Teaching Exceptional Children

"Let's Build a Sailboat" was first presented to a group of 21 junior high school students of above-average ability, duringa 9-week quarter consisting of five 45-minute periods each week. The class was arranged into three crews of six "sailors" and a "captain." Three sailboats would be built. Each crew discussed the manufacturer's directions and focused on ideas they thought were most important. Charts were created to document progress. MacProject, project management software from Apple Computer was introduced to help organize efforts, and assist the planning -

It was a grand success. As you can see from the photo my class of 12 eight grade students built and "sailed" three of you boats in our high school pool. We built the boats during our regular class period of 45-minutes a day in our school shop from September first through December 3rd, 1987.

Everyone who has seen the boats love them and think that they are sufficiently impressed to build one themselves. Thank you very much for the time that you spent designing these wonderful little boats and I'm sure the students will never forget this project.

Bruce Forster