New Toys: Woodworking Tools for Teachers/Classroom Designers

I was watching the Great British Sewing Bee on TV, and I realized that sewing is a lot like woodwork: you cut bigger bits into smaller bits and then you stick the bits back together again into a finished shape. In a previous post (here), I talked about how to get started building your own projects for your classroom.  Sometimes you need particular tools to accomplish each task properly.  

In this post, I am going to talk about certain tools that have upped my woodworking ability.  I am not going to mention any brands because that is a matter of personal preference and budget.  I feel a bit funny giving recommendations based on my limited abilities (I got a C in grade 8 woodwork), but remember this blog is about sharing my journey.  I am not so much a woodworker as I am a tinkerer, figure-outer.  

Here are some tools I already mentioned:

• miter saw
• This is for cutting long narrow boards into shorter narrow boards.  You can use a circular saw or a handsaw, but for making straight, repetitive cuts, I recommend getting a miter saw.  My dad and I once made a class set of picture frames out of some cheap moulding so that my students could display art and get a finished look.  The miter saw made the repetitive 45 degree cuts quick and easy work.  I also used the miter saw to cut the laminate flooring to size to cover the risers.  
• Do I really need a miter saw?  Miter saws are more expensive than hand saws and circular saws, and miter saws can take up a lot of space.  I still recommend one if you are making a lot of repetitive cuts, AND if you find your hand cuts are yielding ragged or wobbly cuts. Miter saws are like paper cutters and hand saws are like scissors.  If you want a clean, square (90 degree, not the shape) out of a bunch of papers, you would use a paper cutter, right? 
• pockethole jig
• Because I don't have the skill or knowledge or time for sophisticated joinery (attaching two pieces of wood together), pocketholes allow quick, strong 90 degree joints of all kinds of boards. The jig helps you drill a hole in one board at an angle, so you can screw it into another board.  The join is quite strong and you can hide the unsightly screws.  Using the pockethole jig, I've made shelves, really strong book boxes, and an odd guitar chair - side table - workout platform - step stool (see below).  
• cordless drill
• In order to make the holes for the pocket jig (or any hole), you need a drill.  I have a cheap corded drill that is actually really powerful, but you cannot beat the convenience and portability of a cordless drill.  If you are going to do a bunch of repetitive insertions of twisty metal fasteners (I know this sounds awkward but "repetitive s****ing" might make for some unwanted search engine traffic), a battery-powered drill is the way to go.  Yes, making holes is obvious, but you can also use a cordless drill for assembly.  I use a cordless drill for putting up and taking down my risers, but with a straight hexagonal bit (or one cut from an Allen key), teachers can assemble Ikea furniture or raise and lower tables or desks lickety split.

New, Not Yet Mentioned Tools

In the last couple of years, I've had more time to do woodwork (I wonder why), and consequently, that has led to buying more tools, which I now wonder how I did without.  Here are some (more) tools that I recommend for the teacher/classroom designer:

