Make, play and resist.

The Wall St. Journal has an article suggesting that toddlers learn when they play. It strikes me as odd that anyone would have to be told this. And yet, out of misguided concern for our children, we script each moment of their young lives, depriving them of the creativity and deep engagement that is available to them through their hands. We script our own lives in the same manner. The article concludes with the following:

The inspirational sayings about play you find on the internet—“play is the work of childhood” or “play is the best form of research,” for example—aren’t just truisms. They may actually be truths.

 The first of the chosen quotes is from Maria Montessori. The second from Albert Einstein. That the author of the article chose to leave the important point as questionable by use of the word "may" is absurd. (the emphasis in the quote is mine) In fact, I am willing to go so far myself as to state that even adults learn most efficiently through play, and that it's our most effective means of feeling and expressing our own creative power. But then perhaps in a world moving toward authoritarianism, personal creative power is of least concern.

Here in the US, we are moving rapidly toward a constitutional crisis as the Trump presidency proves to be as inept as many of us knew it would be in the first place. The conservatives are seemingly pleased to keep backing Trump as he serves as their convenient wrecking ball to attack the EPA, and social programs in the US. He does the things that they want to do but are fearful of doing themselves. But he will keep doing stupid things until even the Republicans lose tolerance. The question of course is what price we will pay.

In the meantime, and on a more personal level, to make things of useful beauty is an act of resistance.  While much of the world is enamored with Trumpian grandiosity, to find simple pleasure in the work at hand is a wholesome thing, that benefits our families, our communities and nation as well as our sense and state of mind. As craftsmen and makers in America, we persist and we resist.

Today a good friend of mine and I will pick up and deliver more tools to the new ESSA wood shop. The photo above is from a class of mine at Marc Adams School of Woodworking. Even adults of advancing age learn through play.

Make, fix, create, and encourage others to learn likewise.

machinery...

Wood shop teachers have been busy throughout the year coming up with useful ideas. The sanding bow above is one from shop teacher David Shinnlinger. It can be used on the lathe or hand powered to shape wood.

A similar sanding bow by Australian wood shop teacher Richard Bazeley uses sanding belts from a portable belt sander. Take a 4 inch wide belt, tear it into 1 in. wide strips and away you go.

Sanding seems to be the part of things that many woodworkers find least enjoyable. The dust is messy. If yo do it by hand, effort is required. If you do it by machine, it's easy to mess things up. It was frowned upon by the adherents of educational Sloyd, as it hid the underlying tool marks that were evidence of careful labors and skill. It is also a bit of a pleasure as wood transitions from coarse to smooth but you have to pay attention for that. To see (or feel) a finely sanded surface tells you something about the maker of the object. That he or she cares.

An article in yesterday's Arkansas Democrat Gazette described the growing rift between two factions of the "school choice" movement. One (supported by billion dollar foundations) and another (also supported by billion dollar foundations) are arguing (by spending real money) whether "school choice" should be provided by vouchers or by charter schools. Neither faction pays any attention to the one principle that could truly reform education. Start with the interests of the child.

Today we have a delivery of machines for the new ESSA wood shop's machine room. The lathes were delivered last week and have a lovely room of their own. I have classes this morning and afternoon at the Clear Spring School, and we are rapidly approaching the end of our school year.

Make, fix, create and enable others to learn likewise

the flexibility of the brain.

Parents of young children will have noticed how quickly and easily they learn. Things are not so easy for those of us who are a bit older. Our friend Kari from Norway visited earlier in the week. I told her that I'd been studying my Norwegian for over 370 days using Duolingo, but when she asked me to say something, I was tongue tied and nothing intelligible came out.

We know that second, third and even fourth languages are easy to learn if you are within a certain age range, but that the brain does not work with the same ease in acquiring language if you have passed beyond that range. That doesn't mean that a second language cannot be learned, but it does mean that much more effort must be applied and you may never get it as well as a young child might.

I am clearly over the hill when it comes to picking up new languages with ease.

At one time the use of the hands was understood in the same light. The following is from Sir James Crichton-Browne—

"The nascent period of the hand centres has not been accurately measured ... but its most active epoch being from the fourth to the fifteenth year, after which these centres in the large majority of persons become somewhat fixed and stubborn. Hence it can be understood that boys and girls whose hands have been altogether untrained up to the fifteenth year are practically incapable of high manual efficiency ever afterwards.

"The small muscles of the eye, ear, larynx, tongue, and hand have much higher and more extensive intellectual relations than the large muscles of the trunk and limbs. If you would attain to the full intellectual stature of which you are capable, do not, I would say, neglect the physical education of the hand."

This article http://theconversation.com/brain-imaging-modern-people-making-stone-age-tools-hints-at-evolution-of-human-intelligence-77231 sheds some light on isolation of function between the various centers of the brain. As researchers performed certain tasks in making stone tools, those who had received verbal instructions rather than just visual instructions were reliant on parts of the brain that processed verbal instructions, while those who learned without verbal instructions were not using the verbal processing area of the brain at all.

Just think of the brain as a huge multidimensional resource. The way we teach too commonly in schools now with children sitting at desks is a near complete waste of most of it. And if we want our children to be well rounded and fully capable in all that they wish to apply themselves to, we would have a desk burning party and give students at all levels real things to do in service of their families and communities. The best way to observe and measure the engagement of the child's mind in real life and real learning is to put the hands in service of it. The hands and mind are an instructional device through which the child can not only observe the world, but test his or her own power in changing it. The hands and their behaviors are also a means through which we can measure their learning and intelligence.

So how do I propose we put the hands at the center of learning? There are lots of ways. Laboratory Science, Instrumental Music, hands-on math, field trips, gardening, internships and more. And let's not forget wood shop.

Yesterday we had a workday at the new ESSA woodshop. It is a lovely space, as you can see.

Make, fix, create and increase the chances that all learn likewise.

stone age tool making....

My readers may find this article on stone age tool making to be of interest. Brain-imaging modern people making Stone Age tools hints at evolution of human intelligence Anthropologists have long wondered about the evolution of human language and its relationship to enhanced brain size over the brain sizes of earlier man. The idea some have had was that language was the driving factor in the development of human intelligence. I and some others believe the development of man was a hand thing: That as our hands and brain co-evolved as a learning system, the capacity to communicate grew as a complementary system.

