In early July, 84 past winners of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence met in San Diego for Let’s Build It. The annual week-long event offers reflection, relationship-building and “hard-fun,” leaving participants inspired and motivated for the year ahead.
Highlights from the week included:
Shop Talk Express
On Tuesday, July 7, 30 teachers led table discussions on their go-to “shop class hacks” – their top teaching strategies that others could learn from and use in their classrooms come fall. A quick rotation system had teachers walking away with 30 new ideas in just under two hours! “Shop class hacks” included ways to gamify lessons for students, assigning professional titles to students to instill the importance of different work roles, providing guidance on social media, and more.
Offsite Tours
Wednesday, July 8, saw teachers splitting up to four different locations around San Diego. At Taylor Guitars’, they toured the brand’s factory for an immersive look at the craftsmanship behind their signature guitars. The Gillespie Field Annex showed off robust displays of historic aircraft and engines, plus an exclusive tour of the active restoration shop. At the Linda Vista Innovation Center, teachers observed students and industry professionals during a Fix-It Day workshop and then provided guidance on the Center’s developing tools-and-trades lab. The group at Workshop for Warriors got to see and hear from veterans taking summer training courses to prepare them for advanced manufacturing and welding careers.
Supporting Local Causes
On Thursday, July 9, prizewinning teachers gave their time and skills to two outstanding San Diego organizations: Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD) and Sleep in Heavenly Peace – North San Diego Chapter. At VVSD, teachers worked on ground improvement projects like adding planters to the campus entryway, building an onsite pet relief area for veterans with service animals, and installing new blinds in residents’ rooms. Meanwhile, another group cut, sanded, stained and assembled wood pieces for bedframes to assist Sleep in Heavenly Peace in their mission of providing beds for children in need, including children in local foster care.
