Building a Wall

I managed to catch a three-day assignment to round out my week. The last time I had subbed for this teacher he taught computer stuff (coding and such). But I knew he had moved into a new discipline in the career and technical education department. I thought he was teaching woodshop. 

It's not woodshop, though. Now the class he teaches is called residential construction. And yeah, it is what it sounds like. 

Residential construction 3, so the students in the third year of it, were building a shed for the activities director. Residential construction 2, second year, were building a tiny house. On the day I was there, a couple students were working on installing a toilet while a third was adding siding to the outside. 

And the first year students were doing a small wall. 

(Normally I would be stuck with them doing online work while their teacher was out, but the classes had instructional aides who could supervise, so they could actually work on their construction stuff.) 

I'm calling it a small wall as that's kind of what it was. First they built a frame. Then into that frame they attached outlet boxes. And then they had to wire them. 

Before they could move on, they tested the wiring. The IA plugged a bulb into the socket. They connected the wiring to a live outlet. And then they flipped the switch. If the light turned on, they passed. 

Then it was time for drywall. 

They had to cut the pieces to fit. Then they screwed it into the frame. 

Some students were behind and just getting the wiring done. Some were ahead and able to drywall. But a few were in a holding pattern as they were just about out of drywall. (The teacher was going to bring more, but he's out for a reason.) 

Well, they had online work, too. There's a website sponsored by Home Depot called Path to Pro. They have instructions on how to do all sorts of construction stuff. (The year two and three students were completing OSHA training stuff.) So, they had enough to keep them busy.

Of course, high school students, so some were more on their phones or on online games. But that's pretty standard. 

Just in case you were wondering what they're teaching the kiddos in school nowadays.