The first thing we discovered was that the world was only 4 blocks deep... I'll have to look at the settings, and see what that's about, as students wanted to include underground elements in their buildings.
Next, we paused for a reminder that school Minecraft is different from home Minecraft, and that the use of guns would not be appropriate. We compromised on bow & arrow and crossbows, as one student wanted to build a target shooting game.
As students built, I flew around and commented on their buildings. One student built a secret tunnel, another a giant person, and another a trap using redstone and pistons.
For the last 15 minutes of the session, we toured each student's creation, even though they weren't quite finished! Students briefly explained their build, and they were all very complimentary about what they saw.
Next week, we will continue to free-build for a while, and then I plan to have them complete a challenge in small groups. I haven't quite decided which challenge to set them, but I want it to be something they can accomplish in about 45 minutes, so nothing too complex.
As a teacher, I think it is important to "read the room" in order to switch up activities that aren't working. Although I really wanted students to explore the Campground in the Tutorial World, they just weren't that into it. Good teaching isn't confined to a traditional classroom setting - change gears when it's not working!
Here is a video of the tour at the end of the session. I need to find a way to have students' voices be more audible on the recording...
Exploratory Session - Touring Students' Creations
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