A Brief Guide to the "Minecraft Generation"

My nerdy past has proven its worth in my professional life. Well, sort of...

Being a young first year teacher has plenty of perks, one being that I have some of the same interests and hobbies as my students. An interesting connection I have with a lot of the kids is the fact that I thoroughly enjoy video games. Who knew it would bode well for me in my career.

One example of this is whenever a student brings up a video game reference during one of their mid-class "tangents", they are often left wide-eyed and speechless when I'm able to spew it right back at them. It makes for a great transition back into the lesson when I can get on their level, surprise them enough to be quiet, then brush it off as if it never happened. Example:

Mr. E: "Who can clap this rhythm for me?"

*Hand raises*

Student: "Last night in Minecraft, I built a castle around a zombie and called him King Zombie II."

*Everyone laughs*

Mr. E: "That's pretty cool, but you have to watch out for those Creepers. They'll blow up your castle in a heartbeat, unless of course you're on peaceful mode."

Student: "...You... You've played Minecraft before?"

Mr. E: "(Student's name), I've been playing video games since before you were born. You think you can out game me?"

*Silence*

Mr. E: "Now, who can clap this rhythm for me?"

It absolutely pays to know your audience.

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To understand the "Minecraft Generation", first you must know what Minecraft is...

 In my college days, my roommates and I found this game online where you could build anything you wanted using blocks and tools. You run around a huge world of dirt, water, rock, and sand to create whatever your heart desires, whether it be a small hole in the ground or a magnificent stone and steel metropolis.  We had many late nights of digging huge tunnels and building massive fortresses, all only for the mere pleasure of saying we made it. It seems like such a basic level of entertainment, but man was it addicting. We eventually moved on to bigger and better things, such as homework and social interaction with real people, but we were definitely happy with the experience.

Now try to picture finding a game like this when you were 6 years old.

Your life has been all sunshine and lollipops since the day you were born; waking up, playing with toys, eating, and sleeping. Then, the ever-restricting world begins to bear down on you. All of the sudden, you have to go to school, do work, pay attention, sit criss-cross applesauce, come home, deal with siblings, go to bed, and repeat. Real life is setting in, and it won't be long until you're sitting in office cubical, coffee mug in hand, doing insurance reports for Nationwide.

But not in Minecraft.

In this block-ridden world, there are no rules. There is no annoying little sister who wants to join you on the playground. There's no one to tell you what to do or to sit up straight. You can do anything. You can be anything. You can BUILD anything. It's a universe of unlimited possibility, and it's all yours (at least until bedtime).

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It's really interesting to be on this side of the conversations. Being the one that should be "too old to understand the references" isn't what I'm used to. However, that just makes it all the more surprising to them when I DO understand the references. Something that has been astounding to me has been its play in building some of these relationships with my kids, especially ones that I've had trouble connecting with in the conventional ways.

One student in particular sticks out.

Ever since the first week of school, this kid had been a bit of a troublesome student. Speaking out in class, not staying in his spot, wandering around, and distracting others were his talents. He always managed to steal the lesson and pull all the attention onto him. I was so confused as to why he was doing it at first, let alone how to stop it from happening.

After one particularly rough day, I asked him to stay after class so we could talk.

We had the basic "What were you doing, how can you do it better next time" reflection, which he met with his typical eye-rolling response. I offered to walk him back down to class because I had to get ready for my next set of lessons. He hesitantly nodded and slowly drudged behind me.

Trying to make some friendly conversation on the somewhat awkward walk down the stairs, I asked...

Mr. E:"So, are you doing anything fun after school?"

Student:"Probably just playing Minecraft."
  
Mr. E:"Cool man! I've played Minecraft before. Pretty awesome game."

Student:"...You... You've played Minecraft before?"

Bingo.

The rest of the walk down was a nonstop discussion about his latest adventure. I don't even think I heard a breath between his bouts of excited explanations. Surprised by his instant change in personality, I smiled and and nodded politely all the way back to class. When we got to the room, I talked to him once again about sitting quiet in the room and not distracting others. He held out his hand to shake mine, surprising me once again with his sudden shift. I extended my hand and sealed the deal.

