Tick Tock…It’s Back-to-School Time!

It’s back-to-school time and the clock in my apartment hallway just decided to disintegrate! How am I going to know when to leave for school in the mornings now?

Fortunately, I have a ShopBot Desktop and some ideas about what I would like to have for a replacement… I’ve been …

Continue reading >>> Tick Tock…It’s Back-to-School Time!

Promote Your Program Traditions

Have you had successes in your program that you would like students, parents and visitors to see when they come in your classroom or lab? One possible way is to create some type of display in your room for students or teams that have done well.

I started doing this at my last school when …

Continue reading >>> Promote Your Program Traditions

Making boxes…

I’ve noticed that a lot of hobbyists have been making really cool-looking finger jointed boxes with laser cutters and I decided that I just had to give it a try using my ShopBot Desktop CNC machine.

I found several blog postings that discuss how to build these types of boxes and I found a few …

Continue reading >>> Making boxes…

Students Keep Busy In Summer Months

Many times teachers try to take the summer off but it is good to have students come into your program and continue developing their skills throughout their vacation. All of us have students that enjoy using CNC equipment at school but unfortunately don’t have this technology at home that they can use. I like to …

Continue reading >>> Students Keep Busy In Summer Months

Report from Teacher Ed Birkey on SkillsUSA

Hi, I’m Ed Birkey, a 23-year Technology Education teacher. For the past couple of years I’ve been working in the Fort Dodge (Iowa) Community School District. And now you’ll see me as a regular blog contributor here at 100kSchools.org. I’m looking forward to sharing my activities and even more, learning from other teachers about they’ve …

Continue reading >>> Report from Teacher Ed Birkey on SkillsUSA

A New Chessboard for the Classroom…

Sometimes students will stay in my classroom after school to play chess. Our paper chess board was warped and didn’t lay very flat which was a problem…

I found an old piece of hardboard paneling in the back of my classroom that was about the right size and …

Continue reading >>> A New Chessboard for the Classroom…

A Gavel for MUN (Model United Nations)

School’s out but lots of things are going on with my students over the summer… One of the things we are working on with our ShopBot Desktop is fabricating about a dozen award plaques to give to exemplary delegates at Sewanhaka High School’s Model UN Conference next year. We wanted to decorate each plaque with …

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Experiments in 2.5D/3D carving…

Whew! The end of the school year is here and I’m really looking forward to spending time this summer working with my ShopBot Desktop. Most of the projects that my students and I have done this spring have been based on simple 2D profiles and I’m anxious to start carving more sophisticated geometries in different …

Continue reading >>> Experiments in 2.5D/3D carving…

FIRST Robotics Trophy…

I meet the nicest kids as a robotics coach.

My robotics club was recently invited to attend a post-season tournament at the Dalton School in New York City and we wanted to do something special for our hosts; we had already met the students from Dalton Robotics twice this year and were very friendly because …

Continue reading >>> FIRST Robotics Trophy…

Featured Teacher: Jack Chen, Sewanhaka High School

Once again, manufacturing history is being made at Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York. Back in the 1940s, Sewanhaka helped train young men and women as technicians for the aircraft industry on Long Island and also to meet post-war industrial needs. Today, high school students here are developing the skills required in our …

Continue reading >>> Featured Teacher: Jack Chen, Sewanhaka High School