A veteran teacher at Victor J. Andrew High School paired with a new teacher to bring students together at the campus in Tinley Park for a woodworking project to advocate for autism acceptance.
Just as important, it gave students the opportunity to teach and learn from each other, organizers said.
Students with special needs learned how to use band saws, jigsaws, sanders, laser engravers and other power tools with the help of their peers who are taking Jeff Cassidy’s woodworking classes this semester.
Cassidy, who has been a school counselor for 10 years, is in his first year teaching at Andrew. He shares space in the wood shop with math teacher Shawn Nussbaum, a veteran of 14 years at Andrew whose classes include a senior elective called math & construction.
Nussbaum was interested when he saw one of Cassidy’s students cutting out a large jigsaw puzzle piece that reminded him of the well recognized symbol for autism awareness.
Nussbaum has a 13-year-old son with autism, and asked Cassidy if his class was making the puzzle pieces because April is designated Autism Awareness Month and Autism Acceptance Month.
That was not the reason, but it got the two teachers talking and led to the idea of having students in Cassidy’s woodworking classes work with students in the school’s Ultima program.
Ultima classes provide students who have autism, Down syndrome or other learning needs opportunities to practice life skills and build social and emotional skills.
“Before we started our project, I talked with the case managers and teachers involved with students in the Ultima program. We discussed fine motor skills, safety concerns, etc. before selecting groups of students that could work in the wood shop and/or the art room,” Cassidy stated in an email. “The goal was to get as many students involved as possible, whilst also maintaining safety and expectations of abilities.”
Anytime students are around power tools, “there is always a safety issue,” Nussbaum said.
“We spent some extra time talking to them about what you should or shouldn’t do,” he said, “and had extra eyes in the shop at all times.
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“We were very emphatic about what the benefits would be as opposed to the risks. There was no shortage of kids wanting to help out.”
Each team of students chose to make either a puzzle piece or an infinity sign, another symbol associated with autism, and decided how to paint and decorate it.
“One kid didn’t want to use the sander because of the vibrations. Some kids didn’t want to use the saw,” Nussbaum said. So they put their hands on the hands of the woodworking students as they cut the wood.
About 20 students total worked together over seven days, Cassidy said.
“We got lots of feedback from students about how much joy it brought them and the connections they made,” Nussbaum said, noting there were no injuries.
The pieces, which are designed to be wall hangings or room decorations, will be raffled off to school staff this month. The proceeds can be used to fund future joint projects.
“We are plotting more projects now,” Nussbaum said.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.