I didn't fully understand the significance of this short conversation until I saw him again the next day in class. Not only was he sitting in his spot, but when everyone else was going crazy in his class, he was one of the only ones that was cool, calm, and collected. When their teacher came to pick them up, he came up to me, extended his hand to me and asked, "can you walk me down again today?" I was speechless, but managed to smile and take his hand.

This has now been going on for a few weeks, and only seems to be getting better.

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It's really amazing to see what actually motivates people, especially kids. Whether it be with prizes, lots and lots of candy, recognition, or just a little one-on-one attention. Over the course of the school year so far, I've gotten to know a lot of my 800 kids, but it's experiences like this that tell me learning about them will never be finished. They grow and change a little bit more every time I see them.

We as teachers may not get a lot of money. We may not always get a lot of thank you's. But something we do get is the pleasure to witness change in these kids, and maybe, just maybe, be the reason they grow up a little more.


Let that be my paycheck.


♩♩for now,

Mr. E

Like Wildfire

6 year olds are the funniest people in the world.

One thing that comes with teaching K-5 students is an abundance of hilarious kid stories. The weird, unexpected comments that come out of these kids mouths and imaginations is one of the best parts of this job, and it happens pretty much every day. I could ask a simple question, such as "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" 10 hands shoot up, and at least 6 of them are stories about their cat, brother, or friend who "had ice cream once."

There's no way of knowing when one of these tangents will arise, and once it does, it's like wildfire.

"I like chocolate ice cream!"

*hand raises*

"I have a chocolate lab, his name is Gary."

*hand raises*

"I have an Uncle Gary, his name is Gary!"

*hand raises*

"I have a dog. He pooped on our floor once."

*ALL hands raise*
*Teacher face-palm*


Normally, tangents can be traced back to the original idea (i.e. dog, Gary, chocolate lab, chocolate ice cream). This implies that these kiddos think on a linear, connecting path leading to "my dog pooped on the floor," which is not always the case. Sometimes, it takes no provocation at all. I could be in the middle of my lesson, engaging the students and keeping the plates spinning, when suddenly...

"I want to go to Disneyland!"

*ALL hands raise*
*Teacher face-palm*

 _________________________

As detrimental as it is to learning, I can't help but start a soft slow clap to their ability to make it through the day with all of this going on in their heads. I can only imagine what runs through their mind, even in just a span of a half-hour class. Focusing on anything for more than a minute is a dream come true, which is why you must keep the kids moving as FAST as possible at all times. My elementary mentor teacher taught me an awesome trick, which has proven itself to be useful almost every day so far.

"Stand up! Look at the ceiling! touch your nose! touch your ear! look at the floor! close your eyes! open them! Sing this song!"

If you're one step ahead of them, they're always playing catch-up. That's how it should be, not the other way around.

Mrs. J, you're a genius.  :-)
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When you hang around people your own age or older for so long (college), you tend to forget what goes on in the fun and imagination-driven minds of small kiddos at any given time.

As an elementary music teacher, I get to see their creativity blossom at an all time high every time they walk in. Not a lot of people get to experience this on a daily basis. For that, I hardly see it as detrimental. We may momentarily lose momentum in the lesson, but it's a small price to pay for laughter, and more importantly, a reminder to be zany, creative, and open-minded.


Amazing what the kids can teach us sometimes...

 _________________________


Fellow teachers that may be reading my blog (all 2 of you), if YOU have a favorite kid tangent story, go ahead a leave a comment telling your experience. Until next time...


♩♩for now,

Mr. E

"They Call Me Mr. Etch-a-Sketch"

"Hey everyone! I'm starting a blog to talk about my first year of teaching! I'll have plenty of time to write in between the lesson plans, and the memorizing of songs, and the choir directing, and the arranging, and the paperwork, and the emailing, and the..."

Turns out, I don't have any time on my hands.