• cordless nailer
• I picked up a cordless brad nailer and it was quite cheap because it uses the same battery as my drill and weed whacker.  Brads are nails that are like thick wires that come in different lengths.  The nailer shoots these brads through wood, joining two pieces together.  
• Do I need a cordless nailer?  The pockethole jig only works for thicker materials.  I use the nailer for thinner materials, and also to hold glued pieces together while the glue dries. Brad nails, because they are so fine, leave small holes, so they are not as unsightly as full nails or screws.   Why cordless?  I've used a nailer with a compressor, and though it was powerful, it was not convenient having to drag out the nailer, the hose, the compressor and a long extension cord for a 2 minute job.  With a cordless nailer, you pop in the battery and you are good to go, anywhere.  
• What can you do with a cordless nailer?  
• attach pieces, especially smaller pieces together
• reduce the need for clamps during gluing
• make frames and boxes
• attach trim
• table saw
• The miter saw is great for cutting long, narrow boards into shorter boards while a table saw is great for cutting wide boards into narrower boards.  
• I've had a table saw for almost 20 years, but I never really liked the one I had.  I could never get straight accurate cuts with it because of one very important feature: the fence.  The fence is the part of the saw that sticks up like a wall (or fence) parallel to the spinning blade, so you can guide and slide boards along the top platform (or table) to theoretically get straight cuts.  The fence on my table saw slid around and never stayed parallel to the blade, so all my boards were not square, but slightly tapered which made for some wobbly structures.
• I picked up a new table saw that has a rack and pinion fence which stays parallel to the blade and you can DIAL in the width measurement you want on the scale.  The cuts are straight and accurate, and I do not feel like I am fighting the saw like I did with my old one.  My new saw with the awesome fence is my favourite tool purchase in the last two years.
• Do I need a table saw?  They are big and heavy, and expensive (though mine was just slightly more money than the one I bought a long time ago).  But if you need to take down the width of boards or sheets of plywood in any regularity, you need a table saw. There are alternatives (buying narrowish boards, getting the store to cut the board down for you, using a long guide to run your circular down, etc.), but if your space and budget allow, I definitely recommend a table saw if you want accurate width cuts.  
• What can you do with a table saw?
• make boards narrower, accurately
• cut a board that won't fit in your miter saw for a new shelf in your bookcase 
• make a lapdesk, a class set of whiteboards, a bookbin, or a gameboard from a piece of plywood
• jigsaw
• I had not one but two jigsaws.  They worked in a pinch, but because they are so old, I cannot get decent replacement blades for them.  The new blades and the new technology of jigsaws have greatly improved.  The old jigsaws also felt like they were going to hop out of my hand, and left ragged and inaccurate cuts.  I was watching Britain's Best Woodworker (what is it with me and British making competition shows?) and I saw how Misty made this beautiful zebra silhouette using pieces of thick curvy wood for the stripes.  I thought you would have to use a bandsaw to get those curvy pieces, but she used a jigsaw!  Miter saws, table saws, and circular saws, which all use a round spinning blade, do straight cuts well.  The jigsaw uses a thin blade like a ginsu knife, that goes up and down. 
• Do I need a jigsaw?  Yeah, you probably do.  If you need to cut a curve, you need a jigsaw.  If you need to cut a hole or start or end in the middle of a board, you need a board, you need a jigsaw.  (Any of the round blade saws generally want to cut all the way, edge to edge of a board, but a jigsaw can make an "in-between" cut).  Sometimes, you need to use a drill to get you cut started in the middle of a board.
• What can you do with a jigsaw?
• cut a handle in a tray or book box
• make an "in-between" cut for a laptop stand
• cut a hole in your desk to pass through the wires
• cut metal, like shortening a long metal piano hinge
• cut out large letters for a display

For me, I tend to buy cheaper tools at first because I don't want to spend a lot on something I might not use that much (biscuit joiner, drill press, air nailer and compressor, etc.).  The deficiencies in these tools help me figure out what features I need if I ever upgrade (table saw fence, replaceable jigsaw blades, non-fatiguing sander).  

Less sexy tools that are handy to have:

• a good square
• for keeping things 90 degrees, no wobbly bits!
• wood glue
• glue joints are surprisingly strong, especially when reinforced with pocket screws or even little brad nails
• tape measure
• mechanical or carpenter's pencil
• ear, eye, and nose protection

Project Gallery

Here are some recent projects I have done to give you an idea of what these tools can do.  You could use hand tools for all of these projects and you would be very fit!  Me, I'm okay with being lumpy as long as my cuts are straight.

Japanese-Style Shoji Lamp

When Stef and Tina moved in to my school this year, in their pile of discards what a mangled Ikea lamp.  (And you know how much I love repurposing Ikea stuff).  I repo-ed it and gave it this Japanese façade (much like the builder).  

• I cut an old water bed frame (yeah, I know) into thin legs using the table saw
• cut narrow strips of thin plywood for the slats and frames, then cut them to length using the miter saw
• assemble 4 frames with cross slats using the brad nailer
• stain all the wood
• glue shoji paper to the backs of the frames
• brad nail the frames to the legs to make an elevated box
• stick the whole thing over the bare lamp assembly
• switch it on
• compose several Haiku in the glow of the new light

Guitar Stool - Side Table - Workout/Step Up Bench

Though not really a school-based project, I wanted to share this one because it uses pocket holes.

• Using the table saw, I trimmed the round edges off the dark piece of wood (part of an old waterbed.  Yeah, I know.) and the 2x4s for cleaner edges and flush joins.
• The table saw cut the dark part to length because it is too wide for the miter saw.
• Miter saw cut the 2x4s to length.  
• To make the top, I used pocket holes to attach the dark part and the back slat to the two side 2x4s.  (There is another dark part that can slide into the slot on top, to make a back support when I am playing guitar). 
• I used pocket holes for the legs and cross braces.  This thing is very sturdy.
• The little bit of velcro on top is so the cushion does not slide around, but it also is handy for a non-skid surface when I use it as a step stool.
• I've also used this thing as a foot-stool, a side table, and a workout bench for weights.  (That sounds good, doesn't it?  But I've probably used it more times to get my unitard from the high shelf).  

Laptop Stand
This is a schoolish project.  You can make one for school so you can stand up and Zoom or put a dedicated keyboard underneath.  I made one so I had some place to put my laptop over my synthesizer connected to an audio interface.  (Again, sounds impressive, though I have yet to record or compose a song since making this stand).  

