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Stack of 25 signed permission forms to be in the club. More are still being handed in.

If you give students a Minecraft club, they will want to join.  When students want to join Minecraft club they will hunt you down until you ‘finally’ announce the first meeting.

True story:  This past week 3 students saw me walk in to the staff washroom from the other end of the hall, quickly walked (ran) down, and waited outside the door until I came out.  All the while discussing when the first meeting was going to be, and how I might decide who ‘gets in’ the club.

If students successfully gotten you to set a date for the Minecraft club, they will show up at all times and places where they think a meeting might be taking place.  

Second true story: I had a complaint this week about my Minecraft hunters.  “What are we going to do about this Minecraft problem?” a teacher asked, who was tired of students showing up randomly in the hall and library asking “is the Minecraft club meeting now?”  Students began showing up all over the place in hopes of a Minecraft club meeting happening.  On the day of the first meeting, Thursday, students went to the meeting place at every break and the beginning of lunch, -with their lunches- just in case they got the time for the meeting wrong.  I’m pretty sure the teacher who complained really didn’t see the club as a problem, but just couldn’t wait for the excitement over the club to die down.

It can be a bit much to have students constantly hunting you down; however all things considered, it is a pretty great problem to have.  I told students I would decide how I would be organizing the club based on the number of forms returned, and I would also be numbering forms as they came in.  I had students handing forms in at 7:55 am.  I told them it wouldn’t hurt if they included a reason for why they wanted to be in the club on the back of the form.  I received notes, and below is an -unedited- letter a students shared with me using Google Docs:

(Dedicated mostly to SASO [her group of friends] and somewhat Miss Colby)

I personally think why I wanna join is because our group made up a plan before Minecraft club even started (defeating the Ender Dragon).  We wanted to work as a team and not end up arguing like we always do(Not fun).  No flames(my case means “no disagreements/ no offence) or bragging but I think it would be best if our group practiced on listening and assigning roles so we know what to do without leaving anybody out.  It might help us with our communication as well.  I hope we can get through our hearts of stone and open up to other opinions instead of arguing and saying what’s right or not(like always).  The chat might also help us to learn how to type quicker(well, It’d help ME at least) and help with our grammar (lol I’m a Grammar Nazi) and spelling.  It could help me type normally as well (trying to type normally. WAYYYYY too many mistakes). I really hope this goes out planned and we can all be buddies like we used to  🙂

~ Truly yours, S

Passion like this is why I will ‘put up’ with being hunted and hounded  to host a club.  My problem now, is what do I do when I have more interested students than I have working computers?  Last year I had 2 meeting times, which was hard since I do participate in more than just the Minecraft club.  This year I know with the additional responsibilities I have, that it would be too much for me to have 2 meetings in one week.  Here are some of the solutions I am considering to my problem:

  1. Alternate between two groups eg: club A meets the first and third Thursday of the week, and club B meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month
  2. Have one group meet from October-Feb, and the second group meet from March to June
  3. Only accept the first 20 Minecrafters to join and put the rest on a waiting list
  4. Beg and plead one of my colleagues to host the club with me and thus be able to have 2 meeting days

A great problem to have, but still a problem.  If you have a suggestion I am open to hearing it. Please comment!  No, really, I want to hear your suggestions.