Thread: Inspiration

I'll perhaps answer on behalf of Daniel as, if he is still young, is probably likely to blurt without thinking of social skills or consequences.

Firstly he referred to the inspirational slide show as "stuff in bold" that will "send them to sleep" apparently as his reasoning for using the word "uninspiring". He doesn't explain but I'll give a few analogies.

Put together a slideshow of inspirational ballet dancing and show me and I'll eventually go to sleep. I won't be inclined to pick up a tutu or whatever it is blokes wear. Showing me art masterpieces won't make me want to paint and inspirational synchronized swimming is something I cannot imagine. This is what I believe Daniel meant.

The wrong person is saying it is inspirational. This is why I recommend tying the subject to things the students already value and want.

However, I do believe an appreciation of beauty can be taught but it must be done by someone who has passion. It is quite possible that your 15 yr old students don't believe in things of beauty that don't have tight bottoms.

Someone needs to expose students to different ways of looking at things and if you have a go at it this way- great!

If Sir David Attenborough, with his passion, can make people worldwide appreciate the beauty of a slimy insect they've never seen before and which at first glance looks too ugly to let live, surely teaching the beauty of woodwork through passion and exposure is worth doing also. Loving a subject isn't enough to be inspiring though. It is important to state what it gives you that stirs your blood and raise questions to involve the viewer.

Good luck!

Thanks Graeme, a good point. Still I remember seeing Torvel and Dean as a kid and wanted to skate!
If the stimulus is appropriate than you might catch one or two?

If a student that elected to do woodwork is put to sleep in 2.5 minutes of photos of the greatest woodwork ever with music from "Cattle Decapitation" or something more fitting, then I'll eat my shirt.

I hope Daniel returns to this thread to help, one thing that makes these Forums great is the ability to offer up suggestions and criticisms, but a criticism without a supporting statement is like saying "It's un-Australian" at a dinner party with lively social debate, it puts an end to all reasonable logical conversation.

Having raised 5 kids through the public education system, I applaud you and any other teacher that genuinely wants to make a difference to his students.

In my last couple of years at high school, my friends and I were dead-set hard cases. An attitude bigger than the football oval. No punishment was available to the school that had the slightest effect on us. As a result, our teachers were happy if we just slept quietly at the back of the class. Ay least we weren’t disrupting everybody else.

Until the day I walked into a new teachers class for English Literature. He walloped my desk and announced that nobody sleeps in his class. He didn’t care what we read, so long as we were reading.
So we brought in comic books. Thought that would p**s him off.
It didn’t. He started asking questions. What was I reading? Why did I choose that particular comic book? What’s so special about the main character? What are his weaknesses? His strengths? Why did I like the character?
Bit by bit he followed my thinking about super hero type comics.
One day he brought in a Classic Comic that was a comic version of Sherlock Holmes. Told me he was a different kind of super hero I might like to try.
Again with the questions. What makes Holmes special? What weaknesses did he have?
The Classic Comics gave way to the full book version.

To cut a long story short, by the end of the term I had read…and enjoyed…the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not only that, but he showed me how there was nothing I couldn’t learn from one book or another. He made the bridge between non-fiction and fiction. That process started with a book showing me how to shoot a better game of pool.

I’m still reading today because of one teacher over 45 yrs ago.

Now, here’s the thing. He wasn’t actually a teacher at all. He was an undercover cop, sent to search out the drug traffic in our school. As a cop, he was worse than lousy. He was picked as a narc in his first week. But as a teacher, he reached at least one kid that nobody else could.

I have tried and tried since starting this thread to figure out exactly what this guy did that was different so I might pass it on to you.
Then I read rustynail’s post and thought to myself that here was at least part of the answer.

Originally Posted by rustynail

I asked their opinion, how they felt about things, what p**sed them off. Kids like that, they want to be heard, they have opinions and ideas and respect the fact you are prepared to listen.

The hard part seems to be, that my teacher reached me, but not my two friends. So how you adapt this to a full class, I don’t know. But I think there might be a clue here and with rustynail’s post that is worth taking note of.

Good luck
Jim

Originally Posted by Lumber Bunker

Thanks Graeme, a good point. Still I remember seeing Torvel and Dean as a kid and wanted to skate!
If the stimulus is appropriate than you might catch one or two?

If a student that elected to do woodwork is put to sleep in 2.5 minutes of photos of the greatest woodwork ever with music from "Cattle Decapitation" or something more fitting, then I'll eat my shirt.

I hope Daniel returns to this thread to help, one thing that makes these Forums great is the ability to offer up suggestions and criticisms, but a criticism without a supporting statement is like saying "It's un-Australian" at a dinner party with lively social debate, it puts an end to all reasonable logical conversation.

Now there's a good idea! I'm sure eating your shirt is going to get their attention!
I can remember hearing a story about a teacher with a very difficult senior high class made up of over-stuffed thugs. During the holidays he had a fall, breaking several ribs. Returning to school, he had to wear a plaster cast under his shirt. Hot and uncomfortable, he opened the window despite the howls of objection. Returning to his seat, he found the breeze was blowing his tie, so he just stapled it to his "chest." The kids didnt say another word.
"Its un-Australian," that much used generalisation. There are also many others that can be quite annoying and illogical. Or are they? As much as a blank statement like that can be seen as non contributing, it can also be looked upon as an oblique subject heading, or lead in. Kids talk like that because they think like that - obliquely. A good response to "its un-Australian" would be, "how so?" Now the lively conversation can continue. Yes, the response may well be, "I dunno." But at least you tried.

