Mike Schloff is husband, father, and CEO of Maplewoodshop. I met him last spring on a Teq Roadshow and we became fast friends! I am grateful he was able to come onto my bookchat and share about his business that has positively impacted students from over 150 schools nationwide.

Woodshop Class Benefits 

Maplewoodshop offers a woodworking class through their kit. Part of that kit is a work bench that Mike invented, which fits two students at a time. With two workbenches, there can be four workers at a table. Any teacher can implement woodworking with the way he set up this kit and workbenches because it fits tables. No new classroom required. Whew! 

Maplewoodshop serves students in elementary through high school in more than 100 classrooms and camps all across the USA. Young people learn career-ready-skills, while growing in confidence individually through Design Thinking.  They also learn to form a sense of community through working together on projects while using real tools!

Top 3 Reasons to Bring Back Woodshop Class

In this techy world, there is still so much to be said about building something with your hands. In our chat, Mike shares that his mission is to serve inclusively and get all students excited about learning STEM skills. As someone who was not able to sit still as a student, he is proud that his woodshop program helps students with neurodiversity find positive attention where they may have struggled in garnering mostly negative attention. He is also proud that woodworking class through Maplewoodshop has helped many young women find success in engineering. 

Here are my Top 3 Reasons schools should consider adopting the woodworking program offered through Maplewoodshop:

1. Students learn incredible Social Emotional Learning skills through this program, including resilience. 
2. Students are learning a skilled trade they may love as a career, and his program offers college credit for high school students! It’s even endorsed through the Carpenter’s Union.
3. Teachers don’t need a woodworking background to implement this woodworking class as Maplewoodshop offers training and lesson plans. 

Bonus Reasons:

4. This class offers movement and gets students off the screens.
5. Students grow in math application skills. They are able to put math in action and value its importance. 
6. Woodshop helps lessen absenteeism, a problem for many school districts! 

Get Connected to Maplewoodshop

If you and your school are interested in learning more about implementing a wood working class in your school, please reach out to Mike and Maplewoodshop! Don’t forget to let me know how it impacts your students’ learning, too!