any shop teachers out there?

wondering how many shop teachers out there.Just took over a program that was almost shut down.Wondering how other high school tech programs sirvive while so many are disapearing.We have started our first hot rod project ,and the kids are really digin it.We check out the hamb often,the students love it.Keep up the good posts,I sometimes use them in class.

 

dropped my kid off at school the other day and saw the dust collector outside and asked if they had a wood shop.....the answer was CLOSED....its sad to see

 

Not a teacher but a student in high school taking auto body.

First off, good luck. Kids are assholes. No joke either. In my shop class, people think that it is funny to mess with other people's stuff. We have two "shifts" at our school, the morning (first years) and the afternoon (second years). The morning people (class I am in) just love to screw with the afternoon class's stuff, and the teacher can do very little about it. May be different where you are, heck, I could just have a lot of immature people in my class, but who knows?

Also, unless you take on private jobs, you need to find a way to support yourself a little. My teacher no longer takes on private jobs because again, people like to dick with other people's things. He will do little things like individual panels, motorcycle parts, and other small jobs so that he can buy things for shop. Realize that if you have really nice tools at your shop, stuff will get stolen and you will have to replace it or the school will buy some crappy harbor freight tool. So don't take your CRAFTSMEN tools to work with you.

Also if you do things like full cars, you will be liable. Like lets say that you paint someones car and a month later, the wheel comes off while they are driving, guess who they can come and sue real quick? You. Just be smart, be careful, and be fair.

I am really not trying to scare you at all, I just want you to know what you are in for. School is a prison, and sure, you may be a guard, but you aren't the warden and the prisoners love to riot. You dig? Good luck and have fun.

P.S. It is cool as hell that you have them working on old cars, we get to work on a p.o.s. Pontiac that they forgot to primer a couple of years ago, so there is rust EVERYWHERE and it is such a bitch to remove.

 

and to make matters worse my older son had to take an art course in college to access to all the welders

 

Really? Huh.. It's just our welding class is the most requested class at our career center. Thats odd, but then again, Golden Strip's (the career school) pamphlet (that's right, it has a pamphlet) quotes the high, median, and low salaries for that career cluster, and a lot of people are drawn in by the fact that you can make over a hundred grand a year welding pipes (median, at least in the pamphlet)

 

hate to here that about your class.I only have a few nuckleheads,most seem to want to learn,especially the custom stuff.I dont let anyone mess with anyones elses project.I have a bunch of cool future projects including choping a 50 merc.The principle at our school is 100% behind custom work.

 

Still have a Middle School and High School program. The high school program has been cut severely. I teach the Middle School program.

 

Thank you for taking the time and effort to pass on these skills to the next generation. In the early 90's I and a team of industry people started to O/H the program at a Chicago area trade school. It was an expierience not for the faint of heart. The students were not the problem it was the CBof E. Dont ever lose sight of the school district as they can trump the principal and control his budget.

Please take the time to encourage your students to take up the other skills and knowledge necessary to better themselves and the auto industry. Classes such as , chemistry, physics, engineering, metalurgy, and business management, just to name a few , go a long way to an all around better understanding of cars and the world.

Very few of this upcoming generation appear to have an interest in autos. I think I know why and it is going to be quite a undertaking to change the direction the transportaion world is headed in. Its good to see people making the effort.

Best Regards

 

I jumped through all the hoops and got my degree and went looking for jobs
mostly found out that you had to kiss someones butt in administration to get any funding, my life was way too short for that
so i went back to my own shop and made a ton of money for the next 10 years. but as things go our local economy died and i had too many physical problems to do the work anymore

and i will never be sorry about not teaching as i very much enjoyed self employment and with what I learned at college I made a lot more money than i had ever done before , this decision was made at age 42, some of us are just late at maturity!!!!

 

I am an ex high school shop teacher. 33 years. It's a dying field and too expensive to fund along with liability problems. I hate to say it but the maturity level of the students
needs to be higher along with less teacher turn over. High schools are losing programs to area vocational schools. May God continue to Bless those who try to teach today's youth - especially on a bare bones or "zero" budget. It's a tough job.

 

Former High school vocational auto mechanics teacher who taught for 13 years. I happened to teach in the same school that I grew up in and where I took high school auto mechanics from the two teachers that preceded me.

The best advice that I can give is to absolutely have a lesson plan for each day of class and each class. It may be no more than what you are going to do that day, how you are going to do and the expected outcome but have a lesson plan in your binder that tells what you intend to do that day. How close you follow it is up to you.

Chopping a top in class isn't just cutting the top off and taking pieces out of the posts and welding the top back on so the car is cool it is each step involved in the process and the skills that are either learned, exercised our used in the process. Pretty much like one of the top level Tech articles that guys post on here. The best ones are full and well lesson plans that could be exercised in a class setting.

I'd also have a syllabus written up for the quarter or semester that outlined what I expected to accomplish that quarter or semester in that class. That is for CYA because you need to show that you have a plan and intend to follow that plan.

