Our middle school comprises 761 students, 8 ethnic groups, and more than 15 language groups. Although student age is typical of a middle school, we are not a typical middle school. Our students are actively engaged in extracurricular sports, cultural, musical, and dramatic activities, along with STEM, science fairs, and a host of after school programs that broaden student learning opportunities.
Students continue to build upon knowledge, skill, and ability, to improve practical career skills in a safe, authentic, environment.
Students choose to succeed by enrolling in programs that provide pathways to post-secondary education, and careers that are vital to the continuing success of the community, the state, and the region. Students are supported by a staff that is actively engaged in the learning process, collaborating with each other, and students to assure that students are provided authentic learning opportunities in a safe learning environment
My Project
Students excel when they have a hand's on experience as part of the process to turning on the lathe. With each project that students complete, their applied knowledge, skills and abilities increase in Math, Geometry, Science, and Language Arts.
As students complete woodworking projects, their knowledge of theoretical is heightened by their applied experiences.
For instance, the glue up of a turning blank requires an understanding of the circumference, diameter, and degrees in a circle. The student takes this understanding and then derives the size of each piece of the wood that will be assembled to make the blank. Additionally, they calculate the exact angle, and then calculate the angle of the saw blade, the effect of the saw kerf, and then adjust the saw blade, cut sample pieces, and do a test assembly to verify that the pieces are within tolerances of less than 1/100 of an inch.
The applied geometry required for a wood turning project has even inspired some students to develop and write software applications that aid them in the layout, calculation, and cutting of the angles for both segmented turnings, and for more traditional stave turnings.
The students demand their work to be precise, and choose to manage as much of the detail work as possible. They can then say, "I made this!"
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