Building To Teach is Maturing

Joe Youcha
It is often difficult to see change when you're in the midst of it. So I'm pleased when I look at Building To Teach in 2016 and see how it's grown and evolved this past year to reach more instructors with hands-on math instructional training and materials.

 

On January 1st the new Building To Teach website went live. This new site at buildingtoteach.com combines information about the program and its impact with a new training area accessible to Building To Teach trainees.

 

More Building To Teach project and exercises are being made available in book/pdf format. We started with the Bevin's Skiff Math Instructor's Guide and have expanded to offer Tow Tank Math and Framing Square Math projects in easy-to-use, downloadable formats. These materials are available to Building To Teach trainees in the training area of the website.

 

Maturity also can be seen in the numbers (see the article "Numbers Tell the Story" below) and in the building of partnerships a long way from where this is being typed, as exemplified by Bill Nimke's All Hands Boatworks' collaboration with the Southeast Wisconsin Carpentry Training Center. Bill calls it one of last year's "most exciting developments" and I have to agree. You can see the math skills improvements they acheived in the article "Partnership Spotlight."

 

Getting older, and maturing, has its moments. I look forward to celebrating many more moments of teaching, learning and growing with you in 2016!

Best,
Joe 


Matt Cupples teaches hands-on math.
Numbers Tell the Story

At the end of the 2015 academic year, Building To Teach conducted a web-based survey of instructors who have used the program's training materials and instructional methods to teach hands-on math. (Sample size of 350 students)
 
Using pre- and post-tests, the average student increased his/her skill level by 25.5% in measured math skills.
 
Most significantly, an instructor at one middle school (Matt Cupples at Francis C. Hammond Middle School in Alexandria, VA), saw 80% of his 6th grade CTE class pass their state math test- vs. a passing rate of 60% in the rest of the grade.
 
Job well done!
Partnership Highlight:  
All Hands Boatworks (AHB) and the Southeast Wisconsin Carpentry Training Center (SEWCTC)

One of All Hands Boatworks' most exciting developments over the past year is a partnership forming with the Southeast Wisconsin Carpentry Training Center.  
Bill Nimke of All Hands Boatworks
and  students work on a Bevin's Skiff.


Last spring, AHB led after-school "Builders Clubs" at several Milwaukee schools.  The middle school students in the progra m built tote boxes, cigar box guitars, and little free libraries. Ca rpenters from SEWCTC assisted. Most of these same students then participated in a week-long Builders Camp at the Apprenticeship Training Center.  

During the week, 24 middle and high-school students not only built four Bevin's Skiffs, but also were able to interact with United Brotherhood of Carpenters instructors and learn what it takes to become a skilled journeyman carpenter.  The first-hand exposure to the skilled construction trades for these urban students was truly an eye-opener for all of them.  Watch a short video recap of the program.

All Hands Boatworks and SEWCTC are now exploring the steps it will take for AHB to serve as both an outreach arm for SEWCTC in local schools and also become a pre-Apprentice, training vendor focusing on 18-24 year olds.

Summary from Pre- and Post- Program Surveys from AHB/SEWCTC Builders Clubs (20 student cohort, 6th-7th-8th Grades):

Accuracy and Measurement - Ability to read a ruler to a usable tolerance of 1/16"
Pre-Program:  5%
Post-Program:  70%
 
Fractions - Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions and mixed numbers (minimum 70 % correct)
Pre-Program:  < 10%
Post-Program:  55%
 
Basic Geometry:  Identify, Describe, and use symmetry, congruency, parallel and  perpendicular lines, squares, and triangles (right, equilateral, and isosceles) (minimum 70% correct)
Pre-Program:  < 10%
Post-Program:  60%

Instructor Spotlight: Jeffrey Hawkins
YMAKERS, San Francisco, CA

Since coming back from Army service in Iraq, Jeffrey Hawkins has been leading after-school programs for underprivileged children in San Francisco to help them learn basic skills through hands-on experience. He has found his connections with Teaching With Small Boats and Building to Teach an invaluable resource to expand his popular programs.

Though he hasn't yet used materials from the TWSBA, he raves about all he learned at the Port Townsend, WA convention this past spring, where he interacted with others who also believe that hands-on education deserves a strong endorsement in any curriculum.

"It was good meeting folks from around the country," he says of the April meeting. "We went to a local boat builder and saw how she worked. There were great workshops at the conference. It's already paying dividends."

Hawkins began his program, called YMAKERS, two years ago through the YMCA in an area of
Jeff teaching younger makers to use big tools, safely.
San Francisco known as The Presidio. Originally a summer camp for middle school students, the hands-on teaching sessions were expanded to serve students after school in three elementary schools.

"We have a very diverse view of how we approach learning," he says. "Once I found a vacuum cleaner and brought it to the class and we took it apart. Most of these kids don't have an opportunity to make things with their hands. When you get to build, you use math for something. In class, it's just on paper."

The biggest project was building two, eight-foot scows that they are just finishing and hoping to launch in November. "When parents see what we have done, they are stunned," he says. "They can't believe what we have put together."

Born and raised in San Francisco, Hawkins was going to pursue a degree in education, but decided that schools placed too much emphasis on test preparation and not enough on experience-based learning. So he decided to pursue after-school learning through the YMCA. In addition to his English degree, he has also taken classes in workplace safety.

"Making is an art form."
His discussions work in everything from how the Wright Brothers built their airplanes to why there are knots in pieces of redwood. In addition, he employs his studies on workplace safety help students learn how to use tools and to maintain a safe work area

"You know what something is when you are able to go and touch it," he says. "We learn how to use a saw and keep your hands safe."

Hawkins says his students love technology like iPads and cellphones, but they can't relate to where it comes from. "We build a lot of our projects using cheap redwood fencing," he says.

"Then we'll go to Golden Gate Park and put our hands on redwood trees. I talk about how old and big some of the trees can get, and the kids build a stronger connection to their materials and to the projects they make out it. It's a relationship they'll never have with a computer or cellphone."

In the future, he wants to expand the program to additional schools and reach out to middle school students, perhaps getting them involved in apprenticeship programs. He would also like to involve more service veterans.

"It's growing like wildfire," he says. "It's amazing what we can do."
 
Joe Youcha | Building To Teach | joucha@buildingtoteach.org | buildingtoteach.com
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