We recommend using the library of lesson plans that Minecraft Education offers its community, and we will help you post these lessons on our site. These lesson plans are also available in the Class Resources area of the Minecraft Education website. The only stipulation is that the Next Generation standards for Math, ELA, and Science lessons must be included. You are also able to modify them to suit your teaching style, timeframe, and your needs in teaching the standards that apply to the lesson.
Creating Lessons
EduMEE is currently only using the premade courses provided to teachers after they become Minecraft Certified. We have over 90 and are adding more in the future. Teachers are able to choose up to 5 classes to post to the site. The curriculum can be used as-is or modified but must have the same basic structure.
Here is a checklist of things you’ll need to create your lesson.
- Photos
- Title
- Short Description
- Student Ages(6-7, 8-10, 11-14, 15-18 etc.)
- Subject
- Skills
- Lesson Language
- Learning Objectives
- Standards
- Guiding Ideas and Questions
- Student Activities
- Performance Expectations
- External References
- Supporting Files
Lessons can be recorded in the Teacher’s Notebook in Teams. This is a OneNote application available in the Teacher’s Teams. The outline is already there for you. You can also use the Teacher Only section in the Class Notebook of any class you are teaching.
Photos
We provide a standard photo, but the best way to make your lesson stand out to others is to provide screenshots within your Minecraft-based lesson world. You must have at least one photo, but you can submit up to ten to display the fun students will have in your World.
Tips to try
- Using Creative Mode, hit SPACE and fly above your world to take a picture with in-game tools or a screenshot utility
- Experiment with different times of day(in Minecraft), if appropriate to your world
- Removing the heads-up display (HUD) with F1 can help with a clear picture.
- Lighting can come from a variety of resources within the Minecraft world. Try being creative with lighting in your world for different results.
- If you have connected lessons in a series, you may want to use similar images to signify they belong together, but it is not required.
Things to avoid
- Lots of text in your image – because of the way images scale on various devices, your text may be unreadable at certain resolutions
- Default images
- Low contrast images
Title
We give you a Title, but please try and create your own to make your lesson more interesting. Do Not use all caps or icons/emojis. Titles should be specific, easy to understand, and simple.
Short Description
The description field is kept deliberately short but should not just be the first part of your introduction repeated. It is only seen one time so first impressions are important.
Tips to try
- Use active verbs, for example: “Explore, create, & sustain life on an alien planet”
- You can also try asking a question that is answered by the lesson, such as “Waking up in a strange world, can you breakout?”
- Are you finding it difficult to edit your description down to the allotted characters? Try answering the following question: “If I wanted to tell people on social media (Twitter, Facebook) about my lesson, how would I accomplish this in a short, accurate, and exciting way?” This works because on social media because the limits are quite strict.
Things to avoid
- Phrases like “in this lesson”
- Abbreviations, slang, and other jargon (whenever possible)
Introduction
Think of this area as a longer description, designed for people who have already clicked through to view your lesson. You can make a reinforcing statement about your lesson (like in “Climate Change”) or go in-depth to elaborate your original short description, for example:
Short description: Explore and create stories in The Badlands
Introduction: Students can explore the rich story setting and use it as a platform on which to build and develop their own characters, settings, and events.
(example from: The Baddlands, Simon Baddeley)
Student Ages
You can click more than one box here, but if you find yourself checking all the boxes, perhaps consider using “all ages” instead.
Subjects
You can select up to a maximum of three subject areas.
Learning Objectives
A well-defined learning objective defines the rest of the activity. You can add as many as you need.
Guiding Ideas and Questions
Providing guiding ideas and questions helps provide context for the lesson.
Student Activities
This section is designed to outline the exact steps needed by students to meet the learning objectives. Student Activities should also demonstrate or suggest how to use Minecraft to achieve these objectives, and often refer to the supporting files area of the lesson.
Performance Expectations
- How will you measure student success?
- What standards are used to know if the learning objectives are met?
Example Assessment for the activity:
Exceeds expectations
Student was on task and completed all activities inside the world. Student explored places in the world outside of the checklist and learned additional skills or features to share with others.
Meets expectations
Student was on task and completed all activities inside the world. Student helped others when appropriate.
Approaching expectations
Student was mostly on task or completed almost all activities inside the world. Student demonstrated a basic knowledge of Minecraft by the end of the lesson.
Needs modification
Student was off task or did not complete the activities inside the world. Student did not demonstrate a basic knowledge of Minecraft by the end of the lesson.
External References
If you have websites or videos that support your lesson, these would be a good place to link those.
Supporting Files
This would include things like .mcworlds (these should be placed in ZIP files), PDFs, and documents. You will not make these available until students begin class.
