New Experiences Never Stop Happening in the Classroom For teaching to happen, a teacher must believe that they have something to offer. But no amount of self belief can surmount a brick wall cemented with the rubble of self doubt. Self doubt compacted under decades of hammering. Regular children in regular schools are frequently open…
Three Variations of the Same Theme There is a tradition in Melbourne secondary schools that has twelve year olds in their first woodwork lessons making a pencil case. Regardless of how ordinary the results may be, these things end up with magnificent decoration. During boring lessons they are canvas for expression of everything from undying…
There are versions of this on ETSY and Thingiverse and probably many other places. I couldn’t find anywhere that seemed like an original source. My whole family are all getting one. They will love it because it is from my hands.
I Broke a Promise… …but I also made a discovery. When I began doing wood projects among my disabled friends I made some promises to myself. The promises were a personal, but unwritten, statement of policy. I promise to: do work that is engaging because the thing we make is interesting, never to do all…
Sometimes the universe sends cool stuff my way. A good friend took delivery of a large machine from Europe. He discarded the packaging timbers in my direction. They were 2400 x 120 x 90mm and some species of pine. These two projects are a response to this good luck. Workbench When talk turns to…
Good Ideas Don’t Need to be Complicated Serving Tray For an object to complete the journey from initial musings to touchable reality requires a certain fidelity, on my part, to the original idea. Discouragements take the form of excessively complex prototypes. It is difficult to let simplicity rule. The journey of the serving tray couldn’t be shorter….