Woodstock wood shop teacher hopes students develop new skills, confidence

In his wood shop classes at Woodstock and Woodstock North high schools, Brett Fankhauser shares generations of hands-on skills with students while encouraging their creativity and building their confidence.

Fankhauser, in his first year as the district’s wood shop teacher, said his father had a knack for home remodeling projects and engrained in him a strong work ethic and “working with his hands as a way of life.” His father learned his woodworking skills from his father, and it naturally trickled down, he said.

Fankhauser, 34, grew up in Cary and is a graduate of Prairie Ridge High School, where the spark to become a teacher was ignited by John Pelikan, who taught current issues in the social sciences department.

It was Pelikan’s laid-back approach that Fankhauser connected with and how he relates with his students today, he said.

“He was definitely different, and I tend to resonate with being different than others,” Fankhauser said. “He had a couch in his room, and we did a lot of debates. It was the [Al] Gore and [George W.] Bush race at the time, and we had a school campaign and an election unit. It was all Mr. Pelikan’s idea. It was not the typical lecture, homework style. We would face each other, read articles, debate, and try to use more real-world skills.”

Fankhauser has been teaching for 11 years. This year he made the switch from teaching bilingual education, teaching fourth graders at Westwood Elementary, to the wood shop classes at the high schools.

He also operates a woodworking business with his wife, Tori Fankhauser, out of their Rolling Meadows home called “Yes Deer.” He sells his work at craft fairs as well.

“Mr. Fankhauser has cultivated a positive classroom environment and created strong relationships in his first year as our CTE [career and technical education] woods teacher at Woodstock and Woodstock North high schools,” said Justin Smith, assistant superintendent for middle and high school education. ”His woods projects have combined effective focuses on machinery usage, creative design, and technical skills. We are very excited to watch this program continue to flourish.”

In wood shop, Fankhauser tries to connect with students on a creative level, allowing them freedom to create what and how they want within the confines of a particular project.

He found that through the projects, he is able to reach the students who at first may be reluctant to open up or engage.

“I am very relaxed,” he said. “We are all in this together. I treat you with the same level of respect as myself and coworkers. There is not a power dynamic in my classroom. I try and build the relationships with the tools we are using. It is all about relationships. That is No. 1 in everything.”

He hopes his students learn a skill they can take with them and use long after high school.

“I tell them there is nothing better than when you can finish a project and turn it over to someone and say ‘I made that with my hands,’” he said. “That is the cool part, taking the invisible and making it visible.”

He approaches his students with patience, compassion, empathy and understanding that they are each coming from different backgrounds and have their own thoughts.

“I am very hard working and I try to push that on the kids, but I recognize that I have my own biases and beliefs and they have their own,” he said. “They have their own complexities and their own stories to tell. I have only so much room for influence on them. I try to play my role, but they have a lot more things influencing them as well. I just learn to work with them and hopefully they learn a couple skills while we are together for a short time.”