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Thread: High School Woods Course: Woods 101--TOPICS??

  1. #16
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    Feb 2003
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    Glad to see a wood-working class in school. My first experience in wood shop was in the 8th. grade. Made a book case and cut the dados with a hand saw and chisel. My grand-son recently had one semester of wood shop and their project was to build a simple shelf. They did use a table saw & a router. He gave me his shelf for a Christmas present and I proudly mounted it on the wall above my computer.


    shelf.jpg

    How do you keep the picture from being rotated???
    Last edited by Von Bickley; 02-15-2019 at 12:50 PM.
    Army Veteran 1968 - 1970
    I Support the Second Amendment of the US Constitution

  2. #17
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    Alot of the high school around me are getting entry level CNC machines for the kids to learn, kids love technology! But I think joiners and table saws are a must to learn about, basic joinery skills; dados mortise/ tennon, etc. Good luck, I learned most of what I know from my high school teacher!

  3. #18
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    I have helped kids of various ages with woodworking.

    Some people are inspired by having a lot of different material on hand. Others, like me, draw a plan, get materials, and machine and assemble them into a product.

    One project that has worked well with kids is wooden airplanes and rockets. The airplanes need wings with the correct bevels, front and back. They can be launched from a spring loaded catapult. Rockets are easier. Boats with sails are good for younger kids.

    A more academic exercise is wooden scale models of the student's homes. All the wood will be thin, and can be cut on a band saw, scroll saw, or by hand. Hand tools work well. Learning to sharpen chisels and planes is a must. A scale drawing from field measurements, using Sketchup, is a good place to start.

    If kids really want to learn how to build furniture, teaching them how to mill wood flat and square with a jointer, planer, and table saw; and how to sharpen a chisel, is the beginning.

  4. #19
    I think a lesson plan which works from the principle of there being two basic divisions of furniture:

    - platforms
    - boxes

    would be a good basis to begin from.

    Have you studied the history of traditional crafts instruction? This quote about the Sloyd method is insightful:

    The goal of ... this training was not just to help find a job, but to help round out the person. Students may never pick up a tool again, but they will forever have the knowledge of how to make and evaluate things with ... hand and ... eye and appreciate the labor of others.

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Von Bickley View Post


    How do you keep the picture from being rotated???
    shelf.jpg

    The best way is to preview your photos in a photo editing program and see how they display. That is what I did with your photo. When you see the photo is wrong in a post you have 24 hours to make changes. You might also want to read through the various post regarding photo orientation in the Tech Support Forum.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  6. #21
    I took Woodworking 101 and 102 as an adult about 20 years ago. The most valuable thing I learned was safety. He taught us all the things that are not intuitive. Also taught us the safety zones around all the machines for ours and those around us. Our 101 class involved mostly hand tools to show the relationship/evolution from hand tools to power. We built a very simple book stand with a couple of angles and a dado. Goo start. 102 was more power tools and we built a small Shaker style table with tapered legs, routed edges, and a drawer. That taught us a lot. We were at least introduced to the basics of stock prep, joinery, panel glue-ups, and routing. He did a lot of the setups, but explained them. Then, we would all do that operation. That seemed to work pretty well and was a good time management technique. We used pile of southern birch that he got a good deal on.

    Good luck with your classes and thanks for the effort to teach our young folks. They'll learn more than woodworking for sure. I like the idea of cell phone stands and such as the kids can relate to that. There are some cell phone amplifier stands out there to that are fairly simple. Oh, one last thought is measurement and marking techniques. And maybe a few fractions!

    Tony

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    shelf.jpg

    The best way is to preview your photos in a photo editing program and see how they display. That is what I did with your photo. When you see the photo is wrong in a post you have 24 hours to make changes. You might also want to read through the various post regarding photo orientation in the Tech Support Forum.
    Thanks Lee,
    I took the photo with my phone, downloaded to my computer, rotated the photo and saved it. When I downloaded to SMC, it went back to it's original position????.

