I have chosen this store as a display of skills as an artisan, because I believe that a teacher needs to be a role model for her or his students. As one of the few female teachers in this profession, I hope to be a role model for my female students. I realize that that might not be enough for them to be motivated, so I regularly show them my own work and stimulate them to make non-traditional “shop’ projects as jewelry, pottery and fashion designs. I also work on my own projects during class and I try to be open about how I solve my own problems by thinking out loud. My students are able to see my work in progress; they see the design plans and the finished product. They also see an active teacher, who never sits behind her desk but who is either teaching, helping, or making things.
I also own a store in town and I invite my students to show their work in there if they wish to sell it. Most students, however, don’t want to sell their projects, and that pleases me too. Although earning money for what you make can be rewarding, I also want my students to keep their projects home to enjoy seeing them everyday, knowing that they made them themselves. But by showing my students that I sell some of my products, I open doors for them with regard to being an independent worker, which they might not have considered before. One of my students already knew after finishing his first rustic coffee table that this was something he wanted to do for a living. His father gave him a workshop to work in and tools to work with and the boy now has his own furniture-making business!
The store in which projects are on display and can be sold, functions as an authentic audience for my students. It is effective because many of my students have asked to have their projects on display in the store and some of my students have sold their projects by themselves. The authentic audience and the requirements that are needed to make projects (designs) suitable for selling, creates the criteria for my students that they are accountable for; criteria like: appearance, usefulness and quality of construction.
Motivation
Goals and Curriculum for Technology Education and Industrial design
Curriculum Intro
Industrial Design 1 and 2
Furniture Making Program
Curriculum Technology Education
The above mentioned documents have been removed and can be found on: www.teacherspayteachers.com Look for Steamteacher