• I cut the cross slats using the miter saw.  
• The sides were large squares cut from a sheet of plywood using the table saw.  I used plywood because it will be strong enough to support the laptop without drooping.
• I drew big U-shaped cut outs on the square plywood using a pencil.  The top arm is thick to give the laptop extra support.  The back and lower arms are a little thinner to fit under the synth.  
• I glued the U's to the cross braces and used screws for extra strength to the joints.
• This stand, though it does not look beautiful, works and fits perfectly.  The cost if you bought one of these in a store would start at $50.  This one cost me nothing apart from screws and glue because the wood was leftover (which is why the parts are different colours).

Coffee Tray

This one was more of a proof of concept project, as in, "Can I do this?"  Tracy gave me some engineered flooring she had because her husband had kept it in their garage for years without doing anything with it.  It stayed in my garage for a couple of years until I decided to see if I could make a coffee tray with it.

• I cut the flooring to length using the miter saw, and cut a couple of pieces with the table saw to get the overall tray width I wanted.  I glued these 4 pieces together to make the bottom.
• cut a piece of thin plywood to support the bottom part of the tray using the table saw.  The flooring needs this extra support because of the way the floor grooves slide together.  Okay on a floor, but would bow and curve as the bottom of a tray.
• cut the side edge pieces out of 1x4.  I cut them to a short height using the table saw to get a little lip so stuff wouldn't slide off the tray.
• left the handle pieces taller, but cut them to length and made angled cuts up to the hand holds using the miter saw.
• drilled holes and used a jigsaw to make the handle holes.
• glued, brad nailed, and clamped it all together.
• You can modify this design to make book boxes, storage crate, a paper tray, an in-box, etc.

Puck-Rubber Band Game

So fun!  Pull back on the rubber bands to jettison the pucks out of your corner.  I saw a two-person version going side to side, but I wanted more players to play, so 4 corners seemed to make sense.

• Cut a big square out of plywood using the table saw.
• Cut the sides to width using the table saw, and to length using the miter saw.
• Glue sides on and brad nail from underneath.
• Cut the 4 inside walls using the miter saw, leaving a gap in the middle for the pucks to go through.  Glue and brad nail these in.
• Cut slots on the walls near the corners for the rubber band mounts.  I used a miter saw, but wished I used a handsaw as my cuts were not straight.
• Insert wide flat rubber bands through the slits and under the underside of the game. As an unintended bonus, the bands under the four corners makes the bottom non-marking and non-skid. 
• Make a bunch of pucks by cutting a old broom stick on the miter saw.

Impact: Does Classroom Design Help Teaching in a COVID World?

The Context 

In September of 2020, I wrote about how I set up my classroom going in to teaching in a COVID context (here).  Since then, I've had the chance to think about the role classroom design has on teaching in a COVID context.  

  

To recap, in September of 2020: 

• Students were distanced as much as possible, and at that time, there was no mask mandate for students.   
• We spent as much time handwashing as we did reading. 
• I put up the transparent screens for students at tables. 
• We restricted movement down the halls as much as possible. 
• We didn't share supplies, and we reduced contact and face to face communication. 
• We kept to our own classes, and even had separate play zones outside with staggered entry times, play times, lunch times, and exit times.   
• It was a tense time because we didn't know really how COVID was transmitted and teachers were constantly second-guessing themselves on how to keep 20-odd children, themselves (and by extension, their families), and their colleagues safe. 

 

Does Classroom Design Have Any Impact? 

At first glance, I might say that classroom design had little to no impact on learning in a COVID context.  Why?  Because by the end of the year, all my students progressed and learned a lot, and we built a tight-knit classroom community.  In September, it was like herding cats because most students had not set foot in a classroom in 6 months, and had the double-whammy of having atrophied academic skills (What is reading again?) and atrophied public social skills (What do you mean I can't lie on the floor, close my eyes, and eat Cheezies? Where is the fast-forward button on my teacher?).   

I could not rely on my classroom (the Third Teacher) to help me support my students the ways it used to.  The kids who needed to walk around the classroom had to stay put.  The kids who needed to stand up could, but only hunched over their desks (no risers, no high chairs, no standing at the window counter).  The kids who learned best by stretching out or lying down couldn't (no risers, no carpets).  The kids who learned best with a partner or in a small group could not gather (no "watering holes", no risers, no kitchen tables, not small meeting areas).  The kids who needed a spot for themselves could not find one (no "caves", no egg chairs, no zen dens).  I could not use some my favourite aspects of my classroom, to support diverse learners.   

Well, at least not in the ways I usually did.  

 

Classroom Design has a huge impact, but the rules changed.

