Visit Two

Mr Jorgeson's metal shop

Mr. J was first an automotive dude before becoming a drafting teacher at the high school. Then when they cut his program he moved to the middle school to fill the shop position. Now he teaches middle school metal's 7 periods a day. At first he didn't like it, working with younger kids in a program that he didn't really have a passion for. Now three years into it he's established some consistency and modified the class to his liking.

I noticed that the girls generally did better than the boys. The boys didn't pay attention to detail and were sloppy with their cuts and welds. The girls, however, were almost perfectionistic with their projects. With the exception of a few that were scared of the spot welder, most girls had better looking boxes than the boys. It's funny how a few short years later that the high school tech classes are stereotypically weighted with boys.

Mr J said that he got a raise when he moved to the middle school. In my mind that was completely opposite. So - I called my dad again. In his school district it didn't matter what school you taught in. The pay scale was contigent on your level of education and years of experience.


Camera

This week I got to check out a really nice camera from the school. At first I was afraid to touch any buttons for fear that I would mess up the settings and not be able to return them to normal. I was surprised initially how difficult it was to shoot pictures without some sort of automation. It took several moments to focus on the shot I wanted, and then took several adjustments to get the right lighting. I think that it's a good thing to be able to manually tweak the settings to get a special shot, but automatic settings and focus do me just fine for the type of pictures I take.


Doc C Open House

Doctor Christensen invites his students over to his house for an opening social, of sorts. I really liked the approach, allowing students to see their professor on a more socialable level. Doc C appears to be a somewhat humble man, and often will try to level the playing field, encouraging students to be teachers and teachers to be students alike. When teaching kids in public schools, however, there does have to be some line drawn. I really think that there is a difference between being a 'friend' and being a positive mentor and educational facilitator.