Corn Hole and Life Skills

Yesterday we began making corn hole sets. What a blast to put a drill in a student's hands for the first time. Watching them struggle with keeping it aligned while stripping screws and getting accustomed to the sensitivity of the trigger brought me back to my first job in construction (using the same exact drill!) when I stripped a dozen or so while decking before finally getting it.

Whew! Run on sentence?

But I learned from failure, and so will these students. Yesterday we only got the frames completed, not even the top boards, but I could tell those working on it were proud.

The model I follow for instruction in this setting I take from Mike Breen, a church planting guru of all things. It is the following:

doesn't look like much...yet...but a great first step!

I lead, you watch
I lead, you help
You lead, I help
You lead I watch

Now, this takes place on both the micro and macro scale. Microscopically, I fastened the first 4 screws and made the first 4 pilot holes.

Then I helped while they lined a few up.

Then I walked away with another set still to go. By the end, they had done it on they're own!

Any day a kid can take the lead on a project...and use power tools, is a good day. Needless to say, it was a good day!

dm