Teaching Redux - Long

Folks -

Well, I'm back from the Front with my report! Whoooeeeeeee..... What a gas!
I thought I'd have 15 kids in my first class at 9:30, so I went a little
before 8 to make copies of things for them and to make additional
preparation... Turns out that somehow there were glitches in admin, so I
only had 5 students and a single class, not 15 for 3 classes... I was
nervous at first, but as soon as I started talking about woodworking I got
comfortable. I was really surprised at just how fast the time went - the
class was 90 minutes and POOF... it only seemed like a few minutes. I had a
blast, and I *think* I see a spark in a couple of the kids - it's a start.

Anyway, of the five students, the only joints that they could name were
"fattie", "blunt" and "smoked".... I can see I'll need to be more careful
of double entendres in my plans.... 3 of the students are new to WW, the
other two "Knew Everything" (I know, because they told me), but it turns out
that they hadn't actually *built* anything.... ANYTHING.... in 3 semesters
of WW Shop. One of the kids that "knew everything" was wearing SLIPPERS....
I called him on it, and his only response was that he had the "right" to be
comfortable. So, the upshot.... NO slippers in shop, comfort or not...
Jeez....

All I talked about yesterday was safety. I kept things VERY general as to
how accidents occur and the mechanics involved - describing my own very
close call last summer with Mr. Pinkie vs. Mr. Woodworker II at Mr. General
350's house.... It got their attention. One of the things that I tried to
stress is that the nature of an accident is that you CANNOT react fast
enough in a dangerous situation to prevent injury. I talked about how many
MPH the tip of a sawblade (or router bit) travels at vs. how fast a nerve
signal travels and how the sawblade tip has nerve speed beat by at least 30
mph - every time. I did a demonstration with several of the students
testing their reaction times in grabbing a dollar bill (an old bar trick,
any of you ever try it?) that was released between their fingers - not one
student could catch it... so, I think that should stick with them... at
least until they put their slippers back on and have a blunt.

Finally, we walked around the shop and I identified each tool, what its'
general purpose was in the shop and a leededle bit about how it worked.
More on that with a formal lesson later, but it was a start.

A former teacher's aide came by and gave me a quick run down on some "shop
history" - I'll have more questions, but now I know what some of the piles
of parts are all about..... One thing that is frustrating tho'.... There
are stacks of short pcs of cedar, resawn from 4/4 stock - hundreds of
pcs.... Some have very narrow grooves cut in them.... these were a big
class project from a year or two ago to build a WHOLE bunch of small boxes.
Well, that's okay, but the TA that did all of the work, really didn't pay
attention to what he was doing. All of the stock is resawn, and cut to
length, but it wasn't surfaced after it was resawn! So, I have a bunch of 4
and 6" pcs of cedar with thicknesses varying between 3/16" and 3/8" with
"resaw rash" and dadoes cut only in the front and back pcs. The TA said
that the all of the pcs "still need planing" and the sides (the 4") pcs.
still need dadoes cut. Lord! So, what the heck am I going to do with all
of this stock that would be impossible/dangerous to surface and cut? The
other thing that was a real pisser is that I found several 8 and 10/4 oak
boards, about 2' long and 8 to 10" wide.... beautiful stuff, but too
light.... until I turned them over and found that they had been used as
"practice" for drilling holes.... dozens of.....holes..... drilled in 10/4
oak planks....

There are a whole bunch of unfinished/unknown projects laying about... the
predominant theme appears to be "Biker Chic" - I have more mirror frames
with "flame - tattoo" outlines than I can shake, well, a stick at.... and
the finish of choice BAR NONE... is....... Burn it with the propane torch,
wire brush it off, and cover it with polyurethane... So, I found out what
this means is:

Got a pine jewelry box? Burn it with the propane torch, wire brush it off,
and cover it with polyurethane...
Got a cherry cutting board? Burn it with the propane torch, wire brush it
off, and cover it with polyurethane...
Got an giant mushroom labeled "shroom" scroll sawn out of QSWO? Burn it with
the propane torch, wire brush it off, and cover it with polyurethane...
Got a giant mahogany marijuana leaf? Burn it with the propane torch, wire
brush it off, and cover it with polyurethane...
Got a set of maple book ends? Burn it with the propane torch, wire brush it
off, and cover it with polyurethane...

I found the torch.... the spare bottle of propane..... made a special trip
and presented them as a gift to the maintenance dept, with a note to tell
them that woodshop didn't need them anymore and thanks!

My next class is tomorrow..... same kids.... I am going to start talking
about measuring, marking and layout. All told, I think I did okay...
so.....

I'd also like to thank ALL of you for your remarks and encouragement... I
really do appreciate the feedback from those of you that have taught and are
willing to share your insights.

More to come!

John Moorhead

Td

"Teamcasa"