Teaching woodwork to school kids

[Smudger]

Sorry, the echo got me, too.

 

[big soft moose]

- I am doing my best to get the red tape side of things sorted, and I will try to persuade them to have a teaching assistant present next week. I see the sense in these worst case scenario fears and would prefer to be safeguarded in every way, however the point I want to make is that these are all side issues!! To some extent it reminds me of the anglican church fretting about buildings and administration when people are dying on the streets etc. OK, forgive me if I'm going over the top. But the point is:

Kids need role models.
Kids benefit from practical hands-on stuff that involves a degree of risk. Kids are suffering from the culture that tells them all adults are suspect.

I agree with you on the latter point , but considering issues of insurance and child protection to be an unimportant side issue is a mistake - you are putting your livelihood, you and your families house, and your reputation on the line.

Now I understand that you are engaged in the "safe" end of woodworking but even hitting nails with hammers is not truly safe.

I was once running a bird box building event where a kid hit a galvanised nail and a bit of the head snapped off and flew up and hit him square in the eye.

In this case damage was relatively minor and although the parents tried to take legal action on a no win no fee ambulance chasing basis they eventually withdrew when it was made clear that my then employers would fight the case, but the crucial point is that had they pursued the suit and won I would have been covered by my employers insurance

Had the same thing happened to you today there would have been a good chance you would not have been covered and "negligently hazarding" damages can run to the hundreds of thousands of pounds, potentially enough to cost you your house and bankrupt you

Another excolleague of mine was once running an event when two kids attacked each other with the tools (in this instance scissors) - my mate reacted instinctively and grabbed hold of them to pull them apart.

however this innocent action had consequences when one of the little scrotes complained that he "didnt like the way my mate had touched him" - long story short the organisation stood by him and actions were eventually dropped but not before he had been branded a paedo and his reputation irrevocably trashed - there were parents muttering about no smoke without fire etc - he eventually had to give up his proffesion and change areas of the country - had he had an adult witness this would never have got that far

In the context of those kind of risks to you and your family is it still just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic to worry about the insurance and supervision

In my opinion it is not and I would be telling the school that you want a member of staff in the room at all times, and the insurance conditions in writing before running any further activities.

 

[big soft moose]

next box plans from the rspb here

http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Nestbox%2 ... 173857.pdf

I suggest that you cut the wood before hand and pilot drill the nail holes then the kids can nail them together - a logical step on from your nailing today - and bore the front hole with a brace and bit.

I'd also note that if you are only doing a few life is easier if you get some decent quality redwood , as cheap white wood tends to split when the nails go in.

 

[Smudger]

Agree with that BSM, especially about pre-drilling. But urge giving it some context, discussion of birds' needs etc.
How about make some for the school grounds and some for kids to take home? That goes down well.

 

[Smudger]

Could look at:
KS2 Science - Living Things - Habitats
KS2 Science - Plants and Animals in the Local Environment
KS2 Science - Unit 5_6H: Enquiry in environmental and technological contexts
KS2 D&T - Unit 6A: Shelters (At a stretch)
KS1/2 D&T - Unit 1D: Homes (May be a bit simple)

Look at the expected outcomes for each unit, as this will give you some idea of how to direct the work. The NC documents are good, and even if you don't use their schemes of work they provide a useful template.

To be honest, the class teacher should be doing all of this for you...

 

[trumpetmonkey]

Big Soft Moose, these stories are good for me to hear I realise that; I will stress the importance of another classroom assistant being present as I think that should be do-able. When I talk about it all being secondary, I don't mean that it's not important. It's just not the main point and yet it has been 90% of the discussion here. So anyway I am encouraged by the link to the bird box and other nitty gritty of what i can actually try and teach.

Smudger I'll have a look at trying to integrate some of that national curriculum stuff. But the thing is I am barely scraping a living with my proper work and I simply can't afford to devote loads of time to this, it's already a bit of a sacrifice. And the teacher is already very busy and as we've mentioned already, this is just a bit extra, a bit of fun if you like but hopefully some learning too, whatever I do it's a bonus that the kids wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

[Smudger]

With all due respect (and I actually mean that for once) your personal 'safety' is NOT secondary.

I once broke up a serious fight between a couple of 15-year olds. Very violent, and I had to use force to separate them. One kid was hurt (by the other kid, not me). As a result a complaint was made against me by the aggressor whom I had stopped beating the victim half to death, and I ended up in a police station, being interviewed under caution by police officers I had been working with on an abuse case a few weeks earlier.

My career/mortgage/family was at stake. I had the services of a good union and an experienced solicitor, paid for by my union. In the end the police found there was no case to answer - but it happens, and it can easily go pear-shaped. A friend lost not only his job, but his school (a specialist unit for disturbed kids) when a child made an unsubstantiated allegation against him. There were no grounds, evidence from other adults present said it didn't happen - but it took over a year to be resolved, and he just retired as a result.

With regard to the teacher - of course he/she is busy, that's what the job is. But he/she is also supposed to be covering all aspects of the National Curriculum already, so this shouldn't be an onerous burden.

 

[big soft moose]

Big Soft Moose, these stories are good for me to hear I realise that; I will stress the importance of another classroom assistant being present as I think that should be do-able. When I talk about it all being secondary, I don't mean that it's not important. It's just not the main point and yet it has been 90% of the discussion here. So anyway I am encouraged by the link to the bird box and other nitty gritty of what i can actually try and teach.
.

yeah i appreciate that - its just that we dont want to see you (or anyone) putting themselves in an untenable situation through an excess of enthusiasm.

other simple projects


clothespeg teapot stand - could use to teach glueing and clamping up

making a bird table possibly too dificult for each child to do but they could work together making different bits to make one for the school grounds (assuming it has a suitable site)

letter holder another you do the cutting they fix together project - could use to teach use of screws etc.

trivet a bit more advanced if they did it from scratch , but you could cut the mortices first and leave them to glue up and finish