Make it fun and interesting but also create an atmosphere where the students can feel that they have learned something that they can use and where they can have their own successes.

And make sure that shop safety is paramount and drilled into their heads. One of the reasons a lot of my students got hired by local shops and tire stores is that they had a reputation of working safely.


And feel free to email or pm me if you want to run any ideas past me.

 

Not a teacher here either... But I did go to a vocational high school way back when we had to put fences up to keep the dinosaurs out. My experience was great. It taught me a skill (I was a toolmaker) that put bread on the table and cars in my garage for many years. In fact, my shop teacher got me my first two "real" jobs. The second one lasted 20 years, so I have a lot of good to say about my experiences.

When my youngest son told me he was interested in the local vocational program, I was really excited. He wanted to try the autobody course and I thought this would be great... plus having a bodyman in the family... I had gone to heaven!

Well.... Things don't go as we plan.... After a few weeks at the school, he told them to stuff it. He had learned almost zero.... hated the kids that had zero respect for anyone or anything.... Turned out the vocational programs had become the dumping grounds for "problem" kids.... He wasn't the most perfect kid by any stretch, but far from a "problem". The other kids had no interest in learning... and, of course, its all about everyone learning at the rate of the slowest kid, so he soon realized that after two weeks looking at the practice panel that he (and I) figured that should have been accomplished in a couple days, there wasn't going to be much learning.

Sad to say, I don't have a bodyman in the family... He's a pretty good pizza cook and had his own pizza shop for a while... so it wasn't a complete loss.

So.. If you can teach some kids some skills that they can use, more power to you. My advice is to find the kids that want to learn and teach them. I guarantee that there's going to kids like my son in your class. Please seek them out and work with them. Even if they don't go into the business, the skills they learn will follow them through life.

 

My dad is an auto body shop teacher. He just added a virtual paint system to his shop that is really cool. The kids love it. He also has his '40 there and some of the kids like to work on it.

 

Im no shop teacher but thought about becoming one and still do alot of the time. im only 23 and since high school i have never done a job i didnt learn from class. my 3 shop teachers laid the grounds for my careers. straight out of high school i started my career as a welder and did quite well till the economy went in the gutter. now for the last 4 years i have been an autobody technician and damn near everything i know my teacher Al taught me everything.

I have been back to visit a couple of times and it really makes the teachers day to see that they were the biggest influence on my life and what i do. i was one of the students that took the lesson plan seriously and payed attention to every word out of the teachers mouth. yea the majority of my peers saw the period as a time to fuck of and get away with it for the most part but every class there is that one kid who actually will apply the lessons learned in shop class to life outside of school and that almost makes it worth it.

I admire you taking on something that was almost lost and giving it all your effort to bring it back. not many teachers are willing to do that these days!

 

My hats off to you for teaching our youth.
I have done a lot of programs through our Church for the young adults (14-20) and if you can get through to them they will be the best advocates for the program.

I had several shop teachers when I was in HS in the early 80s but one stood out. His name was Kelso Coale and he was my Metals Teacher at Woodruff High in Peoria Ill. He was a great man who understood kids and what it takes to motivate them. He taught me to use mills and lathes and to weld. We even cast a few things during my Junior year out of Aluminum and Brass. I have tried to teach my son and the local kids all the skills that Mr Coale taught me. I try to mention his name as often as possible to keep his memory alive.

If you can capture the imagination of your students like Mr Coale did me, you will have a part in their memories forever.

 

I have been teaching for thirteen years in a Automotive program. It is rewarding to see youth of today interested in something other than video games. Yes you do get some knucklehead's but some times they change for the better. I had two students that dropped by school today to visit that where students six years ago. I must have made an impression on them. My program has been through some hard times but I think that the school system is final seeing that students gain life skills even if they do not become mechanics. Help support your school programs if you get involved it may help save their programs. Now if we can make it through the budget cuts It will be by the grace of God. Help support tech programs.

 

thanks for the advice.Working on lesson plans now and how to incorporate custom stuff in the course.The kids respond well to this so far. One example -we are replacing a bed side on a truck and installing a roll pan,shaving the tailgate handle and gas door.Dont worry about the top on the merc,been cuttin cars a long time...Believe it or not ,I have a nice pair cf long bed running boards and need some short ones.

 

My Son inlaw was a High school shop teacher, lost his job on a coin toss back last May. The guy that won the coin toss that got the job this year ran the program into the ground, it will not be offered again!
The kids loved my son inlaw because he actually taught them skills they could use for the rest of their lives. He lost the coin toss, the rest is now HISTORY!
By the way he is still looking for a job!
No sour grapes, but school systems had better realize, not everyone will go to college and we will need skilled workers if we are ever to become a manufacturing power again!

 

it almost should be taught as an honors course with selective admission and let the screwups go somewhere else

 

27 yaers at the same high school. We call it Industrial Technology. I'm "old school" so I took it back to traditional shop. Couple of superintentents back had the idea of going the tech module route. The day he left, so do the modules. Right in the dumpster. Our shop classes are packed. Fundings tight but I beg, borrow, and steal. Local hardware store, saw mill, machine shops are great. More than willing to help. I have no idea whats going to happen after Ohio SB 5 passes.

