woodshopcowboy

This Week in the Classroom: Diddley Bows

Make: Projects has great instructions on how to build your own diddley bow. Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.

Art Car 2012 is coming…

…soon. For those you in the Houston area, join us at the Art Car Parade on May 12th. More info at http://www.orangeshow.org. Make it safe & keep the rubber side down this weekend.

Irresistible Ideas for play based learning » Blog Archive » the venny-kensington adventure playground. ::: the venny-kensington adventure playground “The Venny” is one of only 5 staffed Adventure Playgrounds of its kind in Australia. It’s a free community backyard designed for children aged five to 16 years old from the Kensington public housing estate andContinue reading “My Type of Playground”

If I Had a Boat (Sailing Curriculum Unit)

In my middle school/junior high class, we’ve been exploring the relationship between sails, force, momentum, foam boats and area. I’ve used the unit to assess the graphing labs we conducted last quarter and introduce non-linear graphs. I began the unit by asking students to research old sailing boats and draw conclusions from the material theyContinue reading “If I Had a Boat (Sailing Curriculum Unit)”

On Kindles, iPads, SmartBoards, Prometheans and Apps in the Classroom

The textbook is now digital but students still encounter it as they always have: wisdom to be received, perhaps highlighted, annotated, and memorized, but not created, constructed, or made sense of. Teachers still interact with students as they always have. The platform doesn’t offer them any new insights into the ways their students think aboutContinue reading “On Kindles, iPads, SmartBoards, Prometheans and Apps in the Classroom”

Gear Review: SKIL 7-1/4″ Circular Saw Mo. 5480

If you are in the market for a 7-1/4″ circular saw for light homeowner use, I don’t see any reason not to buy a SKIL 5480. It’s cheap, durable construction, dead simple set-up and with a decent saw guide, can create clean cuts all day long. The hard plastic casing has held up to threeContinue reading “Gear Review: SKIL 7-1/4″ Circular Saw Mo. 5480”

Work Ethic

Teacher Tom: The Work Ethic Indeed “play” and “hard work” are not opposites: in fact, they can be seen as synonyms. Anyone who has ever played hard also knows how to work hard. There may be aspects of our play that we dislike, that are not “fun,” but we do them because they are steps inContinue reading “Work Ethic”

This Week in the Shop: Movin’ on Up!

As I’ve hinted at in earlier posts, I’ve officially moved my home shop (the Magic Shop, as I tend to call it) to my new home in suburban Texas. The move took nearly seven days to complete – two to three to move and another two or three for set-up. I’m very happy with theContinue reading “This Week in the Shop: Movin’ on Up!”

This Week in the Shop: Fixing the Couch

My wife bought a beautiful used Craftsman couch for the new house. Unfortunetely, the previous owner had two young boys. Boys, as any parent knows, have an instinctual hatred of nice things. My parents used to run around my house yelling “this is why we can’t have nice things” at random intervals throughout my childhoodContinue reading “This Week in the Shop: Fixing the Couch”

This Week in the Classroom: The Pencil Caddy

Thirteen pencils began the day, thirteen pencils ended the day. A new record!