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: A Little Me Time

Just missed my flight to Boston, but on the upside, I get a little me time.  I’ve been working pretty steady this weekend.  I re-organizedthe workspace.  Before: And then – a new storage bench and some rearranging: That new bench is a salvaged office door, ripped in half and cut to needed lengths.  It weighsContinue reading “This Week In the Shop: A Little Me Time”

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”