In the research described, subjects who had been taught to make stone tools were fitted with brain imaging technology called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). As the subjects made stone tools, the technology allowed researchers to observe which areas of the brain were active in the process. I hope my readers find this as fascinating as I do. I believe the research offers insight into an important question. "What role did the hand play in the development of human intelligence?" As we better understand the relationship between hand and brain, and how we evolved as human beings, a light is cast on the importance for us to learn all things, hands-on. Even literature is enhanced and made more real to us when we've done real things.

Today is a volunteer day at ESSA. Several of us will apply moldings at various places in the new building to help push us toward our opening day. We will complete machine room benches, clean once again, and build a plywood storage rack.

The image above is a test model plane made by one of my high school students. It did not fly very well, but it was so beautifully made that I thought a stand would be a nice thing. As a small gift in recognition of his good work, I made a stand for it so that he can display his work proudly on his desk.

Make, fix, create and increase the likelihood of others learning likewise.

Oneway and Robust...

Yesterday 9 Robust lathes and a Oneway were delivered to the ESSA wood shop. The Oneway is placed in the teacher position and the Robust lathes will be for student use. Brent English personally delivered the 9 Robust lathes from Wisconsin and the Oneway was delivered by a local craftsman who sold it to the school. We had volunteers on hand to assist with the moving.

We also began making moldings that will be used to cover seams in the plywood walls. We made hundreds of feet of molding using the carpenter's table saw and my small router table clamped to a work bench. The moldings are a good way to use the narrow strips offcut from trim pieces used to case the many windows in the shop. So by applying trim we'll make the shop just a bit more beautiful, and waste less in the process.

It is an amazing thing to see the wood shop moving toward its finished form. More power tools will be delivered next week. A volunteer asked me about our tools selection strategy. It's my belief that students should learn on tools they can afford to buy for themselves. This does not mean cheap tools. But a great lathe, and a good bandsaw can be purchased for less than what a young man or woman would squander on much less important things.

A great lathe and a good bandsaw can keep a person making beautiful and useful things for family and community for many years to come, and grow in character and intellect at the very same time.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

lathes today...

Today 10 new lathes will arrive at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts and my own life appears to be surrounded by them. I have one of them in my own shop, 6 in the Clear Spring School shop and a total of ten will be delivered to ESSA this morning and afternoon. We will possibly have more lathes available for student use per capita than any other city in the USA.

I went to see a locally produced play last weekend in which one of my former students had a big part. As we visited afterwards he told me that in college other students would come into his room to play with the collection of tops he had turned in school and that he kept on his desk. His fellow students were fascinated by the tops as most had never had that kind of chance to create.

 He and his brother recently purchased a lathe and plan to get started turning again. I urged them to come to ESSA for classes, and I am beginning to see it as my duty to allow my former students opportunities to sustain the interest they discovered in school.

I have my own small collection of tops that are kept near my desk. These are kept in a small cherry bowl turned by my uncle, Ronald Stowe. My uncle had become an avid woodturner and would bring bowls he had turned to family reunions to be distributed among family members. Each and every man, woman and child would be given the chance to select one or more pieces Uncle Ron had turned on the lathe. He and members of his club would go to Arrowmont each year to receive instruction from one of the great wood turners. I am excited that our own new studio at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts will serve in the same manner.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

ready for play....

Today my wife begins a three day class with the Eureka Springs School of the Arts (ESSA) in mosaic. I will be helping to make some moldings for trimming the new ESSA wood shop, and it will feel good to have my hands in things.

The work benches arrived from Lee Valley yesterday and will be ready for assembly by a team of volunteers as the carpenters are nearing the completion of their work.

The image above from Swedish Wooden Toys (Yale University Press) is of a Swedish child ready for imaginative play, 1918. The horses in the photo are particularly fine. Just as real horses come in a variety of shapes and sizes, these show that the carving of Dala horses needs not be overly distorted by meeting standards of appearance and size. The cart and trappings are also intriguing and could be made by a parent or grandparent and child working together in the wood shop.

Play is the means through which the child prepares him or her self for real life. Play is the most natural way to prepare children for their futures, and yet there is a distorted notion in American education that schooling should be like work, and that work at best is torturous, and that torture is a requirement for success. Let's think just a bit about joy... About the joy of creativity and discovering that work can be joy... as easily as learning can be joy, and play can be joy.

Yesterday we met with folks from A+ Schools and are hoping that organization becomes a means through which we can share more of what we do with others and improve what we do as well.

Make, fix, create, and increase the opportunities for others to learn likewise.

toys and creativity.

The more you do, the less they learn. That's as a general rule of thumb when it comes to preparing materials for children to do woodworking. But on the other hand, children these days have little left to their imaginations when it comes to toys. Toys are engineered for them by excellent designers and fabricators, and sold cheaply at Walmart and every grocery store in the US.

But what could be more lovely than a toy the child has made, or that has been made for him or her by a loving parent?

The legs are long and the arms short, but even an adult can see what it is. In Swedish you would say, "Träpinnen har på sig byxor," meaning the wooden stick is wearing pants. The image is from Swedish Wooden Toys, published by Yale University Press.

Today the work benches will arrive at the new ESSA wood working studio. My elementary school students are camping, and we will have visitors at the Clear Spring School from Arkansas A+ Schools, a program to re-integrate the arts in public schooling.

Make, fix, create, and give our children the tools of imagination that schooling deprives them of.

Swedish toys...

I have been reading a book on Swedish Wooden Toys published by Yale University Press. It is a lovely book recommended by a friend, and I believe it will be useful and inspirational in the toy making done by the students at Clear Spring School. Some of the toys in it are made by children or could be made by children and those are the ones that I find most appealing.

The Swedish peasant woodcarver in his cottage is making Dala horses, that have become a world wide symbol of Sweden. The array of knives kept sharp and at the ready are Mora knives, from the area of Sweden that is famous for making Sloyd knives.

The book says:

In farming families, unpainted, rough carved wooden toy horses ere usually personalized, their appearance dependent on the manufacturer's skill and creativity. Not surprisingly, wooden horses from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries do not have standardized shapes or sizes, because craftsmen established their own models. Some of the more ambitious carvers might be considered artists in their own right, but mostly these were itinerant carvers who were paid by the piece. From these individuals, the trade in decorated horses developed. Entire families carved to support themselves, while larger producers cane to specialize in particular styles. 

