The Presentation:

Minecraft Controls - Cheat Sheet

The Video:

Purchasing Minecraft

Minecraft's purchasing model revolves around accounts.  What you're really buying when you buy a Minecraft account in a username and password.  For typical home users, a Minecraft license/account costs around $27.  Thanks to Mojang's generous outreach to the education community, you can buy licenses for school use at a significant discount through MinecraftEDU.  They sell licenses at $18/account or $350 for a set of 25 licenses ($14 each).  They also accept purchase orders which will make your finance department happy.

Using Minecraft With Students

Getting started with students is pretty straightforward.  You simply need to get the MinecraftEDU server up and running.  It should be installed on one of the machines in your lab.  Once your server is up and running, share the IP address with students in the lab and have them join in!  For more detailed how-tos visit http://services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/Guides#Starting_the_MinecraftEdu_Launcher

Ready To Dig Deeper?

Visit the Minecraft in School Wiki for more resources and links! Edmodo Group Code - ugc3vq Constance Steinkhueler - Blog Article - Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name

Third Place - Wikipedia Article

MinecraftEDU - modified version of Minecraft, great for classrooms. Buy your licenses, here, too - discounted for education!

Minecraft Videos:

Sara Toothman, Art Teacher at WPMS shares her work with students using Minecraft to teach Science Concepts from NC's Essential Standards:

Here's a link to her resources - Sara Toothman's Awesome Minecraft Resources Our first year project students share their work:

Second year student projects:

Books to Read:

Here are the authors/books I've read recently that influence me (these links take you to Amazon and no, I don't get a kickback):

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy - by James Gee - this is foundational, academic work, but an easy read.

Don't Bother Me Mom -- I'm Learning by Marc Prensky - this is the book I'd give to parents, administrators, and fellow educators as a starting point.

Reality is Broken:  Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World - by Jane McGonigal - explores taking the passion that gamers bring and applying it to solve real-world problems.

Got Game:  How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever - by John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade - in-depth discussion of how gamers will change corporate America.

Fun, Inc.:  Why Gaming Will Dominate the 21st-Century - by Tom Chatfield - explores the components that make video games compelling as models for business and education.

A Whole New Mind:  Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel Pink - this book really hits at the heart of what needs to change in our education system.

Teaching Digital Natives:  Partnering for Real Learning - by Marc Prensky - in this book, Marc shares tips and strategies for using a partnering model for classroom instruction that capitalizes on students' passions.

Tribes by Seth Godin - a very interesting (and short) read about how the connectedness of the 'Net has allowed people with similar interested to form community.  I've seen so much of this in the gaming community.  Your students are part of these "Tribes."

Everything Bad Is Good for You by Steven Johnson - a very interesting look at how media consumption has likely altered how we think and work.  Maybe playing video games and watching LOST isn't so bad after all.

Sites to Visit:

Sources to Explore:

Game industry statistics - http://www.theesa.com/ Publishing industry statistics - http://www.publishers.org/press/ Movie industry statistics - http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/

Donorschoose.org - a crowdsourced funding site designed to connect donors to classroom teachers.