    Thanks again for rotating the picture. Have a good day.
    Army Veteran 1968 - 1970
    I Support the Second Amendment of the US Constitution

  8. #23
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    E TN, near Knoxville
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    About wood

    I didn't get to read the other responses yet, but in my opinion one thing is very useful for ALL who work with wood, whether building furniture, woodturning, carving, etc. It's so basic and so fundamental but unfortunately often ignored when in a hurry to get to making shavings and sawdust.

    That's the structure of wood, how it grows in annual spurts, how it behaves when drying, and how it moves with the seasons.

    It's easy to focus on the tools and projects but a little effort towards learning about the wood itself can be so useful in the long run. There are so many people today who work with wood as a hobby or a job and don't have a good basic understanding of the material.

    The basics might include how to identify the difference ways boards are cut from the tree, why certain cuts shrink and warp in certain ways (why this board cupped and this one twisted), and the effect grain orientation has on working it. It's important to know how wood is dried and how to test for dryness. I might include a short introduction of some common exotic woods they may eventually encounter, such as ebony. Show samples of burls and figured wood and where they come from. Compare manufactured wood products such as plywood, MDF, OSB.

    If nothing else, get a copy of R. Bruce Hoadley's book Understanding Wood: A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology, read through it, and pick out some useful parts to teach - illustrated with actual pieces including if possible some things that have gone wrong due to not understanding the wood.
    https://www.amazon.com/Understanding.../dp/B004WYO862

    I keep several things in my shop just to show students. This piece of holly actually looks better in the picture than in the hand!

    holly_warped.jpg

    Another thing I think is important is an introduction to how to identify wood. A basic 10x hand lens and a razor blade can instantly show why red oak and white oak are so different in durability, the diffuse porosity in woods like maple, cherry, and walnut, and the huge differences in rays. Hoadley's other book, Identifying Wood, is what got me started on identifying wood as a hobby. There are other good on-line resources, including the very valuable Wood Database. In addition to very good detailed descriptions of most species we may encounter, Eric includes some excellent articles on wood identification:

    https://www.wood-database.com/wood-a...dentification/
    https://www.wood-database.com/wood-a...ication-guide/ (especially section 7)
    https://www.wood-database.com/wood-a...dwood-anatomy/
    etc.

    MANY other good articles are in the list:
    https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/

    Another good reference students might find useful is hobbithouseinc, an incredible depository of pictures of wood. It is especially useful to show some of the wide variation on the appearance of even the same species. Just pick and scroll down through one, for example Black Walnut: http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/w...t,%20black.htm

    BTW, congratulations on your graduation and career choice! Teaching is incredibly challenging and rewarding! You may never know how much you will change lives. I teach woodturning in my shop, usually to one or two students at a time, and I find it incredibly rewarding. (I hope any woodworking class would include at least a visiting woodturning demonstrator at some point. )

    JKJ





    Quote Originally Posted by Isaac Frisbie View Post
    Hi All,

    Interested in the variety of expertise here on the creek.

    I'm a new woodshop teacher, just graduated college to be a shop teacher (yes, that's still around. Surprising I know.)

    I am teaching 2 basic woods courses, and 2 advanced woods courses. I have an opportunity to prepare the basic woods students for higher level wood working.
    My inventory currently includes: an 8" planer, 2 12" bandsaws, 2 10" disc sanders, a 10" tilting arbor saw with dado blade setup, a Powermatic 66 10" table saw, small drill press, radial arm saw, very limited hand tools and power tools (sorry neanderthals), two routers+tables, and a shaper.

    My question to the forum is: what, in your experience, do you see necessary in an intro-level woods course? (outside of basic tool safety...that's the first priority and learning topic)

    Additionally, what do you see as an absolutely necessary tool for students to be exposed to in basic woods? or what tool is necessary in our shop?

