[ WAIVER ] [ LABS ] [ CHALLENGE ] [ TEACHER NOTES ]

PREAMBLE

This is how I teach Mechanics. You can think of this as me teaching you how I teach mechanics. Ultimately, you need to be you, and do things your own way – but it’s always good to gather insights and information that help tailer the you becoming you. Or a Mini-Me. I’m good either way.

PHILOSOPHY

I teach full rebuilding, with a focus on maintenance. My reasoning is this:

It sets a controlled and structured environment to provide a foundation of “mechanical skill” and “experience” and that “there is a way things are done.”
It builds the student’s confidence that they CAN, in fact, do this.
Rebuilding the part helps the student to fully understand what is going on; this helps significantly in the ability to diagnose problems.
I do not strive to train apprentices; I purpose to help students take care of their vehicle, or at least know enough to make informed decisions when taking their car for servicing.
Graduated licensing means few students actually have a driver’s license.
My school/student demographics are generally middle-class and low-income, and few students even own a vehicle. Being able to fix their old car is a significant benefit to them.

I DO NOT BRING IN “OUTSIDE WORK”

This is solely for my sanity.

Kids are not usually malicious, or intentionally destructive. They are, however, ignorant of what they are doing; they really have zero experience, and are coming into your program with zero practical and zero tool experience.

Do you want the stress of students damaging what they work on? Are you going to be the one staying until 8pm re-threading a spark plug hole so the science teacher can get home? Are you going to cover the cost of a brand new tire that just had the bead ripped off because the kid didn’t remember how to use the machine properly? Not me.

Let me put it this way: Would you take your Master’s Thesis to the English 12 students for proof reading and just accept it? Would you take your tax returns to the Math 12 class? Would you go to the Biology 12 students for medical advice? If the answer is “no” to any of these – why would you bring your car to a high school shop for repair?

People only want you to fix their car for them because they are cheap. They are not always gracious when things “go wrong.” We actually have a legal waiver for cars that come in, because things went wrong (at another school, thankfully).

Kids cannot usually diagnose their way out of a wet paper bag.

Having said that – kids can have amazing opportunities in “real world experience” working on actual problems and servicing. I have brought stuff in in the past. Things usually went preventably wrong. I cannot handle the stress of it; I no longer bring work in.

If you are fine with bringing work in, good on ya. But that will NOT be me.

TEACHING THEORY

I actually teach theory; I feel it is important. I know of some schools that teach zero theory. You do you. I don’t want any kid doing brakes on anything who can’t actually sit down and actually learn how actual brakes actually work. You need both the theoretical knowledge and the hands-on knowledge. My course is such that both the theory and the hands-on go hand-in-hand with each other.

My school is semestered, we have two classes per day, each class is 2.5 hours long. Keep this in mind.

I spend the first three weeks of the course working through the Intro section, pretty much starting at the top and working my way through. Safety, fasteners, tools, measurement, etc.. Much of which is review for the Level 2’s and 3’s. For many of the sections, I tell the kids “if you keep these booklets for next year, I won’t make you do them again.” MANY kids keep the booklets. I still insist that they at least humour me and LOOK like they are paying attention. I also INSIST that they do not give their booklets to their buddies to copy during the lesson – 1) I need their attention 2) it does NOT make the lesson go faster.

I had a group of Level 2’s a couple years ago who shared their booklets with the Level 1’s who consequently didn’t learn the material. They even argued the validity of their wrong answers that were contrary to the content. I made all the booklets worth zero for the class, which hurt everybody.

Let me explain:

If the booklets are 10/10 marks on completion, and let’s say they got 10/30 on a quiz. Maybe you just struggle with quizzes. If you take the quiz and the booklet and join it together it’s a 20/40 and a pass. If you didn’t actually do the booklet or even try to learn the material (hence the 10/30), you don’t deserve that pass.

Assignments in the “Intro” section are often tailored for each Level. As you go through, I tend to break up the theory with activities related to the content – nobody wants to listen to you talk forever. Be sure to fill your lessons with stories and anecdotes – what do you remember from highschool? Stories? Or that sweet lesson on polynomials or conjugating French verbs? Tell stories.

Once the Intro section is complete, we split into levels.

LEVELS

I have tried a variety of ways to teach theory that works with mixed classes. I’ve also tried unmixed classes (single level only). I highly recommend mixed classes – it is easier for your admin to schedule and fill your classes, and your numbers will stay up. Also, the 2’s and 3’s (theoretically) help out the Level 1’s. I have three active “levels” in each class, and I really cater to the Level 1’s.

The Level 2’s and 3’s already know the routine. But here is what I do; here is what it has evolved into:

Level 2’s and 3’s get their booklets, and begin working through each Unit content.

