Tutoring?

It's spring break here in Michigan, and today, it was Opening Day (capitalized because it is indeed a holiday!)  I love that the two coincided this year, as I was able to catch quite a bit of the game, and will be able to watch the rest of the games this week without worry of staying up too late.  (Boring, I know, but I'm in bed early most nights....)

Back to spring break.

Aside from not having to set an alarm, breaks are a great time to play.  So far I've played with my friend and her family at the Detroit Institute of Arts, with my niece both at home and at Saturday's Seder, with my twitter world (that I've been neglecting lately,) with my puppy pals on our day time walks, and today, with my Minecraft tutor.

He wouldn't necessarily consider himself a tutor, but he might.

We met a few months back, when I was just starting off with Minecraft in the classroom.  He offered his services then, yet I wasn't quite ready.  I didn't even know what to do, much less what to ask!  Fast forward four months, and I was ready.  I had my list of questions, and sent them to him ahead of time.

I arrived and he was working on some really neat projects in the back yard that involved power tools and wood.  Two fun things to play with in my mind!  He shared the projects that he's working on (American Ninja Warriors?) and then we headed in to the computer.

My goal was to learn how to build and use sticky pistons, circuits, and create different effects using light and sound with the circuits.  He was quite prepared - had multiple examples already set up in the world he created just for this lesson.  As he explained different things, more questions bubbled.  Overall, we spent almost 90 minutes exploring Minecraft.  I took about 4 pages of notes, too, so I can follow up when I'm playing on my own.

Let me tell you, I learned way more than I bargained for!  Like I said, I was hoping to learn about circuits and such, but I also learned about pressure plates, building songs with note blocks, different server commands, different "worlds" that can be joined.  I'm so glad it's break so I can continue to explore!

By the way.  I don't think I mentioned it yet, but my tutor?  He's 9.  He's almost 10, though.

Sometimes, when we sit down and listen to what are kids are becoming experts on, we find we learn a lot more than any test or paper would ever show...