    Thank you for helping the future woodworker,

    Mr. Frisbie

  9. #24
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    Mar 2018
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    When I took industrial arts as a sophmore in high school, we spent the first quarter doing leatherworking (carving and stitching). Then we spent a quarter learning the basics of drafting and using them to design a wood project that we would build during the second semester. Our main tools in the shop were a table saw, jointer, planer, drill press, radial arm saw and shaper. Our instructor spent two or three weeks going over safety and demonstrating proper use and technique of the tools. He also had a rule that you had to demonstrate to him that you could follow his instructions and use the tool safely under his supervision before he would allow you to work by yourself. He also required that you explicitly ask permission from him before using any power tool, so he knew what you were doing and could keep an eye on you.

  10. #25
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    Isaac,

    Sounds like you have a fun challenge in front of you. I've developed a lot of courses over my career (none of them on woodworking), and I've always found it helpful to look at what others have done in terms of content, sequencing/structure, exercises/projects, etc. and then adapt the best of those ideas to my style and preferences. Here are a few resources that might help you flesh out and build on some of the good suggestions you've gotten here.

    https://www.htps.us/curriculum___ins.../woodworking_1
    http://valleyoakscharterschool.org/h...orkingText.pdf
    http://www.maucks.com/curriculum/woo...-expectations/

  11. #26
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    Dec 2006
    Location
    Madison, Wisconsin
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    We have a very successful WW program at our local HS. That success is due to a very enthusiastic teacher, but also because a local woodturning club got involved. Club members volunteer several days a week to help teach kids woodturning. They (the club) bought a bowl lathe for school use (the club holds meetings there once a month and so it was a win-win). The kids love it and produce some beautiful work. The woodworking classes are so successful that more classes had to be added to accommodate the 87 kids that were on a waiting list. I guess what I'm trying to suggest here is that you might try to tap into the local woodworking community...they can be a great resource for helping demonstrate, donating tools, etc. Woodturning is a very good, and relatively safe, craft to get kids interested in woodworking. Results are more immediate than many other projects and help build confidence for more advanced projects.
    I second the recommendation on purchasing a Sawstop.

  12. You should already have some basic curriculum documents created at the district level that detail the scope and sequence of your courses. Look there first to figure out what your expected to be doing.

    After that point there is about 1000 variables you're going to have to look at, good luck.

    Few things to keep in mind (other than safety):

    - What is the focus of your program - are you furniture oriented, cabinetry, knick knacks made of wood?
    - What is your comfort level and knowledge level? If you don't know it I wouldn't be trying to teach it.
    - Can you keep a shop running? You're going to find you spend a huge chunk of your time keeping machines functioning and adjusted. They don't generally teach that in your voc. ed program in college.
    - What can you do with what you've got? i.e. if you don't have a mortiser I wouldn't be making a lot of projects that rely heavily on M&T joinery.
    - Whats your budget, do you charge shop fees? You need to live within your budget which is likely inadequate - figure out what you can actually support and be weary of consumable costs. Don't expect administration to be receptive to large purchases outside your budget.
    - What is your timeline - semester or term class? 8 period day, block schedule, or hybrid? - Set them up for success timewise, don't bite off more than you can chew within the time allotted.
    - What do your numbers look like? Class of 24 is a different monster than a class or 12 - content and timelines need to adjust accordingly.
    - Don't kill them with the minutiae within the content - feed them what they need to know and get them working. If they have a genuine interest they'll come to you for more, if you force feed them you'll turn them off real quick and lose the class.
    - Don't assume they are there day one with a deep love of all things wood and are instilled with pride in their craftsmanship, yada yada yada. 1 in 20 is going to be "into" it. The rest are there for the grade (easy A dontcha know) or because their other choice was something more distasteful to them.

    Saw some opinions that you should have them read "xyz" - do this if you want to lose them. Another good way to lose them, restrict them to hand tools (which it doesn't sound like you have anyway) while there is a shop full of power tools staring at them. They will not understand, they will not thank you later.

    If that sounded a bit pessimistic then my apologies but you just stepped into something you don't fully grasp yet if you haven't been there.