 

Congrats to you for bringing back "traditional shop" classes. Kids really do want to do meaningful "hands-on" work, despite what the trendy ivory tower experts say. I wish you and your students all the very best. Bills like SB5 will gradually eliminate the middle class and fewer people will go into teaching.

 

I strongly suggest that you subscribe (free) to the education forum at iatn : http://www.iatn.net/ Its a great sanity check and informational resource.
I ran a postsecondary school for 10 years and there were punks age 18 - 50 - its part of the life. Best of luck and stay positive

 

I've been teaching for 19 years and spent one of them teaching shop. It was a great experience and I was able to get their welding programs back up to speed with gas migs, got PCs with AutoCad into the shop classrooms, and straightened up a couple of shops. Kids realized there's a lot more going on than just woods and photography. For the most part, the majority of the kids were great to work with. Rural schools with great staffs/kids. got lucky i guess.

 

Hey thanks 19forty, you're right, most of my students want to work and learn, for the most part. Had a couple guys last Friday wanted to skip their lunch period to plane 200 ft of oak for their gun cabinets. So I went to cafe. got 12 hotdogs, and planed lumber and eat dogs at the same time.

 

when the powers to be decided that all kids take pre-college courses vs. vo-tech the money all but dried up, I taught ex-cons at night school for awhile but the bean counters decided that was a waste of money. un-bleeping-believeable. I have local kids wanting to hang around and learn but unlike old days they want me to pay them to watch me and learn.

 

I just retired last month. I did my 30 years, now I'm doing Restoration work full time Happy days. I did a lot as a Tech Ed teacher. I taught most classes, ended up enjoying Auto, Architecture and Engineering classes the most I suppose.

 

I teach high school Metalwork grade 8 to 12 and Power Mechanics grade 9. Love it. The kids are great. Very few behavior problems. Very supportive administration. Workable budget. I'm a great scrounge and know how to shop deals. Our courses have waiting lists. My contribution to this thread is to make safety your prime focus. Teach it, demonstrate it, test it, document it, insist that every kid follow your safety plan. Good luck.

 

I am still teaching auto tech and auto body and small engine and transportation services careers and energy and power. Have been doing this for 23 years.
I have been fortunate to have a number of wealthy friends who liked what I do and supplied money to keep many projects going.
Sadly, I doubt that I will do it much longer. Politics have caused school funding to dry up for my programs. Each year I have taught the budget has gotten smaller and smaller. The first 8 years of the turn of this century saw money from the Whitehouse go dry. In Texas the trend for the last 12 years has been to kill any hands-on classes in favor of programs where a teacher parks students in front of computers to learn how to work on cars. These are show classes that look good on a tour through the school(dog and pony shows) but do not work.They do make the big wheels look good but do not work for teaching.
To make matters worse the quality of the students I get has gone down.
Sharp kids are not allowed to take my courses now. The focus is all on academics. Here in Texas the requirements for graduation have gone up leaving no time for courses like mine. Many of the kids that do take my class are usually failing many if not all of their courses and are so far behind that they have given up and don't try. They are just doing time till they can quit.
I hear from god students that like what I do and want to take my classes. For those students there is no room in the academic schedule for them to take my class.
Last year we started on a street rod project(you can see the results in my profile) In years past we have also built street cars, road race cars, dirt track car, demolition derby cars and paved oval track cars. I bet we have averaged 2 or more car projects a year.
Basically the folks who vote want their children to all be engineers or lawyers. They would never want their kids to do anything as lowly as be a gearhead.
Sadly I don't see this trend ending anytime soon. I figure that if I am lucky and things don't change I have maybe 2 or 3 years before my stuff is tossed for a classroom and a computer type deal too.
PM me if you like to know more and what I think it will take to fix this.

 

I taught my 30 years in Maryland. Most of the time it was some type of fight to keep things going. I taught Auto for about 20 of the years. But they ended the program even though I had no problem with enrollment. A saving grace for me was introducing PLTW ( Project lead The Way ) to my state and my county. I was teh first to get it going. It has been a godsend as far as the program in whole. It is a Pre-Engineering program, with classes for the kids to take each year. Everyone totally buys into it. I so it as a way to teach a lot of the same things I tried to teach before and got no recognition. Now I was teaching them and everyone thought I was wonderful. I was able to incorporate a lot of automotive principles which at least kept me going once I stopped the Auto class. It's nationally known and I would suggest you looking it up if you haven't heard about it. www.pltw.org Also, I got better students, which was a benefit.

 

I graduated from North Texas State University in 72 with a BS in Industrial Arts. After some of the educations classes, I decide not to teach. I went into manufacturing field as a Manufacturing Engineer. Worked on some high tech projects (Superconducting Super Collider for one) designing and supervising the build of manufacturing machinery and assembly lines. Never regreted not teaching, especially after it got so that the teacher had no way to decipline unruly kids.