Like Jim, I also applaud your efforts. I'm sure school kids would be a lot harder than apprentices, even by shear numbers alone.
Jim poses the question of how to get to the group, rather than just the individual? Aim at the ring leader. My question to Jim is, does that ring true in his case? Was he the ring leader or was one of the "untouchables" the leader?

Originally Posted by rustynail

Like Jim, I also applaud your efforts. I'm sure school kids would be a lot harder than apprentices, even by shear numbers alone.
Jim poses the question of how to get to the group, rather than just the individual? Aim at the ring leader. My question to Jim is, does that ring true in his case? Was he the ring leader or was one of the "untouchables" the leader?

Hard to say. I'd say it was very close to an equal partnership.
Invariably, I'd come up with the schemes or objectives. The first friend's strength was in identifying the weaknesses or pitfalls. The third friend's strength was in coming up with solutions. Very much a case of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

However, I take your point as still being valid. When confronted by a group that clearly outnumbers you, the accepted wisdom is to pick the biggest guy and bring him down.
What applies to a street fight might well apply in to this scenario as well.

Just realising, I'm letting you guys in on things that I left behind many years ago. Please accept that the Grandad of today is far removed from the boy of the 1960's. And so are the other two. One is now a youth worker and the other a successful builder.

Cheers
Jim

Originally Posted by Lumber Bunker

Still I remember seeing Torvel and Dean as a kid and wanted to skate!
If the stimulus is appropriate than you might catch one or two?
.

That is the intention of all good teachers. If we don't believe we have something worthwhile to pass on, then we shouldn't be in the job. If we change even one child's life and make it better, then as people, not just teachers, we have been successes.

Sorry if that sounds a bit preachy.

It makes a difference to me when I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and work out whether I like what I see or not. I like the idea that someones life, in some small ways, might be better because I've lived.

I believe most teachers and good parents can relate to this.

I like the idea that was mentioned previously of having them participate in a design competition with each other. Maybe an individual competition and a team competition. A lot of inspiration comes from the actual design process.

Also, several folks mentioned "over-awing" them with too much inspiration. How about a video like this...

Stools on Vimeo

Originally Posted by mn pete

I like the idea that was mentioned previously of having them participate in a design competition with each other. Maybe an individual competition and a team competition. A lot of inspiration comes from the actual design process.

Also, several folks mentioned "over-awing" them with too much inspiration. How about a video like this...

Stools on Vimeo

The problem is Pete, it doesnt matter what we like. Its more to do with what they will like.
Your video is thought provoking, confronting and inspirational. To a mature audience, all three would be taken on board. To the more immature, it would be a far more singular take and probably self centred. A young bloke could easily spend the majority of the screening wondering how our hero wipes his ####. While the girls would be asking themselves what they would do if they had a baby like that and how does he wipe his ####.

Hi Steve,

just my 2 cents here, but how about ripping off whatever's currently on TV ??

A woodwork version of "The Block" ? "The Voice"? "Masterchef"? Maybe copying something they all have in common might hook them.

What else are 15 yo's into? SMS, Twitter, Facebook ?

Plan on posting pics of each project on a Facebook page, and see who gets the most "likes" ?

Tell them you want to do a video of their works, and post in on YouTube - maybe those who aren't so much into woodwork might find photographing, videoing, editing, etc is enough of a sideline that they find a way to get interested.

Cheers,
Andrew

... and another 1c ...

What about starting a thread here, with WIPs ?

Point the kids at the forums, and see how much activity their projects generate.

My 9yo did a model of the Sirius a while back, and at least once a week she asks me to check and see how many views she's accumulated on her thread. Gee, didn't I cop a hiding when her thread views passed the number of views I had for my latest pen thread

Cheers,
Andrew

I just found a post where Daniel showing off his year 12 HSC project.

My HSC Major Project

It seems like he is a year 12 student, so he was probably writing the way a year 12 student is thinking
Cheers
Wolffie

Two of the projects that I did in High School as well, were "Mouse-Trap Racers" and "CO2 Dragsters".

I can probably dig up some of the paper work that I was given regarding constraints etc, but both projects are well documented on the Internet.

The "Mouse-Trap Racers" proved to be a lot more difficult than it sounds, yet produced some well made, unique and some plain horrible results. All depends on the imagination of the student...

Originally Posted by Lumber Bunker

Hi guys,

My year 10 class at the school that i'm teaching at the moment are struggling with inspiration, passion, care, wanting to do a good job etc etc, they are just going through the motions.

How do get 15-16 year old kids to want to do a good job?
sure I have a few great kids that are enthusiastic, but how do i lift the middle of the road kids to want to do better?

I'm putting together a inspirational slide show of high quality work (hand or otherwise) and some nice music. as an visual guide...
Any other ideas?

Hi LB

what subject are you teaching? is it Industrial Technology -- Timber ?

Firstly, if you want to make a difference you have to answer the question -- why are you in my class? individually for each and every kid.
once you have done that you will have an idea of what the individual motivational levers might be.

how many kids are in your class because
• IT-Wood is seen as the easiest subject
• IT-Wood is seen as the subject with the least demanding teacher
• IT-Wood is the least worse choice among the available electives (remember there's a world of difference between least worst and best)

I hope your school doesn't stream the less gifted students into the "manual arts"


I think the key to getting your bunch of 15-16 year olds to want to do better is for your elective to become the subject of choice

how about making your subject FUN
-- bring in a chain saw and cut out a slab, or get a chain saw carver to do a demo.
-- do a Roy Underhill and use an axe and adze to shape a small log
-- set up a log and have a chain saw time trial
-- teach them how to use wedges and a froe to split a log = (in their minds) destroy a tree