, but they also need guidance and encouragement to go beyond the literal and get more creative with their choice of words.

The only point I would disagree with is the following: “they were free to look at their worlds on their iPads – BUT NOT PLAY OR CREATE ANYTHING ELSE!”

For my students, the ability to revisit and add to their worlds while writing was a key part of the process. Just as they needed to plan, draft, reflect on and redraft their texts, they needed to do the same with their gameworlds. At times, a small dose of writer’s block could be overcome by making some adjustments to their creations. At others, their writing inspired them to go and change something in the game – a powerful moment and certainly one worth pursuing.

If you don’t mind, I’m sharing a couple of links to my own posts about using Minecraft:

http://eltsandbox.weebly.com/blog/why-minecraft-may-well-be-one-of-the-best-games-for-language-learning

http://eltsandbox.weebly.com/blog/storycraft-using-the-world-of-minecraft-as-inspiration-for-writing

And this one that fits the theme of ‘edtech4beginners’ nicely 😉

http://eltsandbox.weebly.com/blog/-learning-to-learn-with-minecraft-dgbl-elt-lesson-plan

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By: Neil Jarrett

Neil Jarrett — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 06:34:14 +0000

In reply to Kathleen R.

Really interesting ideas Kathleen. I’m lucky; all my students play Minecraft and are very skilled at it. They’re actually the one’s who teach me!

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By: Kathleen R

Kathleen R — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 06:31:08 +0000

I have wanted to use Minecraft for a while. But the logistics of it have been difficult. The elementary has a Minecraft server, but we don’t have one set up for middle level. I have always thought building a Sumerian city state in grade 6 would be amazing. Can students show understanding of why they developed the way that they did by creating one in Minecraft? I also teach an online class for Genocide and Human Rights. I thought it would be cool for the kids to design a monument to a Genocide, then the students could create tour screencast highlighting the elements they included to represent what happened. Since very few of my online students had ever heard of Minecraft, I was afraid that the time to learn how to navigate Minecraft and the amount of money it would cost for the mobile app would limit their ability to complete the project. I will keep trying though. I think it has great potential.

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By: Neil Jarrett

Neil Jarrett — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 09:38:19 +0000

In reply to Roz Artist.

Thanks Roz, definitely going to explore Minecraft more ☺

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By: Roz Artist

Roz Artist — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 09:34:04 +0000

With the children being quite literal as per the last example, this gives you the perfect opportunity to edit and improve! Photocopy work and ask them to ‘drop in’ adjectives, similes, personification etc! It seems like you have the perfect skeleton to now add flesh too! Sorry for the gruesome metaphor!

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