Now, looking back, teaching in a COVID context was actually an on-going classroom design challenge.  In the same way that desks with inkwells and fixed seats "worked" for the students and learning of the time, my risers and alternate seating worked for the kind of learning and learners I wanted, pre-pandemic.  I had to shift my thinking within a COVID context. 

Here are some of the design choices we played with to support learning in a COVID context: 

Strategic Seating 

• Kids who needed to stand a lot were placed at the back or on the sides so they could stand without obstructing the view of others.  Later, we had some designated counter spots so specific kids could stand and work.   
• After having a conversation about giving students what they needed, we brought back the wobble chairs for students who needed to move. 

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Strategic Lighting 

• Like before, we raised the light level to increase student energy and alertness, and brought it down, when we needed to calm things down.   
• We brought in additional cheap, but attractive lighting to hang from the ceiling, and made sure we used warm-coloured bulbs instead of the bright, sharp ultra-white bulbs.  The whole class could be lit from these lamps with a warm glow instead of the built-in overhead lighting.   
• We used natural light from the windows, but in grey Vancouver, the light was augmented by the hanging lamps.  We also added cotton curtains to soften the boxy rectangle dominance of the room.  These also came in handy when we had a bright hot spell (so hot that schools were shut down --- a first for Vancouver!). 

Personal “Spaces” 

• We built individual storage boxes.  They reduced the amount of movement around the classroom, had a small footprint because they were upright, and could be taken outside.  Because I used some gloss white cabinet sheeting, the sides could be used as a whiteboard. 
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• Personal whiteboards.  These could fit in the storage boxes and could be used in a number of ways.  To reduce talking, yelling, and breathing all of over each other, students had chats, votes, and conversations by writing on the mini-whiteboards and holding them up.   
Whisper Phones.  I first heard of these from my friend, Kyme, who used them to help students with their reading fluency.  Whisper Phones are just some elbow piping from the hardware store in the shape of a phone hand set. If you whisper in one end with your mouth, you can hear yourself very clearly in the earpiece, and no one else can hear you or be disturbed.  A little bit of self-talk privacy for a couple of bucks?  Love it.   

Cloakroom.  I crammed the cloakrooms full of stuff because I knew students would not be using them because of the close contact gathering.  (And where else could I put my dismantled risers?)  But every once in a while, in a pinch, students would ask to cram themselves in there, in between the junk and the corner, away from the world.  For them, it was a calm, safe, isolated space.   
We also did a lot of closed-eyes visualization.  Sometimes the best way to get some privacy is to close your eyes.   
Outside In, Inside Out 
• We went outside. We ran around the field, we walked through the neighbourhood, we had great conversations and explorations in the forest, we painted pictures or drew chalk art on the blacktop, we took our lapdesks and did our work outside.  Generally, every time we went outside, it was positive, fun, and freeing.   
• Inside, we opened the windows to let the fresh air in, and the recirculated breath out. 

  

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Tech.  The computer, TV, and doc cam became my go-to tools.   

• My cobbled-together doc cam was my right arm.  I showed techniques live on a sheet or whiteboard while the class could watch on the big TV.  I could record these demos.  Without the intimacy of gathering together students on the carpet, I can bring the class together by reading them a story where every child can see the pages on the big TV.  
• We watched lessons, slide presentations, videos and demos on TV.  During lunch, students could not talk because their masks were off, so to keep them calm and occupied, we would watch nature scenes on TV.  If you’ve been to one of my workshops, you’ll know about “fancy restaurant mode”: we turn down the overhead lights, put out a few electric tealights, put on some light jazz music, and shows views from the fanciest restaurants in the world on the TV; the students go into “fancy restaurant mode”, acting calm, using their manners and hushed voices.  It’s a simulated urban oasis, and a good way to travel when you can’t travel.   

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• The computer was also the link to our home learners.  In September, we started with 4 students learning from home.  A couple of times per week, we would include them in a lesson, story, or activity via video conference.  The in-class students were so excited to see the home learners each week.  I think the home learners also felt included in the class, so much so that one by one, they started to return to in-class learning without much fanfare.  (Okay, that’s not totally true. The returning students didn’t have much difficulty when they returned, but the class would have thrown a party or staged a parade for each returning student when then re-entered the classroom.  It was as if they were coming back from space, not a few blocks over).   

• Microphone.  Like mentioned before, the microphone (and small, powered speaker), allows me to be heard, lets me use a calm tone (not the loud, angry-sounding register), saves my voice, and focuses students.  

Looking back, I am astounded at how many decisions I made last year, modifying my class for COVID teaching, that had a design aspect.  Though the risers, alternative seating, community building, and high-interaction/engagement teaching are my jam, it looks like this COVID context learning will be with us for the foreseeable future.  Hopefully, intentional design decisions will help me navigate this next phase.  I'll let you know how it goes.