Teaching is a good kind of tired (GrandPAH)

Weezbo

As Alaska has large desperate communities computer home education is hammering the brick and mortar into rubble....

However, in our Work, a boiler room is an opportunity to shine :)

maybe every high school and jr high should march every single class down to the boiler room for a field trip every semester :)

Dave Yates (PAH)

Meet the class of 007!

With these kinds of reading materials, how could they possibly go wrong?!?

What a great bunch of young men they turned out to be. Hard to believe you can get much of a feel for a man's character after just two days, but I have high hopes for this group. They took to the twisted journey that ran through my mind like ducks to water and breezed through complicated heat-loss calculations for a connected load survey and a hydro-air system. Then we hit on hot water and why the envelope mattered instead of matching the connected load. The real fun began when they were assigned the task to conduct a heat loss for this lab building!

We took that heat loss and converted it to today's energy dollars and then we exercised our brains by brainstorming about how to button up the building's envelope and knock off about 75% of its energy losses. Their professor is in for a rather large surprise tomorrow because they now know how much it costs to heat the lab on a day-to-day basis and, more importantly, why and how that can be changed.

The class of 007 rocks!

As youse kan clearly cee, I larned em gud about how tu size a bouiler(G).

Oh, and by the way John Hall - they read The News every month. I told these young lads you'd probably like to hear a first-hand account of what their college experience is like for publication.

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Terry_14

AM I 2 old at 56 for the class

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Wish i could have been there to understand how to arrive at the new energy needs and save some of the environment for our Grand kids.

Speaking of grand Kids how is yours? the days must be filled with wonder

Got a hug for you
Terry

J.C.A._3

Hey Grand-Pah,

Thanks ! I'm glad to hear about the good kind of tired. Kudos to you and all the students. I'm sure they will be giving the professor an earful after getting real life lessons and being able to decipher what they've been taught, and what they will REALLY need to know.

Keep up the good work. Now you know that teaching isn't as easy as you thunk it might have been, can you give us some pointers ? How do you grab these guys initially, and keep them interested in what you're trying to "learn em'"? Chris

DanHolohan

I like that.

Thanks for sharing, Dave. Well done.

Weezbo

Geez couldnt the school afford something other than...

the boiler room to in which to study ? *~/:)

the ladds can be drug down to the steam catacombs on Really sunny days so they can realize the "Relative comfort" of a room in the 90's ,when you let them come back to the classroom

Just for the heck of it What is the combined BTU's available of all the heating appliances in the classroom?

Dave Yates (PAH)

I told em bout

T. A. Edison and the light bulb. Seriously. He failed some 2,000 times.

Then I told em I got to be there yesterday because I'd asked too many questions along the way; learned all I could; knew I am currently less educated and dumber than I was 35-years ago & that tomorrow, I'll be dumber yet; and that I've made more mistakes along the way than they ever will (I hope) - and then I told em bout some of my more bone-headed mistakes and, more importantly, why they didn't deter me from getting back up, dusting off the dumb dust and moving forward - always. They loved the war stories.

Permission to screw up - so long as they learned from it. A no-pressure basis on which to build an environment where they became willing to speak up, ask questions and venture into uncharted waters with no fear of anyone making fun of them for goofing up, which they rarely did - a nice confidence builder. They became a team by late this afternoon - instead of separate individuals - working on the challenges I threw at em.

BTW, they also came to know Boyle and how that relates to thermal expansion and - I love this part - how to properly size a TXT.

BTW Dan, when I mentioned Boyle and where he surfaces in your book, two students said "That's Gil Carson - not Boyle that's in Dan's book"! See, they did do their homework last night. Tonight, they'll need to dig a little farther to see if what I told them today was true. They've learned to be more observant these past two days, to see their environment through the eyes as a heating guy and to question everything rather than simply accept what they see or what they're told as the Gospel.

Live, learn, teach.

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Brad White_53

What a Class Act!

Dave-
that is the most fantastic hands-on class I have seen at any school in my experience. I imagine a lot of that is your brain and heart personified. In every photo I feel the energy!

Lucky Class of 007.

Dave Yates (PAH)

As Ahnoldt vould say

Ah'll be bach.

I'm waiting to hear about the evening classes and if I'll be accepted as a teacher by the administration.

They are so thirsty.

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Unknown

You are

a real good guy to devote all the time and energy to these students of the trade . Learning from a pro like you gives these students a genuine resource - learning from the best .

Dave Yates (PAH)

Learning on line

I'm being given access to a program called "Blackboard" on the University's web site. On it, I'll be able to post lessons or exercises and, if appropriate, tests.

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jackchips_2

And

answers?

Well done, GrandPah.

Dave Yates (PAH)

Their professor told me

you can set up the tests to be self-grading so the students can obtain immediate results.

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Weezbo

Great Idea!

that would be excellent for the trade.

something that might be doable would be to make a dvd of a class and offer that as a preppern upper prior to testing, that would allow some young guy to view the DVD think about it a bit then make the date of the on line presentation to take the test. justta thought. *~/:)

Dave Yates (PAH)

already

on it!

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Wayco Wayne_2

Dave

How could you share the curb and Finger method? That's a trade secret. You're out of control you old poot. I have been teaching night school for some time now. It's great when they start to get it. You get to share their enthusiam. Also like you, I need a new audience for my old war stories. WW

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Dave Yates (PAH)

There's an old Irish proverb....

that goes something like this:

"Perhaps the most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens"

We were making some beautiful music yesterday.

You & I should double-team a group of students some day. The real challenge would be determining who was having more fun - us or them(G).

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J.C.A._3

Great answer PAH !

I like it...Learning from the self taught....could there possibly be a better way?

Great stuff, to be sure. Ain't it heartwarming to let someone learn from our own mistakes? I know that's what I try to impart on the guys that work with me. I just hope they understand. (sometimes the basics are farther away than I realize, and I've GOT to remember that!)

Finest Kind Dave. Keep the Learnin' going! Chris

[Deleted User]

Good on you!

Thanks for paying it forward, all of you edumactors!

Dave, If they for some stupid reason decide NOT to hire you full time, come to Colorado. I can get you a job in a heart beat...

ME