Today was my first day of temporary coverage teaching in the wood shop at the nearby high school. It’s been a couple of years since I last covered in the shop and, of course, a few things went sideways. By the end of the day, however, I had fixed most of them.
There was an error with a CNC file that caused the router to carve right off the student’s material. The solution? Flip it over and engrave again on the backside with the updated file. Problem solved!
Another issue was that the sheets of MDF wood that had been cut for the back of students’ nightstands were about a half inch too narrow, and it was a big pile that had been pre-cut too short. My solution might be to cut more the correct size but I’m also considering making everyone’s nightstands a half inch narrower; to be determined.
Some students left the chuck on the wood lathe after it became stuck and the bell rang. It took a minute or maybe closer to 15 but after borrowing a tool from the neighbouring metal shop, I figured out how to get it unstuck and I felt pretty good about it.
Lastly, the only issue that I haven’t yet solved is what to do about the students who would rather horseplay than do their projects. They have been fooling around the other times I’ve been in this class with them earlier this year and after giving them a big lecture about not goofing off and seeing as that apparently did not make an impact I was going to call their parents. As fate would have it, the kids got lucky because the admin assistants in the office haven’t finished connecting me to the online class management system and therefore I didn’t yet have access to their contact information. I’ve been forced to wait until tomorrow anyway so I guess they get one more chance.
Overall, it’s a pretty good gig and I’m pleased to have picked it up.