Secondary ONE - 2015 - "A (Simple) Wood Note Holder (Starter) Project" & Drawing Practice

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Welcome to "A (Simple) Wood Note Holder (Starter) Project" for my 2015 Secondary ONE classes. Here I share my planning processes and what my students get to do from beginning to the end. 

If there must be a Lower Secondary Coursework to be done, I always like to begin with building the necessary skills and competency before the designing phase actually begin. Many students dread the Idea Generation stage because they struggle with drawing. When it comes to Development, students struggle again because they have no experiences of the challenges and limitations on working with tools and materials. Therefore could not develop their ideas meaningfully. Come the realization phase and the students are smacked with another completely new sets of skills which they had never acquired. As a result students had to learn alongside making attempts on their actual hand-in project. There is hardly any room for risk taking, making mistakes and learning from them.

In my class, I prefer to have my students experience making. To have a feel of the tools, machines and handy-skills required of their final individual project through kicking off a simple project. To prepare my students to be more competent and confident for the Idea Generation and Development phase, I get my students to learn and practice basic drawing skills.

PART A: First off "A (Simple) Wood Note Holder (Starter) Project"

Fig. 1

What you see in the image above (Fig. 1) is a mini note holder which I planned according to the necessary skills I wish my students to experience and learn in advance, and in turn to be useful before they begin Idea Generation. There is no way any student can appreciate design if he did not know first how materials are processed or how relevant tools are being used. Only when he had the experience, the designing stage can be done with its limitations and challenges in mind. 

Students get to learn the following skills as they make this project:

1. Marking out. The image named as Fig. 2 below is an example I drew on the white board. The blue lines are added along the way as I show my students the stages of marking out on their piece of block. I draw on the board, then demonstrate on my little block. Students can refer either to the board for the marking positions or they can take a peek at my block once I am done. There is no need to mention any dimensions when I get my students to mark out. I simply use geometries. I say 'half of this'. Then 'another half of this', etc. as they mark out.
2. Shaping (I). Students took turns to use the scroll saw to cut out two curved slots. I took this opportunity to explain why I designed the slots to be 'curved' instead of straight slots for holding a piece of paper in it.
3. Shaping (II). A few steps forward, students learn to make use of a piece of Glass Paper (Sand Paper) to not only smooth the surfaces along the grain, they learn to use the glass paper alongside with blocks and/clamping on a vice to create curved edges to improve the overall aesthetics.
4. Drilling. Due to time, I fixed the 3mm drill bits and adjusted its drill depth in advance. I then explained how a drill bit is fixed, how I get the depth of the hole fixed, and the relevant stuffs about drilling. Students get to use the drilling machine to drill a 3mm hole by learning to secure their work piece on a vice accurately, and in turn securing the vice with a F-Clamp. 
5. Finishing (I): Students learn the names of the sand paper and the different grades of them. How to make use of other objects to achieve sanding in different parts and in various obstructed surfaces, etc. They'll learn about sanding along the grains and why it is preferred that way.
6. Finishing (II). A few steps forward (again). Students learn the value of finishing their project either with (spray) paints or with Lacquer. I explain to them the process of finishing and when it is best done.
7. Wire Bending: This may not be a critical skill in making. However, the students will learn about dexterity, hand-eye coordination to bend a piece of wire into the shape that is required - that will hold a piece of paper secure.Similar skills can be transferred if they wish to include wires in their personal projects later on.

Fig. 2

PART B: Drawing Practices

Fig. 3 shows a (WIP) sample set of progressing drawing skills which I planned to introduce to my students.

                             

Fig. 3

This will be a simplified drawing competency building for my Secondary One students this year. More updates later when I begin teaching them in class. That will be from week 4 onward. Basically the following are the steps:

Students learn progressively:

1. Drawing parallel lines in all directions. (Fig. 4).
2. Drawing parallel lines varying distances in all directions and all variations.(Fig. 4).
3. Drawing blocks of various shape and orientation. Bearing in mind parallel lines. Bearing in mind also first off are light guide lines, followed by heavier lines to lock in shape.(Fig. 4).
4. Drawing double parallel crosses. In preparation for Orthographic Projection placements. Double up as more practices for line drawing.(Fig. 4).
5. Drawing in a block in Orthographic Projection.(Fig. 4).
6. Drawing Oblique blocks in all possible sizes and orientation.(Fig. 4 & 5).
7. Drawing Oblique miscellaneous shapes (Triangles, Rectangles, Squares, Octagons, etc.) in all possible sizes and orientations. Bearing in mind (again) parallel lines.(Fig. 5)
8. [TEST] Drawing "A (Simple) Wood Note Holder" in Oblique. (Fig. 6).
9. Making use of Oblique principles to draw complicated objects. (Fig. 7).
10. Transforming Oblique into 1-Point Perspective Drawings. (Fig. 8).

Note: The baseline is that the slowest group must at least be competent up to skills shown from Fig. 4 to Fig 5a and able to draw the note holder show in Fig. 6. Steps 9 & 10 (Fig. 7 & 8) onward should be reserved for classes that has proven to be ready for more and for fast learners only. 

      Fig. 4 

  

Fig. 5 

                                                                                               

Fig. 6


    Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Ideally, once both Part A and B are completed, students will be more equipped and ready to tackle the requirement to sketch in the Idea Generation Phase, and have better ideas on 'how-to' develop and 'how-to' plan to make their idea and how much time is required. If the students already know how long it will take him to create a certain form using a certain method through the practices, he will be able to keep that in mind, and develop his idea according to his time allocated and how quickly he can finish them.

Till then, leave me a note if this is useful. Feel free to provide feedback or email me if you need any clarifications.

Classroom worksheets for 'Basic line work confidence and oblique drawing worksheet for upload' can be found here:

Please email mrdanielsos@yahoo.com.sg for a copy + terms and conditions for use.