Box making photos...

The Ted talk shown above is partially about our human compulsion to make. I prefer making things from materials more expressive than plastic and that come through the development of hand skills but as some of my readers know and as too many have forgotten, to make is an important expression of our humanity.

Photos of my box making class at Eliot School in Boston are now on Facebook, along with other photos showing various activities including young woodworkers at work. I am now packed and ready to return to Arkansas. It is an amazing feeling to return to one's own wood shop and home after three weeks away. I will have many things to share from my New England Teaching sojourn/adventure as I reflect upon it and as things continue to percolate on behalf of children needing to be creatively engaged with their hands. A friend asked me tonight about the age of my students in the class for the last two days. The youngest was 30, and yet adults learning with enthusiasm is little different from what some of us would hope for our kids.

I want to thank Eliot School for giving me the chance to teach, my students for being such passionate learners, and my assistant Andy Glen from the North Bennet St. School for being such great help.

Make, fix, and create...