Classroom construction builds lessons for LRC students (copy)

It has been said, “There is something profoundly satisfying about using your hands to create something tangible”.

Lawton Public Schools students in John Cullison’s construction trades classes might identify with that sentiment after recently constructing their own classroom. Students started framing the classroom the week of Nov. 11 and began putting up Sheetrock the first week of December. Cullison hopes to move in before Christmas break.

While students building their own classroom may seem a bit ambitious, the project has yet another twist: The 24×34-foot space is being built in a gymnasium at the Life Ready Center, which has been turned into Cullison’s construction shop.

The project is split between Cullison’s morning and afternoon classes with each class building half of the classroom. The open-roofed room will allow Cullison to monitor students who are working on their Chromebooks in the classroom and still supervise students in the shop area.

“There won’t be a door on the classroom,” Cullison said. “So I can have students here that are visible to me and I can be standing in that door watching what is going on in the shop and keep an eye on what is going on in the classroom. That way we can keep the fast movers challenged and at the same time motivate the slower ones to get to the fun part.”

On the first day, students were getting accustomed to using tools that were new to them. Jayone Johnson said he measured and cut lumber, used a circular saw, and used a nail gun to line up the wood frame.

“I just came to this class because I found it interesting,” he said. Johnson does not expect to pursue a career in the construction trades; he is looking at HVAC or welding. Still, he was pleased with the progress made on the first day of the project, when students in the morning class framed their side of the classroom.

“I wasn’t expecting to get the whole wall complete,” Johnson said. “The measurements were a little wonky. The wall is not square.”

That in itself turned into a teachable moment.

“I learned you do not need to take it apart to fix it, you can use alternatives,” Johnson said. “Mr. Cullison is teaching us the best methods. I’ve never framed anything before. It’s a new experience.”

The first day was a learning experience for Cullison also.

“I learned the value of repetition in terms of things they need to know, like how thick is a 2×4,” he said. “I need to repeat, repeat and repeat before they do it. We probably ought to have framed a 4-foot wall with several small groups. I don’t regret doing it. I learned some things I will modify (for the afternoon class).”

Cullison said having the morning and afternoon classes each build half the classroom turned into a bit of a competition between the two classes.

“The students seem to feed on that,” Cullison said. “They say, ‘We have to start this wall today.’”

By the fourth day, both walls were up and students in the afternoon class were ready to put the front of the classroom into place. They expressed pleasure with the work they had done, even after they discovered that the structure was one-eighth of an inch off.

“It’s pretty fun. We are like not even a quarter of being done yet and it looks a lot different. It’s starting to look like a classroom. I’m glad the school gave Mr. Cullison the funding to do this,” said Chrisantos Nazario, who said he had done a little bit of construction in the past, such as fences. “I learned a lot about measurements and how to read a tape measure and how to use your own weight. Even smaller guys can use the tools.”

Douglas Rogers said he learned other important skills: the art of communicating and the value of teamwork.

“I learned that if you don’t have the proper communication, you will get the measurements wrong,” he said. “I almost got measurements wrong and we would have had to start over. Having everyone work together as a group was important. I would start losing calculations and everything, and if I did, everything would start moving slower.”

By Dec. 4, students had put up Sheetrock. Cullison was waiting for electricians to finish their work before moving in.

“We will probably take our semester tests in here,” he said, expressing his pleasure with the project. “It isn’t perfect, but it wouldn’t have been even if I had had the students for four years. I let the students make some mistakes so we could learn from them.”

Sheetrocking proved to be a new challenge for the students, Cullison said. “Probably only one or two students had ever Sheetrocked before.” Cullison said the challenge came in marking where the electrical outlets would be on the Sheetrock and then putting it in place.

Nazario said he learned how to frame a wall and put up Sheetrock.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to put up,” he said. “It was a long process to get the framing right. Just putting it together and making sure everything was in the right place. The firewall was tedious, getting it nailed down on both sides.”

The ramifications of the project will extend beyond just those students engaged in it, Cullison said.

“It will impact a lot of generations, I hope. Hundreds and hundreds of students will benefit from it,” he said. Cullison plans to have students write comments or sign their names on a board and mount it behind Plexiglass, then hang it in the new classroom so future students will know who was involved in the construction.

Building something that future students will use is a concept that some of Cullison’s students struggled with, with some saying they had not thought of it that way. But once they thought it over, they realized they were engaged in something bigger than just this moment.

“It’s pretty cool. I hope a lot of kids get use out of it. I’m going to remember this forever,” Nazario said.

“I think it’s really cool that I can be in a classroom that I built with my own hands,” Rogers said. “I wanted to build since I was a little kid. I never got to build a classroom before. I think everyone will enjoy having a classroom in the workshop. The teacher will benefit the most. It took a lot of work, but I really like how it is turning out.”

Cullison said he had an offer for the LPS framing class to do the project in one day.

“But this way the kids will see something they did instead of something someone else did,” he said. “Once we get the classroom built, it will be our own little microcosm.”