I know, I know, I know. It's been almost a whole month since my last post. Those of you that have been waiting, I'm sorry for the lack of updating. However, considering I only know a handful of people who actually read the first post, I feel like the audience (or lack there of) has been managing just fine. Since a lot of you haven't heard from me in a while, I'll try to sum of the past few weeks in just a few short words:

I couldn't be happier.

This job is amazing. From the kids with their Avengers lunchboxes to those who need their shoes tied every 5 minutes, working with these bundles of joy (and of energy) has been more than a delight. It may sound simple: the kids walk in, I put on my show, I make sure they learned something, the kids walk out. But there is so much more to it that I didn't even know or feel until I was the man in charge. Every job has it's drawbacks of course, but the good FAR outweighs the bad.

This year has started in a dead sprint. When you have two schools worth of student names to learn, and two sets of lessons plans to write each week, it's hard to just sit down and relax, let alone share your experiences with the world. Hell, I can barely enjoy some downtime without thinking "I need to learn a new folk song," or "how do I keep the kids from throwing me out the window tomorrow?"
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To be honest, it's all going so much better than I thought it would. I'm learning, forgetting, and relearning names at a record pace. My name has changed from "Mr. Edgeton" to "Mr. Edgingtonian", to "Mr. Etch-a-sketch", to "Mrs. Edgeton", to "Mr. E" for ease and sanity's sake. After a few experiences of late night planning sessions, I'm finding a more efficient way to write lessons (turning off the TV and resisting Facebook visits). Finally, the most shocking realization...

The kids are actually learning and retaining what I'm teaching them.

It blows my mind. I've had time teaching students during my college years, but never got to see the end result. I've been in front of classes making an idiot of myself through silly dancing and speaking almost 2 octaves higher than my original voice, but never got to the real meat of the lesson in one half-hour session. Even during student teaching, I felt as if I couldn't take full credit for their accomplishments because I felt my mentor teacher played bigger roles in their success.

As the runner of the show, I feel like I'm actually doing something. I'm helping students learn about something that they've most-likely never experienced before, and maybe won't again after elementary school. I feel like I'm not just giving them another half hour of 'in one ear, out the other', but actually making a difference. Seeing these students achieve, grow, and learn right in front of me is new. It's different.

It's awesome.
__________________________

Now that I've used half my planning time as blog time, I better get back to work if I want to get any sleep tonight. Keep on keepin' on, and until next time...

♩♩for now,

Mr. E

There's a First Time for Everything

It's everyone's favorite time of year. Parents are buying their kids new Despicable Me Minion backpacks, Spider-Man Velcro light up shoes, and holographic Hello Kitty binders. Young learners are slowly but surely waving goodbye to video games and wacky sleep schedules to welcome textbooks and whiteboards back into their daily lives.

But this year, there's a major difference. This year, I'm on the other side of the desks. I'm no longer staring blankly at my notes or texting in the back. I'm the one running the show. Me, in a room, with 25 kindergartners, alone.

First thoughts? These kids are going to eat me alive...

The closer I get to the first day of school, the more relaxed I become with the idea of me as the teacher. It's not as if I've never been in charge of creating a lesson or snapping at Jimmy in the back to stop picking his nose. I've read the books, I've done the homework, I've managed the misbehaviors. The only thing that hits me hard is that this is the real deal.

I'm a teacher. I'm actually a teacher.

I'm starting this blog to not only share my experiences with other people, but to also reflect. I want to be the best teacher I can be, and in order to do that I need to be able to understand when I've done something stupid or ineffective. It's takes thinking about it again, really diving into my lesson and figuring out what I can do better, to improve.

I'm a slow learner, but I've figured out that being able to laugh at myself and what I do wrong makes things a lot less stressful and negative. Just because I'm the teacher doesn't mean I'm done learning, and I have a lot to learn over the course of my first year. Keeping myself honest, and being brutally honest in my writing, will be my way to improve my teaching.

Sharing my thoughts has not always been my strong suit, and neither has writing, but I figured there's a first time for everything.

I'll try to write at least once a week, but may post more if inspired. Thanks for reading!

♩♩for now,

Mr. E