Luke's Half-Pipe

When Luke came into the shop as a sixth grader he asked several times if he could ever build a small half-pipe for his tech-decks. Today Luke and I put one together quick for him before his seventh grade year comes to a close this week.


Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com

Advisory in the Afternoon

I set up a back drop for an afternoon talk show for an advisory activity designed to help the students get to know each other. I had the "stage" set up when they walked in the door. The students quickly filled out an index card with their first name and some things they liked or liked to do. I selected Ann to host the show and read the cards to her as the students were forming a line to appear on stage. Then I gave Ann the cards (even Letterman has cards, plus cue cards. Ann did not have cue cards. We didn't take time to make any.) I quickly reviewed the process of what we were about to do showing the students how to enter and exit the stage and telling them they each had about 30-45 seconds of air time. We have 16 students in our advisory, which means Ann had 15 guests to interview. We did this in one take, straight through with out shutting off the camera. I only cut out about 45 seconds of the film to make it short enough for SchoolTube. We finished our 25 minute advisory period with about 4 extra minutes to watch part of the video with the video camera.

Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com

Cutting a Circular Top on a Band Saw

A high school shop teacher from California sent the following in an email:

I found your great videos on Teacher Tube. I really like the one titled "Using a Jig on a Band Saw. I was wondering how the Jig is set up. It shows the ease and precision of use, but does not show how the Jig was created or works. Could you send me more info on that?

First of all thanks for the email asking about the circle cutting jig on the band saw. Here is a brief description of the jig and process with some photos. I will embed the schooltube video later.

The jig is simply a piece of plywood that sets on the table of the band saw. The plywood has a 3/8" bolt in the middle inserted and counter sunk from the bottom side. The bolt extends about 3/8" above the surface and will be inserted into a 3/8" hole drilled into the bottom of the project piece that you want to cut circular. The plywood jig is clamped to the band saw table with the distance between the bolt and the blade equal to the radius of your circle you want to cut. Then you will need to free hand cut into your project piece until the hole on the bottom of the project piece can be dropped onto the bolt. Once the hole in the project piece is sitting firmly on the bolt you simply rotate the project piece into the band saw until the circle is cut out.











The Jig










The 3/8" hole in the bottom
















Fitting bolt into hole














Turn and cut










A happy, safe student















The top on the doll table





The tables are great for the American Girl dolls.

I will embed the video of this process later today on this blog. There are more and better videos available on schooltube.com at http://www.schooltube.com/videosearch.php?q=wiemers

Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com

Accident Free Sixth Grade Shop: 2 days

Today we began our third day of the quarter and my third day with 151 sixth grade shop students. The first two days we go over shop expectations, general shop safety and general machine safety. I make several comparisons between a mistake in math, spelling or history class with a mistake in shop class. I explain that parents are usually happy when a student gets 9 out of 10 spelling words right or 9 out of 10 questions right on a quiz. In fact, 9 out of 10 is considered an A- or B+. But, in the shop a parent who has a student who ends the quarter with 9 out of 10 fingers is not satisfied with the performance of the teacher or the student. Parents expect 100% safety in the shop.

Because of this, when we take the safety test next week, any student who misses one question on the fill in the blank written test will fail the test and will repeat the entire written exam. They will take the test until they can score a 100%. Then during the operation of a machine there will always be a spotter watching them cut and holding a clip board to mark any violation of twelve basic safety rules. If there is a violation by the machine operator they will stop using the machine and retake a modified form of the written test.

So far, the students have just been sitting and listening to me review the rules, tell safety stories and give simple demonstrations.

We have another safety feature on the front door as they come into the shop. It is a flip chart of the number of days the sixth grade has gone without an accident. After two days we have reached "Accident Free For 2 Days." Of course, all they have done is sit and listen to me, but I am trying to build momentum. Yesterday I almost had to take the chart back to zero because while I was talking one student did tip over in their chair and came crashing down to the floor. I had never seen this occur before during a safety lecture. I hope it is not a bad omen. Some assume the student fell asleep as I rambled on and on about safety. The student was not hurt (except for their pride) so I did not count it as an injury.

Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com

Mini-golf Course Work Resumes

After a failed beginning as an Advisory project we have returned to the construction of a portable 9 hole mini-golf course. Sad to say the teacher (me) misjudged the students a few weeks ago by only giving them the concept of the project, a stack of supplies, equipment and a general assignment. I did not anticipate the inability of the students to visualize the mini-golf course while looking at a roll of carpet and some strips of particle board. Then to make matters worse, my instructions were too vague and I allowed the students too much independence.

We took about a two week break from the project. I had planned to stop using the assembly line concept and individualize the project, but after observing my students over the last two weeks I realized they performed well in organized, assembly line set ups. I have concluded that my earlier failure was that the assembly line set up was not tight enough (or, not structured enough). It did not have simple and specific directions. Adjustments have been made and the project was reintroduced.

