Tag Archives: labour

Lessons & Units, My Resources

Strimming With Students

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StrimmerStrimming, weed whacking, weed eating, call it what you like, it’s a crazy process. Take a piece of nylon string, use a 2-stroke petrol engine to spin it around real fast, and then use that force to hack away at vegetation. As part of my Art of Physical Labour programme, I try to get students to understand machines, how they are useful, why they are potentially dangerous, and what their limitations are.

So, after a session of hand weeding, I thought I would introduce something new, and have students look at, pull start and (for the more responsible) use a strimmer. If you have never used a strimmer before, you could be forgiven for underestimating how intimidating they are to new comers. It’s not just the danger of being lacerated, but also flying stones, the noise of a 2-stroke engine, the heat, fumes, vibration. This is not something to approach lightly.

At first sight of the strimmer, students were excited by the prospect of using a power tool, but at the same time I could see some trepidation from some of the younger kids. I asked them some questions as to what this thing was, how it worked, and why it could be dangerous. We discussed the measures we could take to protect ourselves, including being sensible, knowing the machine, wearing safety goggles, long trousers and closed toed shoes. For extended use we discussed the importance of ear protection, and on sandy ground, or when going right down to the ground, the importance of a heavy apron.

Each student then had a turn starting the strimmer, using the pull cord to manually ignite the full. This is not an easy process, and every student in the group underestimated the force required. After starting, students used the kill switch to stop the machine, which we also discussed in terms of safety. Once all of the students had a go starting the machine, three students were selected to whack some weeds. I worked individually with each of them to make sure they machine was handled correctly. I helped them load the started machine onto their backs (not as easy as it sounds), and then worked to direct them to safely operate it (form a safe distance of course). All three students clearly enjoyed the process, but came away a little shaky at the power and heat of the machine.

All too often, schools attempt to keep students safe by banning supposedly risky activities. However, this is a very short-term fix, as students are shielded from potential danger, and so never learn how to judge, mitigate and handle danger. I love this activity precisely because it exposes students to danger in a well managed, safe way. They learn to appreciate the danger of powerful machines, but also that this power can be harvested and used wisely.

Next lesson? Power drills, working up to hammer action.

Image Credit: Strimmer image by David R. Yeo on Wikipedia, shared under CC BY.

My Resources, Thoughts

The Art of Physical Labour

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DiggingService learning is one of the best elements in education, providing students with so many opportunities to learn, grow, see, do, give and connect. However, it is my experience that most students who undertake service learning do not have the skills required to really help those they are interacting with. The upshot of this is that whilst service is great for students, it is often a drain on the limited resources of the very organisations we are trying to help. This seems to be particularly true when students are asked to undertake tasks involving practical, physical skills. I have seen older students, up to 16 years of age, who struggle to handle tools in the pursuit of an outcome.

Over the last term, I have been trying to overcome this problem, through the introduction of an activity I call The Art of Physical Labour. Meeting once a week, students undertake a series of different tasks which aim to equip them with not only skills, but also a mindset of getting work done in an efficient, sensible and positive manner. My first group of 10 students recently completed a term of labouring, and all individuals I could see improvements in both ability and attitude as they moved through the following tasks:

  • Tree Processing – cutting up a fallen tree with hand saws, and tidying the remains for collection.
  • Sweeping
  • Cementing – producing a simple wooden mold, then mixing and pouring concrete to make the desired shape.
  • Screwing – using screw drives and self tapping screws to bore into wood.
  • Drilling – using small and large handheld electric drills on wood (I would have liked to have done concrete as well, but there was not enough time).
  • Digging – 6 minutes of continuous digging, aiming to move soil around.
  • Carrying – moving pots of soil from one location to another.

In general students were most engaged in those activities set up as a game or challenge (for example digging and carrying were combined into a two-team race, in which the winning team was the one to move all their soil first).

This activity will continue to run, and will be shared by myself and another teacher over the coming year. It is something I would really like to expand on, so that all students get at least one year of it. These skills are so useful in terms of being a well rounded, robust, resilient individual, that I think no student should leave school without them.

Note: thumbnail by Chiot’s Run on Flickr, shared under CC BY-NC

Other Resources

People At Work

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/at_work.html

An interesting, visual look at the work people do around the world every day.  If you are studying globalisation, the importance of labour, production techniques, issues of scale, culture or photography, this resource ought to be of interest. Like it or not, the work we do has a huge impact on how we are perceived, both by our selves and by others: looking at the huge range of work being performed can help put things into perspective.