 The carver in the photo above was Majt Jerk, Mora, ca. 1900.

Swedish Wooden Toys describes the process through which the horses were made. Blocks of wood called kringlor were quartered into pieces with each quarter providing the material for one horse. An axe was used to cut it roughly to shape, including the space between the front and back legs, and the lines along the neck. Originally a drill was used to begin forming the space between the left and right legs though that task is now done with a bandsaw. The original horses were carved from green wood, but like most popular things are now mechanized and standardized and sill fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQI3TsjKnbU

Make, fix, create and inspire others to learn likewise.

workday 2

Bob builds lathe tool stands.

We had our second volunteer workday at ESSA to prepare the new woodshop for classes. We do not have electric power in the building as yet, but with the help of extension cords running from the blacksmithing studio we were able to build tool stands, tables for grinders, install lumber storage racks, and assemble a saw stop table saw.

Larry takes a coffee break

I am grateful to those who have made this new wood shop possible, and to those also who have volunteered to help.

Workbenches were delayed by the shipper and will arrive on Tuesday. Lathes come on Thursday.

Our opening day celebration will be June 4, 3-6 PM.

The following is from the Danish National Library Authority.

The Finnish brain researcher, Matti Bergström concentrates on the child’s inner life and its – as we see it – chaotic ’possibility space’. Professor Bergström maintains that it is not only a question of ’white games’. The white games are our pedagogical efforts trying to bring up children in our own image. But there must also be room for the ’black games’ where children test themselves and the world around them.They must be given space. At a recent conference, Matti Bergström posed the question: do children need a knowledge lift? His answer was no, they need a chaos lift. We must allow children space and opportunity for the black games which are created in the unorganized and unsupervised meeting with other children.

Very briefly, Matti Bergström’s reasoning can be boiled down to this: The core of culture is art. The core of art is creativity. The core of creativity is possibility. The core of possibility is play. The core of play is chaos. Therefore all culture is based on chaos. More than ever before do we wish to encourage each individual’s creativity and culture-creating ability. The skills of the agrarian and industrial society have long since become obsolete.

Steven and Sam assemble saw

Adults are very much the same. Figuring out the benches and arrangement of them and how to make them from construction debris was a bit chaotic. The start up of any new thing is like that. And preparing children to become adults in the world  is not a matter of filling their heads with knowledge derived from past exercises, but to get them to look and see, and participate in what is.

Make, fix, create, and accelerate learning by doing real things.

volunteers...

Yesterday I had a small team of woodworking volunteers to begin preparing the new ESSA woodshop for classes. We began by cleaning and hauling out construction debris and sorting through useful scrap and then began building supports and storage for various tools along the north and west walls. We will continue that today.

The work benches will arrive  from Lee Valley on Tuesday, and I received word from Woodcraft that turning tools are being shipped. Other important power tools will begin arriving a week from Monday.

While our tool storage stands are not the finest craftsmanship, we've been able to build them quickly using scrap 2 x 4's that were salvaged from crating materials used to transport the metal roofing to the site.

Students of all ages, pre-K through grave, need the opportunity that the hands provide.  Our need to be engaged in learning through doing real things, is essential. I thank our volunteers for helping the new ESSA woodshop be ready to serve.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

dreaming of the past...

I spent so many years making my living solely from the making of wooden objects. I would ship things I had made to over 30 galleries across the US, and was always waiting for a check to arrive from one, and always hoping for more orders, and I can assure you that the life of an independent maker in the US is not a easy one.

Last night I dreamed that I needed to come up with some new project ideas to excite my market. And perhaps something will come up. I have all kinds of great ideas but the challenge is to find simple ones that can be easily made and that have significant perceived value. Perceptions of value are based on several factors. One is the usefulness of the object. Another is its beauty.  Another has to do with the materials from which an object is made. Another has to do its scarcity in relation to its desirability, and the sense of sophistication it might confer on the person who buys it. And another has to do with perceptions that one might have regarding the perceived difficulty in making. Bringing all those things into balance is a challenge because the maker also has to work with sufficient efficiency to make a living and a life from the process.

Writing and teaching have helped me in that I've not been quite so concerned about the efficiency of the process as money comes in from other sources. That gives me the opportunity to reflect from a bit more distance than would be the case if I was to worried as I once was whether some small check would come in time to help me pay the bank.

All of this I hope helps to describe what it takes to be a craftsman in America – to compete head to head with the mountains of manufactured things, that nearly overwhelm us.

Coming up with ideas for things to make is easy. What's not so easy is finding ideas for things that can be efficiently produced with a market in a world that's preoccupied with virtual experience and cares too little for the virtue of making and owning beautiful and useful things.

And yet, the need to make and create in tangible form calls out to the soul of man.

Today I will have volunteers in the ESSA wood shop. We will clean. We will build, and we will work toward having the shop ready for its first classes.

Make, fix, and create. See to it that others have what they need to learn likewise.

story mapping...

Today in the wood shop at the Clear Spring School, my high school students will be finishing various projects. They were out for over a week due to travel school, and some of their projects had been put on hold to make and complet their travel journals, so now it is time to wrap up and get done what we can before the end of the school year.

In addition to wood shop, I'll also spend about 45 minutes introducing my students to ESRI, a story mapping program that we hope to be better able to use in the coming years. ESRI enables you to create maps of your own that can help to share the information that's important to you. For example, a map of our local springs would be useful to both visitors and landowners. For the study of history or the environment and, video interviews and photograph scan be linked and coordinated with points on the map.

The point is that learning should take students out of doors, into the field of study where it becomes linked through all the senses. The smart phone carried out of doors enables the student to link directly to the map, and the story of the student's place in the world.

In the image above, Anaxagoras holds what appears to be a model of the world even before the earth was known to be a sphere. He was the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who said that "Man is the wisest of all animals because he has hands." Anaxagoras also believed that "in everything there is a share of everything," foreshadowing Froebel's concept of Gliedganzes or inter-connectedness.

In a similar vein, The following is from Dr. Matti Bergström's book, Hjarnans resurser — en bok om ideernas ursprung "The Brain's Resources — a Book about the Origin of Ideas."

