Editor's note: This story is based on a podcast interview recorded live at IWF. Listen to the entire interview online.

Bobby Miller is trying to reinvent something that many people thought was already extinct: the woodshop teacher.

With youthful exuberance, appreciation of the power of social media, and an enthusiastic emphasis on trying new ways to teach and learn, Miller is reshaping the whole woodshop experience, training the latest generation of high school students to love woodworking and even consider it as a possible profession.

Miller has been teaching for just 10 years, mostly at Coon Rapids High School in Minnesota. But his reach is already expanding way beyond the walls of his classroom through a YouTube channel and other social media outlets.

I had the pleasure of doing a live podcast with “Mr. Miller,” as his students and social media fans call him. To listen to the entire podcast, go to woodworkingnetwork.com/podcasts. Here’s an edited version of the interview.

Like many woodworkers, Miller got his first taste of woodworking at home and with an inspirational shop teacher.

“My dad was a woodworker and so he built the cabinets in our house,” he said. “That’s kind of my foundation. As I matured and went through high school, I had an amazing shop teacher and an amazing program.”

 

That inspired him to become a teacher himself, initially focusing on social studies with a degree from the University of Minnesota in history, but he started substitute teaching and met woodshop teachers who helped steer him in that direction. 

Expanding his professional experience, he worked a variety of summer jobs.

“I had my own company, 3M — Miller Maintenance and Mowing, maybe you’ve heard of it,” he quipped.

He also took jobs in cabinetry and made a lot of river tables. His current summer job is working with Safety Speed, the woodworking machinery company known for its vertical panel saws and panel routers. They brought him along to the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta.

This was his first time coming to IWF. Impression? 

“To say drinking out of a fire hydrant is underkill. This is like dying and going to heaven. I’m like the kid in the candy store. This is amazing!” he said. “I’m so grateful that Safety Speed is sponsoring me to be here.” He noted they are also donating a panel saw/router to Coon Rapids High School. 

Part of his show experience was attending a presentation by the National Woods Board about efforts to better train skilled workers for the woodworking industry. 

After hearing Thomas Allott, chairman of the National Woods Board, speak about what that organization was trying to do, Miller said he was encouraged. “There’s a divide here, there’s a wall here, between industry and education,” Miller said. “A teacher that I revere has not heard of IWF. He’s on the cutting edge of education in the biggest district of Minnesota, and he’d not heard of IWF. How does that happen?” 

That disconnect can fuel misunderstandings or misperceptions about the industry. “It’s sad because the educators don’t really know the opportunities that are out there,” Miller said. “And a lot of times we’re not setting students up with the skillsets needed to be successful.” He personally said he was shocked at the number of robotic arms at the show. He has an educational robotic arm tool at his school but didn’t anticipate seeing so much robotics at the show. 

“We have five CNCs at Coon Rapids High School. We even have a Shaper Origin,” he said. “To keep up with this moving target of where the industry is at, I think we’ve got to be coming to these shows as educators.”

He says it’s tempting as an educator to set up your educational program and not change it. He creates woodworking project plans for students. He will give them away to teachers or anyone who wants them. 

Teaching some 300 students a year in his program, Miller has integrated social media into the way he teaches. Under the umbrella of “Mr. Miller’s Woodshop,” he has a podcast (“just me and my iPhone”), YouTube, Instagram, and other social media to spread his message and reach his students.

 

Miller’s unconventional methods take hold after he first gives students a two-week intensive in-classroom safety training. “I’m big on safety,” Miller says, holding up his hands. “I’m a 10-finger club member for life.”

Once he’s safety checked the students and has obtained signed parent liability waivers, he gives the students project plans. Says he’s written the plans as simple as you can make for high school kids. He says kids in his program are not reading at college level. For that matter, he says he wouldn’t naturally read the plans either. “I’d look at pictures,” he said. “I’m a natural problem solver.”

Each step of the project has a QR code link to a YouTube video. He actually stopped doing live demonstrations in class and depends on the videos. “This is far more efficient and effective,” he said, noting each video is less than five minutes. He says he couldn’t do a live demonstration in under 20 minutes. Search for “Mr. Miller’s Woodshop” on YouTube to watch the videos yourself. 

“I feel this works in my class because now the kid that is ambitious, that wants to work ahead, doesn’t have to wait for me or the rest of the class to get through what they need to get through,” Miller said. “So, when he’s ready or she’s ready, watches the (next) video.”

The method is not without controversy. He says other teachers who have tried something like this actually fear losing their jobs because people insist on live demos. He emphasizes that he’s still in the classroom, dealing with behavior issues, machine maintenance, and general supervision as students move forward at their own pace. “This method I’ve cloned myself 30 times,” he said.

He also establishes what he calls “stop signs” before kids can use major machinery. He tests if they watched the video by asking what color was his shirt? or what song was playing in the background? 

He believes his methods can help efficiently produce productive employees for industry and potential entrepreneurs launching their own businesses.

He notes a couple of his students have started their own business. He also is a graphic design teacher, and he helps students learn about marketing by having them create a promotional magazine cover for a product.