simple adventures in wood shop.

A first box

Yesterday I was in the office at school and one of my youngest students came in asking to use the phone. He was, at 8:30 in the morning, planning what he wanted to do in wood shop later in the day. He needed to call his father, a restaurant owner, and ask him to bring in a "to go pan," that the kitchen would use for carryout.

If left to his own inclinations, Oen would take home a weapon a week from wood shop. He's made swords, and knives and boomerangs, but the one string guitar he took home scored a hit with his mom, and so now he plans to make musical instruments for everyone in his family.

He came in to class with his to go pan, found just the right piece of wood and went to work. I have questions about how well the thin aluminum pan will hold up in use, but Oen insists it will work just fine. It will not likely be a lovely thing except viewed in the right light. The intention is to give his family the opportunity to make music together.

Each day in wood shop, students have the opportunity to expand their physical and intellectual capacities, and have effect on the lives of their families. The tangible evidence of learning that students carry home from wood shop is vastly different from abstract test scores, anecdotal tales and  depersonalized statistics. In other words, when something is made, it's not made up.

I am also  filling in holes and catching up on loose ends for the publication of my Tiny Box book. My editor asks, "where's this, please?" And I respond.

The photo at left is one that I'd neglected taking until last night.

Make, fix, create, and extend the love of learning likewise.