Take-a-way number one...

The photo at left was submitted by one of my students from the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. Kevin is a shop teacher and went back to school and asked that his students make boxes. Beautifully done! The joints are rabbetted.

I believe that every student in high school should have the opportunity to make something beautiful and useful that will last them their whole lives... that will last and be treasured because of the investment of care they have applied to them. What can be more suitable to this goal than a wooden box?

Take away number one.... a teacher spent some time shadowing students in the 10th and 12th grades and take away number one is as follows.

“We forget as teachers, because we are on our feet a lot – in front of the board, pacing as we speak, circling around the room to check on student work, sitting, standing, kneeling down to chat with a student as she works through a difficult problem…we move a lot. But students move almost never. And never is exhausting. This Teacher Became A Student For Two Days: What She Learned Will Shock You!

The observation is confirmed by the following from 200 poems for Teachers of Industrial Arts Education, compiled by William L. Hunter:

The Potter

The potter stood at his daily work,
One patient foot on the ground;
The other with never slackening speed
Turning his swift wheel around.

Silent we stood beside him there,
Watching the restless knee,
'Til my friend said low, in pitying voice,
"How tired his foot must be!"

The potter never paused in his work,
Shaping the wondrous thing;
'Twas only a common flower pot,
But perfect in fashioning.

Slowly he raised this patient eyes,
With homely truth inspired;
"No, Marm, it isn't the foot that works,
The one that stands gets tired!"
-- Author unknown

To do nothing is torture. And to ask children to sit still at school is barbaric. It is fascinating how pretendingly scientific educators have become in schooling and how negligent schools have become in the application of common sense. My thanks to John Grossbohlin for the article linked above.

Make, fix and create...