Thread: Inspiration

Being in year 10 I assume they have some sort of major project coming up? That was 6 years ago for myself and I remember a lot of my classmates being pretty lazy too!

The teacher gave the class 3 options for their major project - a wine rack (everyone seemed to like that and they aren't toooo big), a small cabinet and....something I don't recall. The teacher had plans for these projects but students could still customise them as they liked. Also he gave us a bit more free range on the bigger machines (lathes and the big bandsaw).

Being able to be a bit more creative and having a bit more freedom seemed to have most people on side.

Yeah they do. (have a major work coming up). Being inspired to make what you want is easy... but I want them to want to do it well, to the best of their ability...

I guess, how to un-teach "she'll be right"

Stress tests are fun, and very engaging, can bring that in again for year 7 and 8

Originally Posted by _fly_

The only thing that I had to make at school that I liked was the sliding lid pencil case. Kept it for years till Yr 12.

Still do it with year 8.... a classic!

As a chalkie but not a manual arts teacher, I'll tell you how I'd work.

I'd ask them why they would bother ever making anything. Be blunt. Really- why bother? Run a discussion after getting them to make personal lists.

I would expect them to come out with answers like gifts, a challenge, learn a skill that they value, a chance to show your parents what you can do, save money, get exactly what you want etc

Until they realise that they can get things they want from woodwork they have no reason to care about quality. They need to match the task with an internal want.

There is also a different level of care required if you are making something functional for yourself as compared to a gift that has been made especially for a person where you can watch a smile break over the person's face as they caress a well finished piece . This would need to be a part the discussion too.

To me, a praise gaining gift is a good place to start as most kids really want praise from their parents. Boxes would be good as most parents can find a use for a box and it would help to bring joy to the student if the gift is seen to be used. It will also bring a cringe factor in relation to any mistakes and hopefully convince the student that shortcuts aren't always worthwhile.

Just a couple of thoughts from someone who has never taught woodwork.

Originally Posted by 3 toed sloth

That said, once you get past the front, I wonder if youngsters often don't believe they can do stuff, and rather than try and fail or risk looking bad they act like they don't care.

I would try giving them something fairly easy to make which will end up looking good to build a bit of self belief. I would worry that showing work by highly skilled craftsmen might blow them out of the water.

Regards,
Peter

Rhys, (a member here) use to work for us at the Lumber Bunker he is now at UNI Tas doing design (furniture) and i remeber him coming back after his first term. He was really happy with his latest project... it was his most successful project ever.
he made a handle for a jap saw. it was very well done and done with hand tools and to very high standard. It was a rectangle, thats it. but is was a perfect rectangle and it pleased him to actually go "backward" in order to go foward?

This type of thinking is good but i fear it only works well with the chior.

Graeme, it's that "internal want" that i'm after... the desire to do well and please internally as well as externally.
Food for thought.

What about telling them that at the end there will be a woodwork exhibition at say local library and the public will be invited to come look and the public will be voting for the marks they will receive. And each item will have their picture. They'll go to a library to cast fake votes (that you don't use anyway but it scares them to do a good job).

I'm an old guy, retired dendrology prof. I like to cook, my grown-and-gone kids seem none the worse for it. I think that there's far more wood in most European kitchens than we see here in N. America or during the 4 yrs that I lived in OZ.
I make my own pasta with the usual machine (Imperia). For that, I had to make a wooden pasta rack.
Then, I decided that I needed tortelli molds (3" dia tortellini).
Then I wanted a serious rolling pin. Had that made = 4" diameter and 18" long, no hopeless handles, just the pin.
I want a custom-made pin with relief carvings for embossing pastry.
I can't stand skinny wooden spoons with skinny wooden handles that break. Think I'll have to make some serious spoons.

As you can imagine, I have some very good kitchen knives in the $50-$100 each range.
I would like to have a knife rack which has no footprint on the bench. Somehow hung or slung under the bottom edge of my upper cupboards. Try as I might, my head just can't imagine how to do this.
I have some wasted air space, about 60 x 30cm in which I could hang a wine bottle rack for 5(?) bottles. That just has to be recycled wood.

When I was at school, some 35+ years ago, the Boys did metal work & wood work & the Girls did cooking & sewing.

The subject was called craft. I loved it, but I was hopeless at woodwork & even worse at metal work. So naturally, I made a career out of boilermaking & welding & about 12 years ago, I took up woodwork as a hobby.

The girls kicked up & wanted to do woodwork, so us boys had to do cooking.

I can't tell you how much I hated that course. there would not have been a single thing the teacher could have done to make me enjoy it. My point is,... do the kids want to learn it?

I would have love my kids to come out in the shed with me, but I have 1 son in IT, another is an Avionics Tech in the airforce & my Daughter is currently doing woodwork at school & she hates it.

Lets face it, working with ones hands is not for everybody, but I admire your determination to get the kids interested. Our craft teacher spent 5 mins at the beginning of each lesson with us & the rest of the lesson he worked on his stuff.

There is a series called Rough Cut.

The presenter is fairly young, up beat & he might get through to the kids a lot better than Don from Woodsmith.

I like the woodsmith series, but Don nearly puts me to sleep & I want to watch it.

Just a thought.

Good luck

Steve

I am an HVAC mechanic by trade and have trained many mechanics/helpers over the years. I r thing I found is that you can teach anyone the rules and steps of "how to", but you cannot teach passion for craftsmanship. This is something your born with. And some people even new rigidity and structure to follow and this are incapable of thinking outside the box. Such critical thinking is imperative when creating a piece of art or designing your own joinery.

Perhaps you could have them build a project that is usefull, but proper building techniques are imperative to its function. Like a folding piece of furniture, a wooden gum ball machine, or speaker boxes.

I found what motivates me the most is that Ah Hah moment when I take a beautiful piece of maple or sepele and apply oil for the first time. It is in that instant that the true beauty of what I'm doing is revealed. You could perhaps snag a few with a good finishing demo.

I'll add Grinling Gibbons

Probably one of the greatest classical wood carvers ever.

Originally Posted by rustynail

....He was over awed. Nothing more, nothing less. ..... This is not to say that some exposure to fine craftsmanship is not a good thing, its inspirational in small doses. Any more and it becomes daunting.

You have to be careful you don't blow them out of the water with some of those 'inspirational' sites.

Originally Posted by kcam

What about setting up say 4 or 5 teams, giving each team the same amount of timber, maybe a pallet and letting each team come up with the design and creation of one useable item and one non-useable such as an art piece and at the end of a designated time have the finished articles judged by their peers.Possibly get the P&C involved and they could form an end of year raffle.....just a thought

I like this idea.