Category: Free Inquiry

When looking at Minecraft Education I found a lesson plan I really enjoyed. I have done something incredibly similar myself in the past and wanted to walk you through the lesson using it.

Step one is choosing your architecture style, and finding reference images. I went with a rustic-style cottage. I originally made this for my dnd group and wanted to create the feeling of an isolated cabin in the woods.

AI image created by Freepik

Secondly, you start to do up some sketches of what exactly you want to build and build a floor plan. This is also a good time to pick out what blocks you will want to use for the build. Having groups work on this seems like a great opportunity for team building and expanding ideas.

Next, its time to sit down and create! Working with your partner(s) its time to build a prototype of the architecture you chose. Minecraft is a game with a very low skill floor, anyone can get going pretty much right away and make something interesting.

Finally, it’s time for feedback. The different groups can fly around and check out what everyone else has built, leaving messages on what they think looks good and what can be improved. Following this period, students can do a bit more work on their build with the newfound feedback.
At the end, take some screenshots for assessment and you are done!

Minecraft is a game I played in my childhood and still do today. It shows no signs of slowing down or dying out. Being able to bring it into my classroom would be an amazing experience and having lesson plans like this freely available online makes that seem more and more possible. For students just dipping into architecture this lesson is a great way to ideate and actually get started working in a 3D space. For students uninterested, it’s a fun group activity in one of the most popular games of all time. I can’t wait to incorporate stuff like this into my classroom.

The mentimeter crash course was surprisingly fun and engaging. It represents the methodology mentimeter supports in terms of modernizing parts of education. Having completed the course I now have a solid tool in my arsenal for student engagement and input.

Having spent a good amount of time in art classrooms thanks to L2P I can say that taking phones away is not something that happens often, nor should it. (check out my blog post on the subject for more)
Allowing students to use their phones in meaningful ways is a strategy that serves art well. Bringing that idea into my presentations adds another layer of justification.

Using mentimeter for something like my intro unit would be super valuable in terms of gathering information on my students. It’s also a solid tool for building community.
Asking questions like “what is your favorite kind of art” or “who is your favorite artist” allow me to see what students are already interested in and tells them what others are into.
I believe relevance to students is one of the most important things in art education and any steps I can take towards it are vital.

Overall, mentimeter is an incredibly useful and easy-to-learn tool that will greatly help me in the future. I look forward to being able to use it in my practicums.

Procreate is an ultra-versatile art app that allows for all sorts of image creation and editing. With digital art becoming more and more prevalent, having tools like this as an option for students is increasingly important. I have used procreate for a long time, but I have not looked at it through the lense of an educator. I have gone through a few artworks I’ve created using the app and would like to talk about how the methods used for making them can be applied in the classroom.

Seen above is a small logo I made for a friend, it was the first time I had worked with creating text. Procreate provided a means for me to take what I had drawn on paper, move it to digital, and edit/tweak it within a system that supports technical detail. Normally working with perfect lines and edges is challenging and with little room for error. Procreate allows you to individually edit angles and lines degree by degree allowing for a much more streamlined and much less frustrating workflow. For students wanting to delve deeper into things like logo making and graphic design procreate can be an easy step in the middle that doesn’t require learning a complex new program

Above is an album cover I made for a friend. Procreate can provide an easier approach to image editing than photoshop with most of the key features intact. Things like autoselect, applying filters, and creating layers you can spin an image any way you like. The process of drawing on top of images is much easier in Procreate. Rather than needing a drawing pad and an insane amount of hotkeys, you can get started with minimal prior knowledge. My main issue with photoshop has always been that it is difficult to figure out without extensive guides. Procreate is a much easier program to get started on in my experience.

The built-in and downloadable brush libraries for Procreate allow you to create nearly any texture or linework within one program. Experimentation is the name of the game. There is also no punishment for failure as you can undo what you have done with the touch of two fingers. Being able to play with new ideas without fear of ruining an art piece has let me work in ways I never would have otherwise.

Finally, Procreate is just an interesting tool for making drawings or digital paintings. I do not have a steady hand, I tend to work too quickly at times and screw up a piece. For people like me Procreate is a godsend, allowing me to work with detail I would never be comfortable doing on paper. The skills you develop on the screen or paper carry over more often than not, so providing alternate ways of working that may be more comfortable for certain students comes at no cost to their learning. Obviously some projects will have to be done physically, but there is a clear opportunity for things like procreate to gain even more traction in coming years.