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In this lesson, students will be inspired by a desert biome with unexpected surprises as they explore the role of setting in narrative writing.
Welcome to this Minecraft: Education Edition lesson! Before you begin, take a few moments to let us know your thoughts or feedback on how we can improve this lesson in order to better enhance the learning experience that is delivered in your classroom!
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Click and watch this teacher preparation video to help you understand how to teach this lesson. Here is a YouTube link of the teacher video for your reference: https://youtu.be/Md8sBG9xfOQ
Start Here: Teacher Preparation Video
Students tour a virtual setting to explore the role of setting in narrative writing.
Students generate ideas for using settings to establish situations and to develop experiences within their own writing.
Students develop ideas for building in Minecraft to add details to a setting.
Students build to make a distinctive setting for collaborative game play and world-building.
Creativity
Communication
How might a setting in Minecraft inspire detailed, imaginative narrative writing?
How can a setting in Minecraft establish a situation for engaging collaborative play?
What are some ways world building in Minecraft can inform world building in writing?
Students will find books to write in to answer a set of questions when they enter the world.
Encourage students to answer the first set of questions and follow the trail marked in the game until they answer two more sets of questions, the last of which come from a teacher at the end of the trail. The teacher will ask them to develop setting ideas for their own building and writing.
When students have completed their exploration and writing, they should share their setting ideas that they can use in narrative writing and collaborative gameplay.
Students will be able to use their answers to the in-game questions to answer the “Guiding Ideas” questions below.
How might a setting in Minecraft inspire detailed, imaginative narrative writing?
How can a setting in Minecraft establish a situation for engaging collaborative play?
What are some ways world building in Minecraft can inform world building in writing?
Students can develop individual ideas for writing and building before selecting and committing to a class or group world-building project.
Check out the Tips & Tricks video playlist that will help you and your students better use Minecraft: Education Edition in the classroom:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkh9rrdH-ARER03ojhFYtmoFDVuACYJLa
More videos added periodically so make sure you check often for more content!
Click and watch the student pause and play video with your class, pausing and playing as needed. This will help your students understand how to navigate through this lesson and Minecraft world and complete the activities located within them. Enjoy!
Check out the YouTube link for your reference: https://youtu.be/j-MBaG1kKbo
Student 'Pause & Play' Video
Understand techniques and elements:
include events, setting and characters when summarizing or retelling oral, print or other media texts
apply a variety of strategies, such as setting a purpose, confirming predictions, making inferences and drawing conclusions
Construct meaning from texts:
describe and discuss the influence of setting on the characters and events
summarize oral, print or other media texts, indicating the connections among events, characters and settings
make judgements and inferences related to events, characters, setting and main ideas of oral, print and other media texts
identify ways that characters can be developed, and discuss how character, plot and setting are interconnected and mutually supportive.
Computational Thinking
- simple algorithms that reflect computational thinking
- visual representations of problems and data
- evolution of programming languages
- visual programming
- Students are expected to know the following:
literary elements: narrative structures and characterization
Elements
Manage information and ideas.
Invent, take risks, and reflect to create possibilities.
Grade Band Descriptors
Learners are making design choices for different purposes.
Learners are actively partaking in communities to explore ideas and deepen thinking.
Learners are using different sources to explore ideas and deepen and extend thinking.
Learners are imagining and exploring different ways to represent thinking and ideas.
Form: Narrative
Purpose: to entertain with an imaginative experience:
Orientation (time, place and characters) - introduces characters and setting (Once there was a girl named Aleesha. She was watching TV...)
Problem – establishes a problem at the beginning (Mom, I want to be a butterfly dancer!) Events – may include some character description but tends to focus on actions, not always clearly connected, to develop plot
Resolution – includes a brief but reasonable ending and may have some “loose ends” Special Features - may include a title or illustrations - connecting words related to time (first, next, later) - past tense - usually first (I, we) or third person (he, she, they) - action verbs and verbs related to character’s thoughts and feelings - may include dialogue (with change in tense from past to present
Introduce the following elements of fiction using children’s literature: setting, characters, conflict, theme, point of view, style and language, plot and design of the text.