I meet with the Level 1’s by the whiteboard and give a “song-and-dance” on what they are going to be learning (there are video links to my “song and dance” on a number of the theory units). I tell lots of stories, I try to be very animated and passionate about the subject. Lots of life experiences, and even life-lessons thrown in. Keep it relatively brief – in my case not much more than 30-40 minutes. You will gather more and more stories and examples as you see where kids struggle. Your job is to help them struggle less. I constantly tweak my curriculum where I see kids struggle.

Once I’ve done my ditty, I give the Level 1’s their booklets and meet with the Level 2’s.

By this time, the Level 2’s will be at a spot of the booklet where they are struggling (gear ratios and flow of power through a manual transmission, for example). I give a brief overview of their unit, but spend quality time on the sections they find the most confusing (you will know as you teach your kids).

Same thing with Level 3’s.

As they work through the booklets, circulate, check in on them, see that they are actually doing the work and learning the material. Notice that somebody got the wrong answer, and two-thirds of the class have copied them without even thinking about it.

Each of the units can easily be completed in two days (5 hours) including doing the quiz. You’ll need to really push the Level 2’s on Brakes – it’s a big unit.

RUNNING THE SHOP

I do not bring work in. I’m pretty adamant about that.

I do, however, have a small number of shop cars that kids can do labs on – though I prefer they work on their own cars if they have one.

A note about shop cars:

All of my vehicles have been donated to the school; I have bought none of them. You can always make the call out to the community – it’s amazing what comes your way.

Really crappy vehicles get cut up. This gives you teaching aids as well as engines the Level 1’s rebuild, transmissions the Level 2’s rebuild, etc.. I’ve often taken the scrap metal to the recyclers and put some money back into my program. But not since they dropped a crane on my truck.

Try to stick with older vehicles – kids just need to understand the basics, and modern stuff is more complex than most kids can comprehend, and they are neither fun nor easy to work on. Does this help kids going into the trade? Maybe. Maybe not. But statistically you will have maybe one student go into an Auto Mechanics apprenticeship program per year, and their first three weeks of trade school is as long as your entire program

SHOP WEEK

Once we finish the first Theory Unit (The Engine for Level 1, Drivetrain for Level 2, Automatics for Level 3), we spend a week in the shop. If we did Theory on a Monday and Wednesday, then Friday will be in the shop, followed by the entire following week in the shop. I try to schedule theory on a Tuesday-Thursday week, so the following week is Monday-Wednesday-Friday in the shop.

Level 1’s are assigned their engines to rebuild (Click for LAB), Level 2’s are assigned their manual transmissions (Click for LAB), and the Level 3’s are assigned their automatic transmissions (Click for LAB).

Circulate, check in on the kids. Make sure you check that the kids are actually doing the work, make sure you are checking that the kids are actually learning the material (not just barfing out a Google answer that they didn’t even linger on). Prepare them for what is happening next in their labs.

TOOL ROOM

We have a tool room. I assign a Tool Room Attendant every Shop Day, and they get to choose the genre of music that we listen to through the shop sound system (VIDEO on Tool Room Attendant Instructions). This keeps the missing tools to an absolute minimum. I lose about $5 worth of tools a year. I always start with the Level 1’s and end with the Level 3’s, because “seniority.”

Once everyone has had a kick at the can at being tool room attendance, I open it to volunteers who get a free extra lab credit for doing so.

THEORY WEEK

After a full week of shop, we’re back doing the next unit of theory.

Once theory is complete (six units), it’s straight shop to the end of the course.

ASSESSMENT

Day Sheets are worth 50% of the course, comprised of productivity, preparedness, safety/cleanup.

The remaining 50% comes from everything else: powerpoint notes, theory booklets, worksheets, assignments, quizzes, shop labs, and what-have-you (Safety notes and safety quizzes are scaled to be worth zero. You HAVE to pass them, so they should not pad your mark).

Some kids don’t do well on quizzes, but they will work their ass off for you – their mark will reflect that. Some kids do well on quizzes, but they are lazy – their mark will reflect that.

I allow re-writes on failed quizzes, but I ONLY give 50% on a re-write. I usually recommend working harder in the shop – make up for low quiz marks by doing more labs. “Play to your strengths.” I require 15 labs credit, but will give marks for more. World record is 44 labs completed. They got 440/150 in my marks book (and also ended up with 100% for the course).

As of this writing I’ve been teaching 29 years – I have not yet seen a kid who was failing everything but was “good with their hands.”

Labs and Theory Booklets are marked “To Competency;” that is: is it “good enough?” Keep in mind a Trade School “Pass” is 70%. I am a bit of a perfectionist, and the automotive world is my area of Savant. It’s taken me years to “calm down” and find that world of “good enough.” My buddy Ron once told me: “Your death trap is still better than most people’s awesome” – that has helped me re-focus; I lean a lot on that.

By the end of the course, each theory booklet is worth 1%. Each lab is worth 1%. Quizzes usually work out to 2%.

…. I may add to this as I see fit. Cheers!