Teaching woodworking to middle and high school students

[KCwoodman]

Hello,

My wife was recently speaking with the principal of the school she works at and it was brought up that there is an interest in starting a woodworking class at the school over the summer.  She mentioned that I was a woodworker and one thing led to another and I think I got signed up to be the instructor for the course.  I consider myself to be a self taught woodworker who never had any formal education on the topic.  I learned everything I know from Wood, Woodsmith, Fine Woodworking, Popular Woodworking, and Shopnotes magazines.  I may have checked out a few books from the library along the way, watched some Youtube videos, and attended a class or two at the local Woodcraft store.  I guess the final source of my knowledge is from this forum and the members here. 

All of that to say, I'm not sure of the best way to go about teaching others what I know.  Tool safety seems like the best place to start.  Teaching what the tools are used for, how they work, and how to use them in a safe manner.  I'm not much of a designer as I typically work off plans or copy others' designs. 

Surely some of you have done this or currently do this.  Any advice for a newbie in the WW teaching area??  Any textbooks in the woodworking area that you would recommend I look into??

Thanks,

Ben

[Bill Wilson]

Kinda tough to answer.  Being a summer course, I presume it's entirely elective.  It could be that some kids may just want the opportunity to use some of the school's equipment for their own projects and others may be total newbies.  I would try to get a sense of what the students' expectations and skill levels are first. 

That said, tool safety and proper operation are always a good place to start, regardless of what skill level the kids may be at.  I suspect these kids will learn best by doing, rather than text book and lecture style teaching, so once you have some idea of the relative skill level, then you could choose a couple projects they could do as a group.  Some kids will lag behind and never finish their project and some will have theirs done way ahead of the others, but they should all have plenty of opportunity to make some sawdust and have something to take home with them at the end.

Good luck!

[Baumholder]

It's a bit dated, but Richard Starr was a middle school woodworking teacher and he had many good articles and books back in the day....

https://www.amazon.com/Woodworking-Kids-...0918804140

[Lynden]

Check with universities and junior colleges in your state. One of our local universities, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, has a Craft Center which offers different types of classes, one of which is woodworking. If you contact Cal Poly, they may be able to send you general information about course structure, teaching techniques, training of student teachers, safety, etc.  Some of their program information will probably apply to the younger students you will be teaching..



Cal Poly also has a Student Shops program which is open to students of all majors. It's good to know these types of shop classes are still available to students.

https://machineshops.calpoly.edu/locatio...hine-shop/

An interesting side note, Cal Poly students design, build and raise most of the flowers for their Tournament of Roses Parade float each year.

https://www.cpp.edu/~giving/where/rose-float.shtml

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/...68892.html

[Cooler]

I took woodworking ship in high school (class of 1966).  We used all hand tools including planes, saws and spoke shaves, chisels and back saws.  We were able to turn out quality work with only one injury in the class (our pro-person shop teacher deliberately dropped a vise on my foot--I was the only Jew in the class).  

So as long as you don't have any Neo-person teachers, then an all-hand tool wood working shop is a fairly safe environment, that will teach a reverence towards wood and craftsmanship--which is the only lesson a high school student needs to learn in wood shop.

[Steve N]

First project I did in shop was a chess/checkers board. We all got through it in less than a week. It got us on a TS to cut the grooves, and it was HIGH emphasis on safe use of the TS. I had plenty of woodshop time prior to that, but I could see it got the juices going on a lot of the kids, from there you can become more creative, and add other tools. Many of "those kids" from that first class are woodworkers today, and there is great appreciation for that first class amongst us.

[whatline]

A number of years ago I took an instructors course to be the instructor for our apprenticeship program. A couple things I remember are;
1. Keep in mind you won't know what the students don't know. You may think you're starting a ground zero but some students could be starting at below zero.
2. Some may have very little math skills.....like reading a ruler even.
3. Doing is the method where the student will retain the most information
4. Avoid making yourself the focal point....like don't where a the dye tee shirt.