Create a storyline for a picture book such as Under a Prairie Sky. The template Visual Storyline may be used to include setting, characters, conflict, plot, climax and resolution.
Make predictions based on the structure of a text (i.e., event, setting, character, conflict). For example, the setting in the text Heroes of Isle aux Morts would affect predictions about the text.
Outcomes
Learners will use writing and other representations to explore, clarify and reflect upon thoughts and experiences.
Learners will create text, independently and collaboratively, using a variety of types of writing for a range of audiences and purposes.
Learners will use a range of strategies within the writing process to enhance the clarity, precision, and effectiveness of their writing.
Using Structures and Features of Text:
Use of knowledge of structures and features of different text types to interpret texts
Explanation of purposes for structures and features of different texts
Organizing texts:
Application of a logical sequence of events when producing written and media self-expressive and narrative texts (beginning, middle, end)
Selection of relevant information from resources and own research
Use of standard structures for developing narrative and information-based written and media texts
Selection of a process when producing written and media texts
Evaluate the author’s use of various techniques (e.g., appeal of characters, logic and credibility of plots and settings, use of figurative language and imagery, strength of argument based on evidence) to influence readers’ perspectives.
Deliver narrative presentations that establish a situation, plot, point of view, and setting with descriptive words and phrases and show the listeners, through the explanations and narration, what happens.
Write narrative compositions that develop a situation or plot and point of view, describe the setting, and present an ending.
demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by identifying important ideas and some supporting details (e.g., restate important ideas and some related details from an informational text about early settlers; retell a story giving details about specific elements of the text such as setting, characters, and theme)
identify specific elements of texts and explain how they contribute to the meaning of the texts (e.g., narrative: setting, characters, plot, theme; explanation of a procedure: procedure to be explained, sequence of steps)
identify and describe the characteristics of a variety of text forms, with a focus on literary texts such as a fable or adventure story (e.g., plot development, characters, setting), graphic texts such as a comic book (e.g., speech bubbles, illustrations, captions), and informational texts such as a nature magazine (e.g., table of contents, diagrams, photographs, labels, captions)
analyze texts and explain how specific elements in them contribute to meaning (e.g., narrative: characters, setting, main idea, problem/challenge and resolution, plot development; review: statement of opinion, reasons for opinion, concluding statement)
analyze a variety of text forms and explain how their particular characteristics help communicate meaning, with a focus on literary texts such as short stories (e.g., how character, setting, and plot illustrate the theme), graphic texts such as a logo (e.g., how the elements work together to convey a message), and informational texts such as a movie review (e.g., how the “lead” is used to signal whether the review is positive or negative)
analyze increasingly complex texts and explain how the different elements in them contribute to meaning (e.g., narrative: contribution of characters, setting, and plot to the theme; persuasive argument: the role of the summing-up paragraph in highlighting the most compelling points in the argument)
describe in detail the main elements of some media forms (e.g., drama scripts: cast of characters, description of setting, acts, scenes, stage directions; television quiz shows: host/hostess, contestants, prizes; magazines: cover images and text, table of contents, regular columns, feature articles, advertisements)
Form: Narrative
Purpose: to entertain with an imaginative experience
Orientation (time, place and characters) – introduces characters and setting (Once there was a girl named Aleesha. She was watching TV...)
Problem – establishes a problem at the beginning (Mom, I want to be a butterfly dancer!) Events – may include some character description but tends to focus on actions, not always clearly connected, to develop plot
Resolution – includes a brief but reasonable ending and may have some “loose ends” Special Features - may include a title or illustrations - connecting words related to time (first, next, later) - past tense - usually first (I, we) or third person (he, she, they) - action verbs and verbs related to character’s thoughts and feelings - may include dialogue (with change in tense from past to present