New Blog old topic.  Drafting.  I am a drafting teacher at both the high school and college levels.  The following is what I present to my drafting classes on the first day of class.  I will update with additional posts of my daily lesson plans.  I will be candid regarding what worked well and what did not go as expected.


The text may look a bit odd, but I have copied much of the information from various power points 
that I present in class or post on BlackBoard for student use.


 

ON the first day of drafting class, I present this power point to the students and we discuss my expectations for the class.

My purpose for "the two minute rule" is an effort to prevent students from consistently being tardy.  I tell the students that I understand about life, but a good life skill is to learn how to plan ahead.  Each one of these "two minute quizzes" are worth 5 points, which is not much, but over the course of the semester it will make as much as a letter grade difference.  

Typically I will introduce a new concept with some type of object that the student can hold (or a good visual aid - YouTube or other)  in an effort to help them develop the skill of visualization.  I have found that it is usually counter productive to "tell the student" they should visualize or imagine without actually "showing" the student specifically "what" I want them to "see in their minds eye".

I use this slide in an effort to let the student know that they should be prepared at all times.  The unannounced quizzes are not intended to punish or to try to catch the student unprepared; but rather the intent is for the student to continually look over the material and do the assigned work.  If the student puts out the effort, that effort will be rewarded.

 

My policy on make up work is this way for the simple reason, that it can get to a point very quickly where (due to the volume and randomness) it can just be unmanageable.   I tell the students that I understand about life, but with a large number of students etc) keeping track and regrading . . . is just beyond my abilities to manage in a reasonable manner.  So to compensate for my weakness, I will drop the lowest scores for each type of assignment.

This is sometimes difficult for me to enforce.  I have to just make myself follow through with this policy because I have learned that when the students perceive a weakness, they exploit it big-time.  So it bothers me to be "so mean", but when I realize that it is really a matter of "survival" I really don't feel that bad.

There are always excuses when we use Blackboard or CAD software.  It is not my intention to be hard-hearted or "difficult" as a teacher, but this class is on drafting not on how to use Blackboard or how to load SolidWorks on your personal device.  I provide the students with the support center phone number and give them the proper download information for using the CAD software on their personal devices and simply tell them that it is their responsibility to have a working knowledge of how to submit assignments etc).  Other wise too much class time is spent off topic.

On this slide, I have removed a portion of the serial number which is required to activate the software for student use.

I have noticed a trend among the students to resist me on this one.  They want to use other types of paper and occasionally they will not use a pencil.  I don't make a big issue out of this, I simply let them know that their grades will be discounted until they follow directions.  As it continues with the same students, the percentage marked off gets greater each time it is repeated.

  

The reason for this is because I have learned that Billy Bob will often do the work for his friends.  My requirement for the original to be done in pencil (no copies) in addition to the electronic posting has solved this problem.  

 

A picture of the work will do just as well as a scan.  However there is a problem that I have encountered when a student uses an iphone to take a picture.  If more than one file to be submitted to a BlackBoard post, the iphone names all of the pictures the same name and BlackBoard will not let you submit multiple files with the same name.  So my solution (so far) is to either email me the files or do not use your iphone.

The next post will be on Orthographic projection and free hand lettering and sketching.