    Without a lot of information here would be my suggestion for an intro level class assuming your knowledge is adequate and the shop space/equipment is adequate and a class size between 10 and 18 with a semesters worth of time (Aprox. 65 instructional hours). Furniture oriented curriculum.

    Measurement
    Safety
    Planning (B.O.M)
    Stock Prep
    Simple Intro Project (Cutting board using scrap)
    Finishing
    Joinery
    Fasteners
    Term Project (Something reasonable - jewelry box, basic end table, etc)
    Final

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Wilson View Post
    I have been a hobbyist woodworker for decades and an educator for about the same length of time: high school teacher, principal and curriculum developer.

    Here is a link to British Columbia’s grade 10 woodworking curriculum. From there you can navigate to other practical subjects and grade levels. https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curricu...st/10/woodwork

    Usually the jurisdiction in which you are working will povide similar documents.
    I didn't see any actual woodworking content there. High school kids may not be ready to handle that level of abstraction.

    Because the job opportunities for the kind of woodworking we talk about here are so limited, I would think that high school courses would be more oriented towards the construction trades. Either that or survivalists. I would tend to steer things in that direction.

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
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    924
    Lots of good ideas already posted. Likely most if not all would agree on the importance of safety. With the age group, I believe it is important to make it fun, making projects that students can easily complete while also being able the afford materials and supplies.

    If you want them to work with hardwood, ash is generally available and about the lowest cost hardwood that looks good with clear finishes. Importantly, it is also very easily machined without much risk of tear out or splitting. For painted projects, poplar is a good choice with it's fine grade and easy workability.

    If you want them to become interested for the long haul, although hard to avoid for woodworking projects, try to minimize the effort expended on sanding. It is my least favorite activity and can consume a lot of time if manually completed.

    I would also try to instill a tolerance for errors and mistakes. They are part of the process for even many of us veterans and present creative opportunities for correction or concealment.

    Someone mentioned a lathe with which desirable and quick projects can be completed (for those who may desire more immediate gratification). That might be best for the 2nd level class. You could also undertake to build a treadle lathe if expenses must be minimized. Please visit the turner's forum for some of the nicest product displays available anywhere. Forum members in your area may be willing to donate some materials and supplies.

    Best of luck and enjoy yourself. Having done some teaching in the past and having numerous siblings in the trade, few occupations can be as stimulating and gratifying.
    Rustic? Well, no. That was not my intention!

  15. #30
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    Boston
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    There are a lot of good ideas already but what is the purpose of the classes? Is it for basic skills, learning to create something by hand? Will the class be for freshman, sophomores, etc? Is it a one off, ie, WW 101 or will additional classes be offered over the time in HS, WW 201, 301 where skills are built.

    Since this is part of a high school curriculum are there any guidelines you need to work with? It sounds like you need to provide a structured class over the quarter or semester. Does the school district have an outline you need to follow but you can fill in the blanks as you see fit? If a group of kids were showing up at your shop once a week after school then that’s different.

    it may be beneficial to reach out to some of the trade schools like North Bennett st in Boston (NBSS)to see if they can provide some guidelines on what to teach. NBSS has a 2 year cabinetmakers program that could provide some outline for your program.

    If you left it up to me I would base your intro course on their “Fundamentals or Fine Woodworking”. It’s a 40 hr class based on hand tools. First up is sharpening chisels and hand planes, setting up planes, using chisels, using planes to flatten boards. Then it was on to hand cut dovetails and mortise and tenons all hand cut. The final project was a sliding top candle box which used all of the skills learned. There were no power tools other than a grinder used for sharpening. Given you probably have 1 hour a week this course could last over 1 or 2 semesters. If this sounds interesting then I suggest you travel to Boston and take it, they offer 1 week classes so it may be a nice vacation over the summer. You just follow the program.

    if this sounds good you could ask your local WWing stores for donations or discounts for tools. To buy all of the tools it was under 150.00. If this sounds like something you are interested in post your email and I can send you the information we received. Check out the NBSS website for more ideas.
    Don

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