...We evolve in order to unite the world we live in into a wholeness. ...This is why the unifying force, the collective principle ... assumes ever greater importance in our lives. It becomes apparent in our thirst for peace, accord, and harmony, goodness, a social and religious paradise, love of our fellow humans and nature and an ensouling of nature. ...Even in our science we wish more and more to be rid of one-sided analysis, divisiveness and disjointed knowledge to create instead a method of research that tends toward synthesis and holism, wholeness and cohesion, where values can coexist without battling each other. We increasingly want the selective forces to serve the collective. — pp. 147-8

My box guitar book is proceeding nicely through the editorial process, and a number of instrument makers have submitted great photos of their work for a gallery section.

Make, fix, create and increase the opportunities for others to learn likewise.

Tiny turtle and new wood shop.

We have been waiting for the final days of construction at the new ESSA wood shop to know what money we have available for acquiring tools. The budget became clear enough yesterday that some of the essential tools will be ordered today. This is exciting for me, as I know that many students will learn and grow in the new shop.

We will have our first volunteer work days this weekend, as we assemble work benches, and build stands for various tools.

Today in the Clear Spring School wood shop, students will likely continue making super heroes and working from their own imaginations.

Our middle school and high school students are working on a dramatic performance of our community wide battle against SWEPCO that some of my readers will remember. I was one of the leaders in a movement to stop the electric power company, SWEPCO, from building an unnecessary and unwanted extra high voltage powerline through our community. One of the proposed lines would have run through the woods 75 feet from my deck.

The tiny turtle that I found outside my shop became a symbol for me of all the wonderful tiny creatures that cannot be seen from the seat of a bulldozer, from the windows of a helicopter or from the corporate boardroom. There are lovely things underfoot in the world, and we and our children can learn to act in sympathy and harmony with such things.

Make, fix, and join in the creative forces of the universe.

taking it to the streets...

Yesterday my first, second and third grade students were delighted to continue making caped superheros. Even the tiny piece of scrap wood cut from between the legs becomes something of use in their imaginations. I  neglected to take photos of their work, so you will have to take my word for it.

Last night, my friend Jim who with his wife hosted our Wisdom of the Hands event on Sunday, called to discuss the party at his house. He thought my message was so powerful and compelling that he wished we had a way to take it to a larger audience. I agree. At the event he asked a challenging question. "Who will take your place in the Wisdom of the Hands program when that time comes?"

I can assure you and I can assure Jim, that the hands are bigger than us all. We can narrow our minds, but we cannot narrow the role that the hands play without narrowing our minds, and suffering the consequences. If I am not successful in bringing a larger audience to the hands, others will do so and must do so because the future of humanity depends on it.

And I am not alone. My good friend Frank Wilson calls us his hand tribe. The video embedded in this blog link tells a bit of the story.

But then the question, how do we carry on? And how do we make this message heard and understood by a larger audience? We will do so. It may be up to you (in part) to figure out how.

The new ESSA wood shop is nearing its completion. So I meet today with the school's ED to begin the process of ordering tools.

Make, fix, create, and extend to others the likelihood of learning likewise.

A successful event...

Yesterday we held a successful Wisdom of the Hands Fundraising event. Two of my students helped adults do woodworking, and the photo shows one helping his dad. I took parts for making super heroes and letter holders and adults made both. Some adults were too shy to do the making, but all were impressed by my teaching staff.

I sent an email to Patrik Sheinin at the University of Helsinki asking if he would help me with a research project. In the past I asked if he could secure evidence that Educational Sloyd played some distinct and measurable role in the Finnish Educational Success Story.  Patrik at that time  in addition to being dean of the University of Helsinki School of Social Sciences was head of the international PISA study. I have come to the conclusion that my research request was too narrow in scope, and research into the value of hands-on learning would hit pay dirt. I hope to hear back.

What we do here at our small school is quite large in that other schools, too should engage their students hands-on. If educators have not noticed the role of the hands in their own learning, I suggest they pay attention.

As I told our guests at yesterday's events, the hands are more than useful tool.  They are the symbol of the skilled and totally engaged man. When the first mate calls for all hands on deck, he's not asking for desk slouchers and shirkers of work. And when the superintendent asks that all teachers and students hands be engaged in learning, we might thus save the ship.

An article in the Washington Post asks, Is there really a link between test scores and America’s economic future? It notes:

In every standardized achievement test whose scores we use to judge the quality of the education received by our children, family income strongly and significantly influences the mean scores obtained.

In other words, addressing family poverty would be one issue that the conservatives in Washington refuse to address. Diane Ravitch notes yet another charter school chain being under federal investigation. The administrator for 9 schools in the district was being paid nearly half a million a year... as much as the superintendent of the whole Los Angeles Public School system. It is unfortunate that the charter school system has offered a model through which businessmen are attempting to cash in and take advantage of the poor.

In the meantime, putting the hands to work in learning is what we all know works. Let's do it.

Make, fix, create and increase opportunities for others to learn likewise.

I keep writing in the hopes this message gets out.

We had a successful open house at the Clear Spring School despite terrible rain throughout the day. Last night the rain continued with flash flood warnings throughout Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri. My wife and I live on a mountaintop, but many of our friends do not, and we could not help but worry for their safety.

The severity and duration of the storm was such that I have never experienced anything of its kind before. If global warming is a conspiracy by the Chinese, as Donald J. Trump claimed throughout his campaign, I'd say they've gotten good at it. And they're likely to get better at it while the world gets worse. We live in a forest with trees adapted to the climate in which we've live, and so serious climate change can put all in the world around us at risk.

Today we have our Wisdom of the Hands Fundraising event. You are welcome to contribute by using this link.
Checks can be sent to the Clear Spring School, PO Box 511, Eureka Springs, AR 72632

I keep writing in the hopes that my message reaches out, and that it becomes refined to an irresistible essence. Unfortunately, people have a very difficult time understanding that which they have not experienced first hand. Seeing a thing or two on YouTube is not the same as having taken materials and tools into one's own hands. In order to capture children's imaginations, they must be encouraged to do real stuff and the same applies to the adults among us. The engagement of the hands is a measure of reality, and the whole body reacts to learning when it is allowed to.

