Working In The Middle School: A Short Story

Tim Stephenson was your typical small town, high school student. One day his shop teacher, Mr. Lane, gave an open ended assignment in which the students were to bring the materials from home to build something using the available class tools for woodworking, metallurgy, etc. This assignment was after they proved a certain amount of proficiency with the skill. Tim decided that his family farm could use a new gate for one of its pastures. He began to sketch what he called “the most beautiful gate” on a piece of paper with metal wagon wheels and wrought iron accents.
“Do you have the materials to build this gate?” asked Mr. Lane.
“Oh yes, Mr. Lane.” he nervously replied.
He did not.
“Okay Tim, I’ll be by in the morning with the truck and trailer to pick you and the materials up.”
Tim agreed but had a sinking feeling inside. He knew it was going to be a long night. Near his farm was an old cemetery with all the iron he would need to build his gate.
“No one will miss the metal if I take it from the back side of that ol’ graveyard. Heck,

they don’t even take care of it,” he thought to himself.

Tim worked in the darkness and cut out what he’d thought he would need and piled it at the end of his driveway. The next morning him and his scratched up arms loaded Mr. Lane’s trailer. After his conscience quieted down over the theft of the metal, he began to once again get excited about the gate project. In shop he cut and laid out all his material for the gate. There was just one thing left to do, weld.
He put the welding rod in the welder, tipped down his mask and struck the metal.
BAM!
There was a large explosion sending sparks soaring through the shop. He didn’t know what happened but, most importantly, he hoped that Mr. Lane hadn’t noticed. He did notice but he stayed away and let Tim continue.
He tried again and with an even more dramatic result. This time it was louder and sent even more sparks out. He took off his helmet, wiped his forehead and went to see his shop teacher that was still watching from the distance.
“I don’t know why this happening, I’ve welded before!” he nervously stated.
“Read this before you blow my d@!? shop up.” Mr. Lane said as he handed him a book.
The book was a book on metallurgy. Tim took the book home that night. It was the first time he remembered ever taking a school book home and he read it all evening late into the night. The next day Mr. Lane asked if he was ready to try it again but Tim explained that he thought he needed some more time with the book.
He said he was amazed by the book. He learned all about the different types of metal and the appropriate ways to work with them. He finished the book and had gained confidence to continue work on his gate again. He went in the storeroom in the shop and setting there was the appropriate welding rod to weld the types of metals he was trying to weld. It was a success, the finished gate was beautiful. He was extremely proud of himself. He had succeeded, there was just one problem.
A few days later two police officers came by the shop and were asking if anyone had any information about stolen metal from a local cemetery. Tim knew he had to confess and accept the punishment. Somehow they had suspected him. Perhaps one of his teachers had called them.
The local judge decided that since young Mr. Stephenson had such an understanding of metallurgy, perhaps it would be prudent if the boy could volunteer his time to repair the entire wrought iron fence. Tim worked all summer on the project. He started with the area that he had stolen from but then repaired and improved the cemetery fence. He was more proud of this than the gate.
Years later, after some time in the military, Mr. Stephenson was working in law enforcement. One day he was offered a position to teach at risk students from a juvenile detention center. He remembered that failure was an important part of the learning process and always integrated it into his approach to teaching. He used the same philosophy of student choice and project selection that Mr. Lane had used with him when he was in high school.
“I did it out of survival,” Mr. Stephenson admits.
It ended up making a huge difference for those students but he was just getting started.
He then went to teach at Greenbrier High School. Hired by a superintendent with a tumultuous relationship with his principal, Mr. Stephenson was not even given his own classroom. The principal, angry at the superintendant for hiring him behind his back, told him that he could use various classrooms as teachers were on their prep periods. He knew that that would be difficult so he decided to have his class meet under a metal awning and use milk crates as seating. From this setting, Mr. Stephenson's class worked on projects for the community. They borrowed shop time and took advantage of various school/community resources. One student’s father was an expert in CAD, computer aided drafting, and volunteered his time and some equipment for the students to use. One day a state board of education representative visited the school.
“What is the title of this class?” the representative asked.
“Well, this is Tim’s class,” Mr. Stephenson replied.
The man did not look impressed.
“What curriculum are you using?” the rep asked.
Mr. Stephenson did not have an answer. He told the representative about all the projects that the students were doing around the community. After a short deliberation the state notified the school that they needed to cease and desist. The school and the school board refused.
“My students had done a lot of cool things in the community and worked with the school board members. They were ready to fight the state if necessary.”
After a second, much longer, deliberation the state returned with its verdict.
The next year Mr. Stephenson was to train other teachers so they could implement what he was doing in other schools. Funding and resources were later allocated for the program.
An early partner with EAST was CAST, Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas, who assisted the students with some mapping projects and student training.

That valuable partnership still exists today. Many other partnerships have since been established that all focus on helping students gain valuable technical skills. As EAST evolved, a wide range technology has become part of its model. EAST puts cutting-edge, industry standard technology in the hands of students. However, the technologies are just a small part of EAST. In EAST, as the students empower others they empower themselves. It all started from an idea that kids are capable of amazing things if you give them the opportunity and they are intrinsically motivating. Technical skills are gained in EAST but in working with the community, soft skills are developed. More importantly, the students develop and/or strengthen the passion of helping

others.
Tim Stephenson will tell you that he is no genius. His successes come from his abilities to interact and encourage students and know when failure should be allowed to happen. Above all, he built relationships with his students and knew their strengths and their weaknesses. EAST tells us, the facilitators, that they have worked and worked to provide the most valuable resource for us that they can provide. That resource is time and it MUST be used to talk to the students about their projects. This interaction is key to student success.