This morning in the Clear Spring School wood shop we started practicing hand cut joints for making boxes. The 5th and 6th grade students are going on their annual trip around the state of Arkansas and one of their stops will be "Old Washington" which was the Civil War capital of Arkansas after Federal troops had taken control of the Arkansas River and Little Rock. The students will be exposed to furniture and log cabins made using dovetail joints, so next week I'll demonstrate how to cut them.

We have achieved a successful working model of integrating the hands and woodshop in general education largely due to the enthusiasm of our teaching staff. I am often amazed at how enthusiastically our students embrace difficult work, and know that our teachers deserve great credit for sustaining a learning atmosphere in which students can take risks and accept failure and leap beyond it.