This a link to a review I wrote in 2009 of Matt Crawford's Book Shop Class as Soulcraft.

At today's fundraiser, two of my students will be teaching adults to make things from wood.

The photo above as taken by Arshia Khan for Arkansas Life Magazine.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.

Trump's budget and the arts.

Trump's proposed budget severely cuts funding for the arts at a time in which arts comprehension and student ability in the arts have already been severely curtailed by standardized testing and excessive pressures on testable subject areas.

American teenagers are not excelling in the arts, and President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts will likely make matters worse, experts say.

The most recent results of a wide-ranging national educational assessment known as the Nation’s Report Card left significant room for improvement in the visual arts and music, the National Center for Education Statistics reported Tuesday.

Students scored an average 147 in music and 149 in visual arts on a scale of 300, dipping very slightly from 2008, when the test was last administered. A sample of 8,800 eighth-grade students from public and private schools participated in the 2016 National Assessment of American Progress, which evaluates comprehension based on a series of questions and original work.

In the early days of manual arts training, some educators claimed that there was no time available to be wasted on such pursuits as the manual arts. Manual arts advocates argued that the academics could be learned in less time if invigorated by manual arts studies. Who you think was right?

In the meantime, education secretary Betsy DeVos and conservatives in congress are pushing for a vast increase in the number of charter schools to give parents "choice," through a  system of vouchers. In a study of Washington DC schools, voucher system students in charter schools are performing less well. So much for that idea. Why don't policy makers learn and move on? Perhaps rigid adherence to belief is more important to them than reality.

Children have an overwhelming need to do real things. To sequester them in the unreality of academic pursuits is to stifle their spirits as well as their curiosity. And yet the idiocy of educational policy makers persists.

The seesaw that my elementary school students and I made continues to be their favorite thing on campus and they head for it in a beeline whenever they are let out for recess. They are learning things that will never show up on standardized tests, but will show up in life.

Today, from 11AM to 2 PM, We have an open house at the Clear Spring School. You are welcome to attend.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

Open house at the Clear Spring School...

I am preparing for an open house at the Clear Spring School, tomorrow Saturday, April 29. You may come by to see the wood shop where my students work. On Sunday, April 30, we will hold a Wisdom of the Hands fundraising event.

Yesterday the electricians were busy at the new ESSA wood shop, finishing the wiring. The carpenters are installing the wood paneling on the inside of the building, and we moved a SawStop table saw from storage into the building, the first piece of woodworking equipment to arrive on site. Sheet rock in the entry hall will be installed today. Work benches will arrive this coming week. And volunteers will begin preparing the shop for classes. Next week we will begin ordering new equipment and building various benches and router tables, using some of the materials we've been able to salvage from the construction process.

May will be a busy month. With the end of the school year at Clear Spring School, and the opening of the new ESSA wood shop, I also have May Fine Arts Month to take some of my time. In addition to all that, my box guitar book is in the editorial process which means I'll likely have many questions to answer. But this is not a complaint.

Our love affair with the computer has thrown everything out of whack. As the starting tool in so many young lives, the computer in all its forms is incredibly complex and abstract, is intended to make easy, and kids are learning to “do” things on it long before they know anything about a hammer or a knife. I put “do” in quotation marks because they give the appearance of doing things whereas most of the “doing” apparent on the screen was pre-engineered by software specialists to give the parents the sense that their children are “creative,” and the child the sense that they are in control. So the Educational sloyd principle of starting with the known and moving to the unknown requires us to rethink schooling. How do we start kids out on the computer and move them into real concrete studies and real results that offer meaning to family, community and self? It is rather perplexing. And many young parents and teacher will likely have difficulties reaching into the unfamiliar terrain of hands-on learning.

Change can be made to come, however. While all the powers that be are trying to revolutionize education by putting more testing and top down control in place, we need to cut loose and put all learning back into the hands of kids.

Teachers should be commanded to examine their own learning to assess what role their own hands had played in it and then be assessed on their effectiveness at putting their student’s hands at work in service to their learning.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood of others learning likewise.

batman and mom

I made some progress on my post card for the Incredible Edible fundraising auction at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts in June. A number of local artists were invited to make postcards of their own design, and mine is being made of wood.

I went to the post office yesterday to check to see if the ink they use to cancel stamps is effected by the Danish Oil finish I use. 

After I explained my mission, the clerk asked, "You are not going to really mail that are you?" My test proved that I can get the stamp cancelled first and then apply the Danish oil over their ink to provide a finish.

Water based inks like that in a gel pen, or post office cancellation stamp go well with oil finishes, whereas solvent based inks, like that from a Sharpie will be carried by the oil finish into the surrounding wood.

My elementary school students have continued making caped super heroes. Whether in first grade or in 6th, the enthusiasm has been the same. One first grader made two figures, batman and mom, as shown in the photo. (Facebook readers will have to go to the blog to see) For batman, he decided to use dowels for ears.

Today I will begin moving the first of the equipment into the new wood shop at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood of others learning likewise.

Wisdom of the Hands Event

We are having a Wisdom of the Hands fundraising reception  in Eureka Springs on Sunday, April 30, from 3 to 5 PM. If you wish to attend, please RSVP at 479-253-7888 or by email.

If you are unable to attend and wish to support the Wisdom of the Hands Program at the Clear Spring School, donations can be sent to Clear Spring School, PO Box 511, Eureka Springs, AR 72632, or by Paypal on the Clear Spring School website.

So why would someone support a small woodworking program in a small school in a relatively small city in Northwest Arkansas? We are at the cutting edge of what education can be and had best become, and a relatively small investment is what keeps us moving forward.

Today in the Clear Spring School wood shop, students will be making more super heroes, and other interesting things. I am also cleaning the shop for an open house on Saturday April 29.

I have been working on laminated veneer post cards, one of which will be auctioned at the Incredible Edibles Art Show to support the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. Artists from among many supporters of ESSA are asked to make post cards that will be displayed and sold at the event.

The first photo shows the layers of veneer held tightly to the form by the vacuum press as the glue dries.

The laminated "card" will be shaped and sanded to a more interesting form. The mold for the "card" was sawn from a block of solid walnut.

Make, fix, create, and help others to learn likewise.

action figures...

