Loyal Tech Ed classes learn skills from projects for the community
The proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” is one that could be easily used to describe the teaching method used in the Loyal High School’s technology education classes. For the past seven years, students in these classes have been taught skills in construction, metalworking and other areas through projects they have done for community members.
Randy Montalvo has been the technology education instructor for the past seven years at Loyal and was the one who started this model of teaching -- which he calls project-based learning -- for his students. A man who could be best described as a jack-of-all-trades, he said the inspiration for having classes held this way came from his own experiences in learning in the classroom: by doing rather than by telling.
“We have done it this way ever since I started here,” he said. “We are now in our seventh year. I have a simple model of teaching and that is show and go. Sometimes you take them into the classroom to make sure they learn the basics and teach them the things they will need in the shop, but you really learn by doing.”
Since Montalvo has started holding classes using project-based learning, he said the numbers of students interested in attending his classes has increased. Starting with an average of around seven, numbers have about doubled to the number he has today.
“I had started out with six or seven kids, the numbers have grown,” he said. “My average class size is now between 15-18 kids, with some advanced students coming in as they can.”
Currently, Montalvo said there are several classes he is teaching, including construction and welding. In the class, he said the students are given projects to do by community members, teachers at Loyal and others who have something they want built or fixed. From decks to trailers and even an occasional chicken coop, the students learn how to make them all.
“We do about 40 projects per year,” he said. “There are 10 big projects from among those. If I look at this group in class right now they are doing a lot. They are always doing some projects and we are always planning for more.”
By having project-based learning, Montalvo said the students are able to learn and apply many different skills to their projects, many of which could be applied to a future career. While the projects materials are paid for by the customers -- the only price involved with the student-made projects -- students have to learn how to calculate cost, create blueprints and make the projects. “I remember a lot of kids when they first come into one of my classes, they ask, ‘Where are the blueprints?’ and I tell them you have to make them,” he said. “They have to come up with the designs instead of having someone else come up with it for you. The kids learn how to design a project, how to make quotes to customers about costs of materials and what they will need to do to assemble them. We don’t charge labor for these projects because they are about teaching the kids. It helps keep some of the costs down for people.”
While some of the larger projects are unique, such as a shed or a deck, Montalvo said there are a few times when customers will ask for the same sort of project, such as a picnic table, or the popular chairs with a Wisconsin-shaped back. For those projects, he encourages his students to try different methods of reaching the end product, helping them to understand there is more than one way to finish a job.
“I try to teach the students to approach a project one way, and if they do a project like it again to approach it differently,” he said. “When they make the Wisconsin chairs for example, I always try to hide their state templates after they finish so that if they have to do the project again, they have to redesign the template all over again.”
This method, Montalvo said, also allows the students to learn an important lesson about making mistakes.
“They are going to make mistakes,” he said. “I always tell them to start a project aiming to make it perfect. At the end of the project, then they can say that it is good enough. If you start out with a ‘just good enough’ attitude you are going to have a shoddy project by the end. It is important for them to learn how to do things right. My job is to give these kids the skills they can use in the future, maybe not for their jobs, but what they do with it is up to them.”
Because their work in the classroom is mainly project-based, Montalvo said community involvement in their work is essential. Without people willing to give these kids a chance to learn and expand their knowledge through their different and unique project ideas, they don’t have anything to do. “We need projects, because without projects the kids are not able to learn,” he said.
Loyal technology education instructor Randy Montalvo (second from left) talks with a few members of his construction class about the next steps they should take in completing the chicken coop project they are currently working on in class. This large-scale project is one of many the students take on each year as part of their project-based learning curriculum. Once completed, the project will be disassembled, transported and reassembled at the home of the community member who asked for its construction.
CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTO
