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The prompt for this response was the following reading from the book Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford:
The reading is excellent, and made me reflect on my classroom in the following way:
I'd like to try teaching the philosophy of craftsmanship as described in the excerpt from "Shop Class as Soul Craft".
There is a balancing act in allowing the freedom for mistakes, but also instilling a culture of craftsmanship. I am confident that our program allows for mistakes yet there is a weakness in our culture of craftsmanship. Students do not always take pride in their work or take too much pride in faulty work.
This year I'd like to implement two things to help instill the culture of craftsmanship: time to correct mistakes, and a spectrum of physical examples of craftsmanship. Our program currently doesn't have many examples on display. The examples would better communicate expectations and give the students a metric to use in assessing their own work.
Allowing for time to correct mistakes will be an important step in reaching the goal of craftsmanship, while still providing the all-important lesson of resolving problems. This year, our program has plans to open the lab during out-of-school hours. These hours, as well as intentional scheduling for mistake management, will give us a better window of opportunity to address mistakes and instilling craftsmanship.
Our program has a solid foundation and the foundation caters towards a path of continuous improvement. Improving quality, craftsmanship, and most importantly, student pride in work is one of our priorities.
How do you balance the act of done is better than perfect, good is the enemy of perfect, yet communicate attention to detail and precision in the industry that you are in? Comment below!
Instagram @Jack.of.all.learning/Twitter: @JackOfAllLearnn/Facebook: @RMIndustrialArts
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