Perfectly Circular Holes, Differentials And Wooden Cougar Skulls.

[Todd L Miller]

Hello, I teach woodshop in a small rural high school. Yes, thankfully both those things still exist and I have lurked here for some time but I have never posted before. I thought I would share a blog I wrote about my shop class. I hope you enjoy it.
http://quilbilly.blogspot.com/2012/12/perfectly-circular-holes-differentials.html#links
Todd

[Mel Fulks]

That's a good essay.I hope you also teach writing.

[jared herbert]

We need more teachers like you. I took 2 years of shop many years ago when I was in high school, 7th and 9th grade. I learned alot in each year, welding, woodwork, painted a pickup, etc, skills that are useful to anyone. I had some good teachers and some that were not so good, unfortunately, as in any other profession, there are some losers that need to be eliminated. Hopefully the good ones outweigh the bad. Our local, small, 350 k-12 enrollment still has vo-ag and shop classes. The teacher is a decent guy but is not skilled in all areas that he needs to be. The kids do like him though and he tries hard. Just my 2 cents worth Jared

[Jim Koepke]

Todd,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile doesn't include your location, but from your blog it seems you are on the Olympic Peninsula just north of me.

Thanks for posting your blog. It has been bookmarked for further reading. It has also been shared with some of my friends.

Too many people blame the teachers for the failings of the education bureaucracy.

Adding to that is people who feel we need to revise science or history to make it more palatable to those who wish to ignore reality.

As long as our younger generations have teachers like you to keep them inspired, there is still hope.

Thank you for the job you do.

jtk

[Todd L Miller]

Thanks for the comments. Mel, no I don't teach writing, I teach three different science classes besides shop. Writing teachers are a special breed and I don't think I could do it. Jared I am glad your district still offers vocational classes. One of the issues in voc-ed is finding teachers. Districts use that as an excuse to do away with programs, which are expensive. When I go to a voc-ed conference it's filled with old guys like me who have hearing aids. Jim, yes I work at Chimacum, just south of Port Townsend. I agree that teacher bashing seems to be the cure for a lot of our country's ailments, which I think, speaks to the difficulty of recruiting and retaining good young teachers.
Thanks again,
Todd