Mayan Craft

I have long been fascinated by Mexican history, particularly its pre-Conquest history.  In fact, I was ever so close to becoming a History major in undergrad and focusing on Latin American history.  Alas, that was not the path I chose, however it definitely remains an area of interest for me.  As you may know, my husband is from Mexico and fortunately I have been able to visit there many times with him.  Whenever we go, I always do a bit of research and make him take me to the “zonas arqueológicas” or archeological zones.  One thing that you may not realize is that there are TONS!  Apart from the big famous ones like Chichén Itzá and Teotihuacán, there are a myriad of smaller or lesser known ones in cities and towns all over the country.  Two of my favorites are El Tepozteco in the tiny, charming town of Tepozlán, about 2 hours from Mexico City and El Tajín in my husband’s home state of Veracruz.  However, when it comes to truly spectacular architecture, the Mayan archeological zones in the Yucatán  really stand out.  So naturally, when it came time to design my mini-build lesson, I knew I wanted to focus on Mayan architecture.

In addition to teaching languages, I sometimes also teach Latin American and Iberian Studies courses, which are in English but focus on the history and cultures of the peoples of Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.  Though I have not taught the course, I envision my mini-build lesson being part of the LAIS 372 Indigenous Peoples of Latin America class.  Now as I have mentioned previously, I am not a gamer.  In fact whatever talent it takes to be good at video games, I think I severely lack.  In survival mode, I don’t think I lasted more than two Minecraft nights without being killed by spiders or zombies.  Prior to building the Pyramid for my lesson, I had really only built a few haphazard, rudimentary shelters.  This said, I watched several tutorials on pyramid construction and was off and running.  It took a  little over two hours in total to build.  Surprisingly, it didn’t really feel tedious, rather it was kind of relaxing.  I would get into this little building “zone” so to speak and actually enjoyed it.  While it wasn’t perfect and towards the end I realized my door calculations (I should have started with a two or four block door instead of a three block door) were a little off, it wasn’t bad.  In the end, I was quite pleased with how it turned out.  I think Minecraft is a very neat learning environment and I hope that I really do get to teach the LAIS 372 course one day and use Minecraft.

Minecraft for Kids with ADHD

Minecraft for Kids with ADHD

I found Shane’s lessons really inspiring and it made me wish that my son’s school would adopt a similar curriculum.  On a personal note, my son has ADHD, so school is often challenging for him.  He is very active and has trouble sitting still and focusing, except when he’s playing Minecraft.  This made me wonder about Minecraft for children with ADHD.  

I found an interesting blog post by a fellow parent of a son with ADHD who plays Minecraft with his son and sets up small tasks to help deal with some of the challenges that children with ADHD face related to executive functioning.  I think it’s an interesting approach and definitely want to try out some of the ideas with my son.  As I have mentioned, there seems to be something about Minecraft that helps him focus and sustain attention.  I’m not sure if the movement in the game helps satisfy some of his need for movement, but he is able to sit and focus for much longer periods playing Minecraft than doing other things like reading or homework or even legos.

In researching Minecraft and ADHD, I also found this study being conducted from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy looking for children with ADHD who play Minecraft to participate in their study. So apparently this is something that is being noticed by behavioral health professionals.  

On the other hand, there are some negative articles out there about Minecraft and ADHD.  Some warn of Minecraft addiction and tantrums associated when it’s time to stop playing.  This sometimes happens with my son, however not just with Minecraft, it can be stopping anything he enjoys doing.  So, at this point I see more positives than negatives to his play.  I love the creativity it allows him and how interested and engaged he is.

I will survive...okay maybe not.

I had build a rather eclectic, yet functional shelter/house.  It wasn’t exactly pretty, but it worked and kept me safe my first two “nights” in Minecraft survival mode.  It had a door, a crafting table, torches, and a furnace.  I spent the first night making a pick ax and shovel.  During the day I wandered around, but stayed close to my house to gather wood blocks and food.  I killed a few pigs and chickens.  My second night I spent cooking meat in my oven.  I had decided that I would go mining the next day, because I wanted to get more stone to add to my house and also some ore to make armor.

It was a lovely Minecraft day and I wandered for a bit until I could find a good place to start mining.  I went at it with my pick ax and was able to go pretty deep. I was finding lots of coal and ore, so I kept at it.  I was mining a little longer than I had intended and as I was leaving the mine it was getting dark.  On my way back home a spider attacked me, but I fought back with my sword, as I was attacking it another spider came and attacked me and...I died.