Finished only one true project this week in the shop. Instead of trying to complete projects with the students, I slowed down and tried to focus on the journey, and focus on quality. What does it look like in my shop, and do I facilitate it, or do my students discover it for themselves? WhatContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: Quality from a Student”
Tag Archives: green
This Week In the Classroom: Progress in 2011
What a student-driven, project-based learning can result in: The joints look remarkably tight in this photo, and the stain quite even, but don’t be fooled. This is about as rough as work gets. (Not including the Clock, which may be finished and rejected this week…) It was the first attempt at an entire project likeContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Progress in 2011”
This Week In the Classroom: Curriculum Plan for Spring of 2011
Good week for struggles and not-quite-there-yets in the woodshop this week. Three projects left the floor complete. The first, chalkboard that has been wind-blown, vandalized and otherwise destroyed three times. We’ll see if it sticks this time. The other two projects I failed to take a picture of. On Mon or Tues, I’ll put upContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Curriculum Plan for Spring of 2011”
This Week in the Classroom: The Butterfly Bench & Butterfly Growers
I missed Monday and Tuesday this week – my wife was in the hospital with a parasite. Luckily, the parasite left on his own and we’ve named him Jack. Jack is our second son, born on Sun 13 at 5:30am. A whopping 8 lbs. A beautiful boy. But this blog is about woodshop & teaching. Continue reading “This Week in the Classroom: The Butterfly Bench & Butterfly Growers”
This Week In the Classroom: To Sand or Not to Sand…
Returned to school last week with so much to do and catch up on (I did make it to Boston and missed a long day full of meetings and schedule-making). I had several gorgeous “woodworking-as-the-way” moments, only one of which I’ll share. One of my neurologically different students asked to meet the teacher he wasContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: To Sand or Not to Sand…”
This Week in the Shop: The Other Xmas Gifts
I never did get my wife an engagement ring when I should have six years ago now. I finally picked up a diamond for her. In order to make it a surprise and get an excuse for “what did you do all day on your week off”, I spent half a week building her aContinue reading “This Week in the Shop: The Other Xmas Gifts”
Community Watch: ReUsed Houses in East Texas
I’m in the middle of a relaxing and surprisingly productive Christmas break and before I show my son’s second XMas gift, I’d like to share my last field trip of the year. I went to visit this guy, with two fellow teachers and ten kids. Dan Phillips is a self-taught house builder, plumber & electrician. Continue reading “Community Watch: ReUsed Houses in East Texas”
This Week in the Classroom: Mobile Base (The Volleyball Court)
Two weeks ago, my colleague and I had an interesting revelation. While installing a basketball hoop, we had extra cement. I had a shovel-ready stimulus bill waiting for him. It looked something like this: Which looks exactly like it is (brilliant statement there). It’s a empty tire (the rims lost to another project) with aContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: Mobile Base (The Volleyball Court)”
This Week in the Classroom: The Endtable Project
This fall, I became a full-time woodshop-esque teacher in a private school for students with neurological differences. It’s been a wild ride. My first order of business has been to outfit and carve out a woodshop on the campus. As we don’t have much access to electricity, I’ve been concentrating on hand tool mastery andContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: The Endtable Project”
WSC Designs 