Yesterday we made caped action figures in wood shop, inspired by the student's study of "community helpers".... people who make our small city work for the benefit of all. I prepared for the lesson by making some caped action figures of my own. One is super librarian, made in honor of the librarians that keep our wonderful Carnegie Public Library in service to all readers.

The second was in honor of Friedrich Froebel's Charcoal Maker. I read students the poem from Mother Play about the Charcoal Maker and told how the Charcoal maker, frighteningly covered in soot, served an important role in the community and deserved the childrens' respect.  As the poem describes, the charcoal he made was essential to the blacksmith, and for keeping homes warm for the children inside.

One student made a hospital worker as shown. Another made an action figure in honor of his step-father who is such an important influence in his life.

I hope this lesson also helps my readers to understand a bit about how we plan projects. Making a model is essential in helping the teacher (me) to work out the process in advance and to provide a concrete example as the starting point of the child's labor and creativity.

Their main teacher had laid the groundwork for this project by arranging field trips to visit a variety of helpers in our small community. For me to know what the students were doing in their classroom studies helped me to select a project that would be in context.

The upper elementary students were so intrigued by what the younger students had made, they came into the wood shop saying, "I want to make one of those, too!" And so they did.

Part of the inspiration for this project came from a tiny hand powered Singer sewing machine. I wanted the students to have something to sew, and a small cape provided a beginning project. The students had made wooden dolls earlier in the year so they already knew a bit about the processes for the wooden part of the project.

Make, fix, create, and extend the opportunity for others to learn likewise.

finished chest.

Yesterday I applied a first coat of Danish oil to several things I've made recently, including the tool chest shown in the photos here.

It's a pleasure watching the wood change color as the finish is applied. It becomes darker and more reflective, and assures me that the object will be better protected in use.

The cherry in this chest will darken to a richer red-brown from exposure to light. Months from now, the rest of the box (except for inside) will be the same dark color as the turned knob. The inside and the tray will darken too, but at a much slower rate unless I leave the box open part time, allowing the inside to catch up.

My first, second and third grade students have been studying "community helpers." I am interested in having them make super-hero action figures complete with sewn capes, representing such important community helpers as our local librarians, teachers, mothers, and fire fighters.

So this afternoon they will make wooden figures and learn to sew capes using the tiny Singer Model 20 sewing machine that I acquired for use in the class. Depending on how things work out, I may have photos of local action figures tomorrow. I expect it to be fun for me, and I hope it interests my kids. In order to prepare I'll make a few super hero models of my own.

A favorite figure I plan to make is based on Froebel's "charcoal maker" illustrated in his book, Mother Play, or Mutter Und Kose Lieder. The charcoal maker at that time was someone Froebel's students would meet and be frightened of as he came from the forest looking wild and covered with soot. Froebel's song, illustration and finger play would tell the children he was no one to fear, but instead had an important part to play in the wholeness of life. I'll also make a librarian.

I know some of my readers are interested in guidance for the selection of projects for kids to make. The first thing is to make whatever you plan to have them make yourself. This helps you to foresee any problems they might have with regard to holding stock or safe operation of tools. It also provides a model for them to follow.

Allow your teaching to be organized not by models but by growing experience in the use of various tools. Salomon had devised a set of models, but most of his followers saw only the models, not the underlying exercises in the safe use of tools that he also described and upon which the models were based. His model series were systematically arranged according to a series of exercises that were to build the child's skill and understanding just as Froebel's gifts were to be systematically applied.

At this point, having done what I do for so many years, my cupboards contain projects that we've done in the past. There are boats, toy cars, trains, puppets, boxes, tool boxes, and many practical things that kids can make. The kids see those things and want to make them (or not). But whether you've made something as an example for them to follow or be inspired by, or whether you've pulled something from the cupboard of things made in the past, a part of the theory of Educational Sloyd applies: Move from the concrete to the abstract.

The point of Kindergarten as it was first invented, was to introduce the child to the wholeness of real life, not to get a leg up on the competition through increased emphasis on reading, standardized testing and academics. Educational Sloyd shared that original intent.

Make, fix, create, and inspire others to learn likewise.

paperfuge...

Yesterday I sanded boxes to send to Appalachian Spring Gallery, and today I'll apply Danish Oil to a variety of projects that have been waiting for it. With my income these days being balanced between writing, teaching and making, the selling of work gets pushed to the back burner. In addition to oiling boxes, I'll take breaks to clean the wood shop at school, and to work on a product review and an article for Fine Woodworking. Unless I get distracted from all that.

My daughter, teaching chemistry and physics in New York City, marched in the Science parade in New York, and her sign, acknowledging both her position as a teacher and the importance of science in all things, brought new friends. My own spirits are lifted by a generation that will sooner or later send us back in the right direction and reverse the efforts of the Trump administration. I hope we once again protect our air, water, lands and forests from corporate predation. Corporations are NOT people, have no soul, and must be controlled by regulations to prevent them from inflicting huge irreparable damage on the planet.

My daughter alerted me to two new science tools. One is the origami microscope that can be bought for a dollar and that folds to fit your pocket. Another is the use of the button toy model to make a paper centrifuge or paperfuge.

We've made hundreds of button toys in the wood shop at Clear Spring School, but never thought of them being for something so important. But why should it be any surprise that a toy might serve as a model for a useful tool? Toys are tools for learning, and are most effective when children have made them themselves. The sound of the paperfuge at work is one that my students know

The seesaw that the students and I made at Clear Spring School continues to be the main attraction at recess. There are nearly always 4 students on at a time, with one or two standing by for a turn. Is it because they'd never seen seesaws before or because they had taken a hand in the making of it? I know the latter to be true.

Make, fix, create, and enjoy helping others to learn likewise.

Happy Earth Day...

Scott Bultman has a new trailer for the History of Kindergarten project, and it now includes short b roll views of some of my students at work. https://vimeo.com/214080852/5b3a212cdf

I found it lovely to see some of my student's working represented in this important project.

One of the questions that Scott asked me to answer in my interview had to do with the relationship between Educational Sloyd and the rising maker movement. My point was that the maker movement is a wonderful turn of events that would be enriched by an understanding of its place in the history of manual arts education. Makers have a sense that they've arrived here fresh, that they present something new and vital, and that manual arts training is something old and no longer essential. From that narrow view a rich history and depth of purpose may be missed.

