TW

Tom Watson

15/05/2009 6:21 AM

good news

Posted on Fri, May. 15, 2009


George Trout is master woodworking teacher
By Art Carey

Inquirer Staff Writer

At Springfield High School in Delaware County, the expression they use
is, "I'm going to Trout."

The kids all know what it means. It's shorthand for the
furniture-making taught by George Trout, who is single-handedly
responsible for beautifying the homes of Springfield with more
handcrafted furniture than you'd find in a Shaker village.

When his students talk about him, they use words like passionate,
caring, inspiring. Declares one admirer: "He's the man!"

He is one of those teachers who teach more than they seem to be
teaching. He is one of those teachers you never forget.

Trout is of average height, softening around the middle, fast
approaching 45. His hair is buzz-cut, and he wears metal-frame
glasses. This is his 23d year teaching at Springfield High, and he
estimates that altogether he has helped 3,000 students learn to handle
tools and shape wood.

Only about a half-dozen Trout alums have become professional
carpenters and cabinetmakers. But hundreds more have achieved levels
of proficiency beyond anyone's expectations. The work of his students
has been featured in national woodworking magazines 29 times.

"I do not consider it a woodworking program or myself a woodworker,"
Trout says. "I teach creativity through problem-solving. Woodworking
is just a vehicle to think independently."

His approach was evident one recent evening during the voluntary "open
labs" that he hosts so students can complete projects on time. Sawdust
flew, and sanders, drills, and saws made an ear-numbing racket as two
dozen students worked away.

Trout, serene amid bustling chaos, circulated constantly, fielding
questions, assisting with cutting and drilling, offering correction
and encouragement.

Colin Keegan, 17, a junior, was stumped about how to attach the
molding to the cherry headboard of the bed frame he was making.

"What are your ideas?" Trout asked.

"Wood screws?" Keegan wondered.

"They're going to show," Trout said. "What else can you do?"

Keegan thought for a moment. "Dowels?" he offered.

"That's it." Trout said.

It was a typical instance of his teaching method, as ancient and wise
as Socrates.

"I almost never answer questions," Trout confided. "I throw another
question back at them, so it will lead them in the right direction. I
tell my students, 'Use your brain before you use mine and you'll learn
how to solve problems in any field you choose.' "

"He really challenges us to do things ourselves," said Mallory
Sminkey, 17, a senior who has taken Trout's class for four years. "A
lot of times it seems like he ignores me, but he wants me to figure it
out myself so I feel more pride. He gives his observations, but it's
ultimately up to us."

And so it went. A student needed help cutting blocks for corner
molding. A student needed help attaching the legs to her love seat. A
student was baffled by how to close a surprise gap in the vanity she
was making.

"Mr. Trout?" "Mr. Trout?" "Mr. Trout?" was the chorus line of the
evening.

Trout attended to each and every plea and query. He had been at school
since 7:30 a.m. He had not eaten dinner. He would not leave until
nearly midnight. Typical for Trout. He has not taken a sick day in 23
years.

Trout, a bachelor, lives in a meticulously restored Victorian
farmhouse in Springfield. A native of York, he enjoyed working with
his hands as a boy and used to sell items he made from scrap wood. A
Millersville University graduate, he interviewed for the Springfield
job in 1986. "It was a dilapidated program," he recalls, "and I
thought I could fix it." Back then, only about 30 students were
enrolled. Today, about 135 take his classes, many because older
brothers and sisters raved about the experience.

"He's very helpful, devoted, and caring," said Christy Kobasa, 17, who
was building a triple dresser with serpentine drawers from African
ribbon mahogany. "He puts in a lot of hours and wants everyone to
succeed."

"He's so dedicated he makes us work harder," said Tim Gillen, 18, a
senior who was fashioning chairs for a dining-room table. "If he
didn't come to school, this program would be nothing."

The students design and build the projects themselves. Their projects
range wide; two students are racing to complete harpsichords.

Trout keeps a photo album of some of the more amazing pieces - a clock
whose ornamental fretwork involved more than 1,500 cutouts, a
reproduction Victorian Wooton desk with 73 drawers - and he posts
photos of exemplary work on the classroom wall.

Each year, the students display their work at the school's
"Celebration of the Arts," a show that attracts thousands and that
will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday.

Parents spend $50,000 to $60,000 a year on materials, and Trout must
shepherd them all to completion. Many pieces are finished only a day
or two before the festival. Always, it's a frantic and exhausting
marathon, says Trout, and always well worth the reward - "the tears of
so many proud parents."

One of them is Rose Addis, 54, whose three sons, all now graduated,
each "took Trout" for four years. Her house is a veritable furniture
gallery, adorned with 12 years' worth of her sons' craftsmanship and
Trout's influence.

"The quality is just gorgeous - that's the only word I can use," Addis
says. "He's like a one-man band playing all these instruments,
orchestrating all these children. He has actually taught my sons what
my late husband would have if he had been around. He has been an
inspiration to the boys, and to me, and for that I'll never forget
George Trout."
Regards,

Tom Watson
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/


This topic has 4 replies

sS

[email protected] (Scott Lurndal)

in reply to Tom Watson on 15/05/2009 6:21 AM

15/05/2009 6:48 PM

"Lowell Holmes" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>"Tom Watson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Posted on Fri, May. 15, 2009
>>
>>
>> George Trout is master woodworking teacher
>> By Art Carey
>>
>> Inquirer Staff Writer
>snip
>
>
>> Tom Watson
>> http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/
>
>
>Can you post a link to photographs of some of the students work?
>
two seconds with google came up with the following:

http://www.paxtonpatterson.com/PDF/Woodworking.pdf

LH

"Lowell Holmes"

in reply to Tom Watson on 15/05/2009 6:21 AM

15/05/2009 5:48 PM


"Tom Watson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Posted on Fri, May. 15, 2009
>
>
> George Trout is master woodworking teacher
> By Art Carey
>
> Inquirer Staff Writer
snip


> Tom Watson
> http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/


Can you post a link to photographs of some of the students work?

PB

Pat Barber

in reply to Tom Watson on 15/05/2009 6:21 AM

18/05/2009 7:56 PM

Wonderful story ...

Tom Watson wrote:
> Posted on Fri, May. 15, 2009
>
>
> George Trout is master woodworking teacher
> By Art Carey

LH

"Lew Hodgett"

in reply to Tom Watson on 15/05/2009 6:21 AM

15/05/2009 7:11 PM


"Tom Watson" wrote:

> George Trout is master woodworking teacher

Thank you.

Lew


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