Yesterday was a great day for our club.  It was 4:10, and I looked around.  My small computer lab was simply buzzing.  When I started the club earlier this year, I attracted a small (but extremely dedicated) group of students.  They are, for all intent and purposes, the school geeks.  They hang out together, play video games, buck the trends of popular music and T.V., and they were ecstatic to get into the computer lab after school.

We began the year with Lego Robotics, as I've demonstrated in a previous post.  They took to this right away, quickly shirking the directions and coming up with their own amazing creations.

Before too long, we had switched to the Lego Mindstorm kit, and we were doing some really cool stuff.

But then, I made the wonderful mistake of introducing the guys to Minecraft.  And from that point forward, it's been very hard to pull them away.  They arrive in the lab and are working until I basically cut the power to their computers.  Currently, they are helping me with my "Epic Minecraft Map" project.  They are learning the ins and outs of building large and impressive structures inside the game world.  I sometimes have a hard time getting them to update our wiki, but you can follow along here.

But while they have been occupied with Minecraft, a wonderful thing has happened.  Other students have started coming by.  Indeed, the sixth grade boys who don't normally have clubs right after school (study hall instead) began to beg to come and join the club.  After some negotiations with the administration, that became a reality.  My only problem with these guys is all of their friends come by and want to join, as well.  I simply can't accommodate so many students in a 17-computer lab.

Then, when I wasn't looking, a few girls began to poke their heads in the lab during club time.  At first, they weren't willing to sit down and get to work on something.  I mean, girls don't join computer/technology clubs, do they?  After a couple of days, though, one of them had the guts to pick up some Lego robotics.  Then, a couple more joined in.  Now, they're happily working away, chatting about the possibility of an all-girls robotics team.

So, it's 4:10 yesterday, and I have 7 10th grade boys toiling away on our Epic Minecraft Map.  There are 10 6th grade boys eagerly helping each other with a Minecraft survival map.  And, to top it all off, there are three girls sitting at the center table working on robotics.

And I realize that at some point, this turned into a real club.  In the coming weeks, the girls are very excited to crack open the Vex robotics kit that the boys have all but forgotten.  That's fine with me.  After all, this isn't "school," and I'm not here to tell you what you should be interested in.  I'm just providing a fun and safe place to explore your interests.

I think as technology teacher, it's important to step back from time-to-time, and kick it old school.  People often assume that, since EdTech is so important to me, I believe it to be the best and only way to teach this generation of youngsters.  Of course, that is not true.  Technology provides wonderful tools that can enhance instruction in meaningful ways.  It's also essential that we prepare our students for a life that will most definitely be filled with technological innovations.

That being said, there are plenty of lessons to be learned for which technology is not necessary.  I had a wonderful opportunity to accompany some SEED 9th graders on a 5-day sea kayaking expedition with Outward Bound.  For those of you unfamiliar with Outward Bound, it is a wonderful organization that seeks to expose students to outdoor adventures in order to teach them important life lessons.  We had the honor of being the very first sea kayaking expedition to run out of the Baltimore office of OB.

Check out some pictures:

So, let's get the bad news out of the way.  We weren't able to complete the full five-day expedition.  The winds were relentless, to the point that the Coast Guard issued a small craft advisory.  That basically meant it was unsafe to travel by small craft.  Also, it was flipping cold.  Seriously, the second night, the temperature dipped to 29 .  Did I mention we were staying in tents?  29 might not sound that cold, but trust me, it was brutal.  I was wearing seven layers of thermal clothing, and I was snug inside a thermal sleeping bag.  Still, I was freezing.

So, that's the bad news.  But, the good news is that our students had an amazing time.  The adversity they faced only served to make them grittier and determined.

Let me give you an example.  One of the first things we had to do was a "wet exit" test.  Basically, the instructors need to know that if the kayak tips over, you can escape and not get trapped.  So, how do we test that?  Well, you swim out into the Chesapeake Bay, get into your kayak (no easy task), and the instructor flips you upside down in the water to make sure you can escape.  Also, the water is 44 degrees.  If you didn't shiver just now, then you don't comprehend what being dunked into water of that temperature would feel like.  Not one of my students hesitated or made a fuss over this.  Believe me, it wasn't easy.

Although our trip was cut short, it was a tremendous experience for our students.  I know they grew in ways that are hard to measure.  It just goes to show that not all learning can (or should) take place in a classroom.  As an ardent supporter of technology in the classroom, sometimes the best possible thing is to leave it all behind and head into nature.  Just ask these guys!