Crafting minds in Minecraft

At some stage, career teachers experience the feeling of a growing distance between them and their students. Probably their students sense it too. This is inevitable and natural. After all, as educators age and their student cohorts remain within a narrow range of ages, the relative age gap widens. The gap sensation can also be caused by a seismic generational shift and by a change in life circumstances (like having one’s own children). Technology may produce growing distance between teachers and learners too and being dynamic, it may seem the most profound. Naturally, many educators want to resist but sense the need to embrace at least some innovations. Resistance to adopting the latest media fad, computer game or digital platform is not just about technology avoidance. For many educators, resistance is about survival, fending off exhaustion, avoiding distraction and a myriad of other ‘taxes’ on physical and mental resources. Dedicated educators well know demands like retooling for the National Curriculum, and compliance with ever more standards leaves little room for teaching innovation.