Hope that helps

[MstrCarpenter]

I went to a vocational high school just when the student body was changing from those who wouldn't (couldn't) make it through collage to a group that understood that collage wouldn't necessarily help get a good job. Acceptance was based on based on G.P.A. (in middle school!).There were so many applicants that most of us were honor roll. We alternated every week between shop and classroom, where we had two weeks of classes crammed into one week; which included 90 minutes of shop related classes daily. These "Related" classes are where we learned the most about woodworking machines, their adjustments and set-up, operation, and of course; safety. For each machine we took quizzes, had to draw sketches with labels, and pass a multiple guess and essay test before we could use the machine. One important lesson I learned (and still teach to this day) is when you're finishing a rip on the table saw, the only safe place for your left hand is in your back pocket. I had a reminder of this lesson when I was a Senior working at Coles Custom Furniture. It wasn't too bad but I was really embarrassed explaining it at school. (About twenty years later I had another, more memorable, refresher.) The reason I bring all this up is because for a lot of these kids, listening to and understanding simple procedures and precautions is just a boring delay to the fun part; making sawdust. During my four years there, there were two mishaps on the table saw (kick backs with injury), one each on the shaper, lathe, and mortiser, and a dozen or more on the band saw. I'm sure there would have been a lot more if we didn't have to memorize the safety rules; and follow them or stay late for a week to sweep floors and do other undesirable chores.

[Steve N]

The reason I bring all this up is because for a lot of these kids, listening to and understanding simple procedures and precautions is just a boring delay to the fun part; making sawdust.

I agree with this 100% I had several years of being ibn the shop before High school, so some of the fundamentals were tolerated, but were not the fun part for me. I spent a lot of that time helping my fellow students who had a question mark on their faces, as our straight talking shop Lord explained in his slow, mechanical voice. It wasn't until after my first entire year listening to him that I realized, Hmmmmm you have learned a lot from that dolt. I think it was some of the same info Dad, and my Uncle had previously imparted to me, but said in a different way, it drove home in a way that I better understood it. Plus he would preach, then we would do. Sometimes Dad and Uncle Gene would just preach as we were doing something else, so a BIG YES for teach, then do immediately. To this day if I watch a complex process on a video, while in the shop I get it a lot more than just watching a video, and trying to remember did he do this first?

"1. Keep in mind you won't know what the students don't know. You may think you're starting at ground zero but some students could be starting at below zero.
2. Some may have very little math skills.....like reading a ruler even.
3. Doing is the method where the student will retain the most information"

Agree 100%, and very well said. Not sure the tie dye t-shirt is on par with these nuggets though. I would only add that the successful teacher can quickly learn who the baseline people are, versus those who have an understanding and just want fine tuning, and can quickly get to work educating, and entertaining them, while doing remedial math, and basic understanding with those who are baseline. For that reason people need to be attuned that just because they want to do something, if the class says beginner, or advanced that they need to be honest about where they are.


I also just remembered the shop drone went into deep TS safety, and for the first several cuts each of us made on the TS the cord was unplugged, and we were simply doing dry run through's, but we had to demonstrate proper technique before we could move along. I still do that with anyone coming into my shop to "learn" and find myself doing non powered run through's frequently on cuts that aren't routine to me, or if I have any question about how it plays in my mind before making the cut. I visualize every function I will do under power as I am setting up the tool for whatever it is I'm about to do, even if it is a simple, boring thing I've done before. This starts with stock inspection not limited to grain direction, possible defects in the stock, and any other items that I see looking at the stock, moves through grain direction and feed direction, are there any times I'm going to be closer to the cutter than I want to be, and all the way through finishing through the cut/pass. The thing is, I already know the machine is set up correctly, so in reality that is the beginning, machine set up.

[BloomingtonMike]

Have you seen the shop yet? Any idea what equip you have to work with? Also what liability do you have doing this? Id talk to a lawyer and my ins agent to keep my butt covered in case some parents sue if there is an accident.

I have heard north bennet has many hand tool classes before you get to use power tools. Id also focus on design.