This being Earth Day brings part of that important story to mind. Woodworking in particular, working with very basic tools, as simple as a knife, can provide an intersection between personal creativity and the natural world that surrounds us and upon which we depend. In a maker space, the student is surrounded by manufactured materials and processes that tend to be far greater than arms length from the natural world.

A simple way to think about Educational Sloyd, comparing it to the maker movement would be to think of organic and natural vs. inorganic and chock full of artificial ingredients. Woodworking is one of the ways that students engage in an exploration of materials drawn directly from the natural world. As children spend  more time on the artifice presented by their high tech digital devices, an exploration of the natural world through the child's personal manipulation of natural materials and expressions of personal creativity are far more essential, not less so.

My youngest students love to give me things, and the image above is what Joe called "organic wood." It has a nail carefully driven home at each end. Evidently, the term organic (for Joe) refers to wholesome materials, simple and pure to which no bad things have been done.

Today, scientists are gathering in Washington, DC in a march for science. Some scientists have been concerned that speaking out will cause them to lose voice. The following is from the organizers of the march, with whom I agree.

“In the face of an alarming trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery, we might ask instead: can we afford not to speak out in its defense? There is no Planet B.”

Donald Trump will no doubt celebrate Earth Day by removing more of the carefully crafted regulations designed to protect our environment. As we near the 100th day of his presidency, he can lay claim to having destroyed more of the regulations intended to protect the planet, and put more of the environment at risk than any other president to date.

Happy Earth Day. May we all work toward living in a world in which no bad things have been done.

Make, fix, create and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

odd mail...

I received an odd piece of mail yesterday. It was a request for sources for the brand of hinge that I reviewed in a recent issue of Fine Woodworking.

But what made it odd was not the subject nor the sender, but that I received it at all. As you can see, it was addressed not to my address, but to my type of work.  "Mr. Doug Stowe, Boxmaker and Furniture Maker" is not an address but an occupation.

Where else but the small town of Eureka Springs, where I've lived for the past 40 plus years, would postal clerks actually deliver mail with such an insufficient address?

The envelope contained a stamped/self-addressed envelope, which is now on its way to an address in Indiana.

The Vertex round stopped hinges that inspired the Indiana woodworker to write me are available from Rockler.com and from Woodcraft.com

 I have written many times of the wonder of small town life. It may not be for everyone. Folks can get on each other's nerves. But when a piece of mail arrives in such an unexpected manner, it reminds me to feel a sense of belonging in this place.  It is wise wherever you are to plant your feet and make an investment in community life.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn and grow likewise.

call to makers.

We are developing a gallery section for my box guitar book, and if any of my readers have favorite makers to suggest, please submit contact information to the comments section below.

The book have a section in the gallery about Ed Stilley's guitars as well as work by another local maker, Ron Lutz. My emailed call for guitars brought an immediate result from an old friend Zeke Leonard whose guitars are lovely as you can see.

In the meantime, progress continues on the new wood studio at ESSA, and shipping of the work benches will be today.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

starting with the interests of the child

I was contacted by a man interested in starting a woodworking program who had read some old books about Sloyd and was surprised (it seemed) that we at the Clear Spring School are not following a model series. He wanted to know if I knew of anyplace in the world where Sloyd was being practiced as it was and as represented in the old books.

I explained that it would be a violation of the principles of Educational Sloyd if it was. I attempted to explain my own program as follows:

No, I do not claim to be following Sloyd, but rather attempting to utilize the philosophy of Sloyd, outlined as follows.

• Start with the interests of the child.
• Move from the known to the unknown
• from the easy to more difficult,
• from the simple to the complex and
• from the concrete to the abstract.

As with most models (sloyd itself is a model), there are problems that emerge when slavishly applied. Salomon saw sloyd as a "casting mold" from which better models would emerge. Or in other words, he saw it as a step in a process.

But what happens in all models is that adherents adopt them as though they are the last word. Sloyd should be the first word, not the last.

So starting with the interests of the child, what he knows, etc, the models or the 19th century are not necessarily what a child in the 21st wants to make. I could work to come up with my own model series that would be just as out of touch if I am truly attempting to consider and continuously reconsider the interests of the child.

So my own teaching requires flexibility, some negotiation, and a lot of individual attention to each child.

I've gotten requests from teachers who want me to share a “Clear Spring School woodworking curriculum.” I have a philosophy instead, that attempts to utilize the principles of Educational Sloyd.

I am sorry if this philosophy does not give a clearer starting point for teachers interested in starting programs. The important part is to simply start. Just as the student will learn by observation, so does the teacher. Choose some very simple models of things your child would like to make, remembering that at first you and your child will know very little about what it takes, the skill involved, or the steps. For that starting point, some of the old Sloyd models from the books can be of clear use.

Mike Mascelli, one of my fellow teachers at Marc Adams School of Woodworking, suggested that my students would love learning to sew. He suggested the Singer Model 20 as being the ideal machine to get them started. It was originally sold as a "toy" but one that does real sewing. My first, second and third grade students will start today. When one little girl saw the machine, her eyes lit up. "Doll clothes!" she exclaimed.

Make, fix, and create. Help others to learn likewise.

Loss of K...

We call it K-12 education, but let's just re-number educational years 1-13 and leave the K out. The K was to stand for Kindergarten but Kindergarten is not what it once was, nor what it was intended to be, so to call it K is a misnomer and a lie.

Kindergarten was a time of learning through play and through which a child was to embrace his or her wholeness within community, not to launch the children in a scheme of advancement through standardized tests.

This article (one of hundreds about the death of Kindergarten) was sent to me by John Grossbohlin in New York: I've been in education for 20 years, and there's a disturbing trend afoot in kindergartens around the US.

The trend has been going on far longer than that, and the loss of real K in schooling along with the general trend to eliminate woodworking, too, has been going on for many, many years. Schools and educators have embraced a systematic elimination of play. Parents have gone along with it out of fear that their children, unless driven relentlessly by others will not be given the tools to keep up. The author notes:

Giving children a chance to play and engage in hands-on learning activities helps them internalize new information as well as compare and contrast what they're learning with what they already know. It also provides them with the chance to interact with their peers in a more natural setting and to solve problems on their own. Lastly, it allows kindergartners to make sense of their emotional experiences in and out of school.