Yesterday my normal class of 13 met in the hallway in front of the shop. We talked briefly about whatever they wanted to for a few minutes then I explained quickly what I had set up in the shop. I let them choose which job they wanted and then assigned a job to those who didn't want to do anything. You can watch the video below that shows a few minutes of yesterday's 25 minute Advisory class.

Today a couple of teachers were absent during Advisory, which meant that when I went out in the hall to meet my class I had an extra six students. I panicked (but, only on the inside where the students could not see). I now had a larger group to quickly sell the project too and find something for them to do. Fortunately my regular students returned to their assignments from the day before and I added another step in the assembly line. With the students gracious participation everyone engaged and we made more progress in our 25 minutes before we returned to regular classes.

Now with careful classroom management and the promise to play a few rounds of golf once the first 6 or 7 holes are done, I think we will be able to complete the portable mini-golf course in the next few weeks.

Mr. Wiemers
http://www.mrwiemersshop.com/

Reading a Class

Sometimes a group of students remind me of a caged pet that is let out of its cage. The poor animal has no idea it can run and be free. The pet is comfortable sitting in the cage and having someone give it food and water. Or, in this case the students are comfortable showing up for class and having the teacher talk to them in a confined setting with no options but to be entertained with typical classroom practices. Then there are other times when a class is ready to get out of the confines of the traditional class room and run with ideas and opportunities the teacher can present to them.

Today in Advisory we sat in the hallway and read newspapers and each student then reported the news they read in a brief 30 second presentation. This led to some discussion and some interaction. So, it was a good day but a simple day. Tomorrow we will do something else completely unrelated. The students had already forgot to check for rainfall and water the plants.

I think the teacher needs to read the class and then make the connection with the class in order to communicate. The chemistry of the class is as important as the teacher's presentation. One class laughs at the joke that the next class doesn't even understand. One class will stand around the teacher in a close circle to listen for instructions, but another class will stand at a distance in little social pockets or pairs. Their behavior and tendencies are not right or wrong. These tendencies are the chemistry the group brings to the class that the teacher absolutely must adjust to. Otherwise the teacher will spend the entire class period trying to change the chemistry of the class instead of connecting and communicating. Reading the class is as important as reading the curriculum.

Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com

'Feed a Country' Advisory Project

As I was driving down the interstate today I thought of an advisory class project that involves planting seeds (carrots, peas, tomatoes) and then watering each of them based on the current daily rain fall in the country represented by the different pots. I am sure a project like this has been done a hundred times in schools around the world, but it was a new idea for me. I swung by a store on my way home and bought a bag of soil, 15 clay pots and the seeds as you see in this picture. We will start preparing to feed the world tomorrow.

We are currently building a nine hole mini-golf course in advisory, but after about five days of working on it the students started murmuring about my advisory being "boring" and saying "we want to do something fun like the other advisories." So, we had a little impromptu advisory group discussion and I asked them for some ideas that would be fun. The only thing they, or at least their spokespeople, could come up with was playing hide and seek through out the school for twenty minutes. I entertained the idea for a few moments, made some comments, asked some questions and soon the class discussion burned up the 25 minute advisory period for that day. (This would count as a team building day, I guess.)

I believe that in order to get the students to finish the nine-hole mini golf course project I will have to divide the holes and the students. I will then assign one hole to each set of partners. We will try this approach instead of the group project concept where we all work together as one big happy class (which is not happening) in assembly line fashion. I am going to give them a simple one hole project that they can visualize, work on and see instant progress. Plus, the competition between groups and the individual responsibility will be helpful. The students could not see the course coming together so they lost interest and stopped engaging. I hope that they will be able to engage and visualize the single hole concept. They could surprise me and not like that either.

But, while I was thinking about this advisory class issue as I drove cross-country on the interstate today, I thought it would be interesting to give each student a clay pot, some seeds and the name of a country. They will plant their seeds and then check the daily rain fall for that country or region on the Internet or in a newspaper each day . (It would also be cool to link up to an online live webcam from that country with an outside view that shows the weather, etc.) We will then form some way of transferring the actual amount of rainfall into some equivalent measure of water in our shop. In theory some clay pots (countries) will flourish and produce the beginnings of tomato, peas or carrot plants and others may not.

I am not so foolish to think that the students are going to be excited about this project either since it is a long way from running up and down the hallways playing hide and seek. We have to finish the golf course, feed the world and then make marshmallow launchers out of PVC pipe. I do understand, though, that none of these are as much fun as running up and down the hallways screaming and hiding.

I will let you know if any of the countries get fed. If not, we may be looking at a case of world famine caused by my advisory class.

Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com/