English Educraft is my name for the use of Minecraft in English classrooms. I learned how to play Minecraft during my freshman year of college and haven’t stopped playing it since. As an upperclassman, I stumbled across the fact that teachers use Minecraft in their classrooms, and I began brainstorming how I could combine my passion for the game with my career. This idea ballooned into creating an independent study at my university, a YouTube channel, a Minecraft Educator Certification, and this website.
College English Independent Study
- My Fall 2017 Syllabus
- English Educraft Needs Analysis:
- Very little content and sources for secondary-level teachers
- Very little content for English teachers
- Most English content involves narratives, though some reference the informational texts like wikis
- It is difficult to find content ideas (scattered articles/posts)
- It is nearly impossible to find many pre-built worlds/game downloads
- Lesson plans are hard to find, though standards alignment was found
- Most content is based in countries outside the USA (Canada, Australia, Sweden, and Ireland)
- Those who have pulled Minecraft into the English education world have disappeared in the last few years. Blogs have not been updated and the official website lacks recent English lessons and discussion. The only remaining active source might be #MinecraftEDU Twitter chat.
- A series of YouTube searches came up with little information on this topic.
What is a Minecraft Educator?
What secondary English lessons have been developed for Minecraft?
- Community Lesson Plans
- My Lesson Plans (More coming soon!)
- Writing Unit – Ender Dragon
- Poetry Unit – The “End Poem”
- Station Rotations Ideas for Reading and Writing