So let's start being honest with ourselves. If we don't know what K was intended to mean by those who brought it to us in the first place, then we lie when we refer to K-12 education. Americans should make an effort to learn about Froebel and the invention of Kindergarten and stop making a lie of what he invented. If you know nothing about K, Norm Brosterman's book Inventing Kindergarten is a place you might begin your studies. If you want to do something about what you learn, consider my recent book, Making Classic Toys that Teach.

The image of play in a school yard is from 1918, a Catalog of Play Equipment. – Jean Lee Hunt.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.

what works can also hurt.

Educational theorist Yong  Zhao, at the University of Kansas, noted the usually unstated matter of consequences. You do one thing, and there are serial effects. For instance, some reading programs may make students read better and hate reading. Was that the consequence we were most hoping for? In this article Zhao notes: What works can hurt: Side effects in Education.

It appears to me that the problem that educational policy makers have is that they are too busy looking at the big picture and not at the individual child, or children and their specific circumstances and needs.

A classic tale is of the philosophers walking along in the starlight, contemplating the mysteries of the universe. The tale was brought to an unhappy ending when they fell headlong into a drainage ditch. We do not know whether or not they drowned, but we do know that American education is drowning under the influence of standardized testing. Even the individual classroom teacher may  be so focused on spreadsheets, work sheets and test scores that they may miss the needs of the individual child.


Zhao notes, that if you were to buy a medicine, the requirements of law are that you be provided information concerning the possible side effects and unintended consequences, but that when it comes to our children and their educations, no such badly needed warning is supplied. We are to simply take the word of those who are selling us something, and that something may have disastrous effects.

I can keep telling you about the Clear Spring School and the need for children to do real things. Do you mind? It will get easier for me and for all our children if you direct more folks to this blog. Together, we can put our children's hands to work, and wrest back their learning from the tyrants who, focused solely on standards have never witnessed the creative potential inherent in each and every one of our kids.

In my home wood shop, I am working on products to fill an order for Appalachian Spring Galleries in Washington, DC. The Babe-Bot glue dispenser is my new best tool. Unlike the tiny squeeze glue bottles I've used for many years, the Babe-Bot is less likely to clog, and holds far more glue. You can see that it applies an evenly controlled line of glue, thus helping to avoid the mess that comes with too much glue. Unlike accordion style dispensers, it takes very little pressure to unsure a steady flow of glue, and the lid will not pop off when you least expect it. It is also easier to fill.

Make, fix, create, and increase an understanding that we all learn best likewise.

in the image of the creator

My tool chest is complete except for applying two coats of Danish Oil. I added a turn button to keep the drawer shut during transport, then a lift out tray and straps to keep the lid from opening too far.

It is heavy and rather robust despite being made of thin wood but I am pleased with how it turned out. The type of construction used will make certain it lasts for generations.

A friend asked how I can use such a lovely box for tools. "It will get beat up," he says. But what else could I use it for? Being made gives meaning to the maker. Being used and being useful gives meaning to the object.

I marvel at how addictive the work of making useful things can be. On the day of Easter "Resurrection" as Christians are celebrating an important day of faith, the questions comes up, Were we "created in God's image?" as they say, or on the other hand, have we created our concept of God the creator in recognition of our own power?  In either case, human beings when seen in their best light are creative.

There is something magical or spiritual when we join in the process of creation. To make a tool chest is not quite as profound as making a flower, but human beings from our earliest days should be encouraged to make beautiful and useful things and to thus be of some service to family, community and self.

The most interesting thing is that a man can spend a few minutes each day and in the course of a week, make a useful object that can last for a lifetime or more.

In addition to work on the tool box, I've nearly completed my first large turned bowl from green wood. More sanding will be required, and as it dries, it will take a slight oval shape due to being turned from green wood.

Make, fix, create, and increase the opportunity for others to learn likewise.

travel journal...

One of my students, wanting to do something different, used dripping crayons to design the cover of his travel journal. Despite my concerns that it would  not be done in time for their trip on Monday, the book is lovely as you can see. It reminds me of painting by Monet. He used a water based polyurethane to seal it, and I was surprised it would work over a wax based product.

Last night we had dinner at the large table I had made for friends. The table set for eight is shown in the second image.

Make, fix, create, and share a love of learning likewise.

A near completed cherry tool box...

My cherry tool box is nearly complete. I added forged steel hardware with a rusted finish, as you can see in the photo.

The turned shaker style knob may not fit the overall character of the box, yet. I expect the tool box to darken significantly in time to match the color of the knob.

After this photo was taken, I added a turn button to lock the drawer so it does not slide open during transport, and I added a hand forged iron padlock that I purchased in a flea market in Stockholm in 2006.

Today at the Clear Spring School, the last of my high school students will finish their travel journals, prior to their departure on Monday for Kansas City, Missouri, and then by train to Philadelphia.

Yesterday at the Clear Spring School, we were visited by the head of our accreditation association, ISACS. Our first, second and third grade students were studying weight and balance using a balance scale in the classroom, and noticed that the new see saw that we'd made could be used the same way.

They weighed two bean bag chairs using  the see saw as their scale after first guessing which was heavier, the red or the blue. The red bag won, though the difference between them could have been no more than ounces, and the students and teacher, having carried the lesson outside on a beautiful day, will always remember more about weight and balance, as they were doing real things.

Make, fix, create, and take greater part in the beauty that surrounds you.

travel journals, and rusty new stuff.

My high school students have been finishing their travel journals and will go to Kansas City on Monday and then go by train to Philadelphia for a week of study. Their hand made travel journals are an important part of preparation for this trip. Their journals  reflect their own interests, and what they hope to get from their travels. Some will be kept for many years in remembrance of what they've learned.

My first, second and  third grade students have also become interested in making simple hand sewn books. What they see, they want to make for themselves.

Today the head of ISACS will visit the Clear Spring School, and as you can see, hardware has arrived for completing my tool box. These simple, purposely rusted hinges, hasp and handles are made in India, but are very much like what one might have found made in an earlier day in the local blacksmith's shop. I applied a coat of paste wax to protect them from more rust, and to achieve a nice rusty brown color.

Make, fix, create, and improve the chances of others learning likewise.