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My Disciplinary Expert Shadow Introduction

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My Disciplinary Expert Shadow Introduction

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For my disciplinary expert shadow I had the opportunity to observe and shadow an Auto Mechanic and family friend, Josh Mohr, for a day. The discipline area I am focusing on is STEM with connections to the discipline of the social sciences. STEM is an acronym for teaching students skills essential for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math. Each of these core disciplines have connections to that of the social sciences. The push for STEM education right now is focused on creating classrooms where students are engaged, inquiring, and becoming experts in problem solving in these various job oriented disciplines married to specific content. Standards that correlate with the goals of STEM in the classroom are the 21st Century Skills, including skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, deliberation, leadership, flexibility and adaptability, which are skills that work forces want to see students excelling in. These skills, which support STEM, are transferable to all disciplines, creating students who are prepared citizens to excel in their future careers and dreams.

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My Disciplinary Expert Shadow Introduction Continued...  

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My Disciplinary Expert Shadow Introduction Continued...  

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When choosing my disciplinary expert I wanted to choose a profession that would enhance my understanding of a job that requires problem solving skills, critical thinking, adaptability, and communication so I could share these skills and experiences with my students. Often times social science classes can be seen as classes where students are taught to memorize dates and people over the course of many years, which is no longer the case. Therefore, I wanted to focus on a career that represents the “social” aspect of the social sciences. Often times in the social sciences students are encouraged to think about the past, present and future, as it relates to individuals, technology, or themselves. This process includes students learning about HOW we as humans have advanced and how these advances have affected our society, part of the historical thinking concepts of gaining perspectives and cause and effect. It is important to make these connections among real life situations and scenarios. Talking about how society functions with the many different roles and statuses of humans is a reoccurring theme among social science classes. For instance, if we consider John D. Rockefeller, the man behind Standard Oil Company, this topic has potential for a STEM learning opportunity. Students, using STEM procedures, can learn about the challenges of drilling and creating pipelines for oil in the late 1800’s and compare this with procedures done today when drilling for oil. Students could inquiry, use Skype to ask questions from an expert, and even recreate an oil well drill to represent their understanding and the process in which Rockefeller went through. Students in this process of learning through STEM procedures would analyze, create and examine what problems Rockefeller overcame, examine geography and topography, along with pipeline and drilling design. Many different disciplines come into play when creating a lesson based around STEM goals, even when a lesson is implemented and developed around the social sciences.

My 9th grade students’ first unit in global studies focuses on identity. We examine who we are, what it means when we say “us” and “them” and how students perceive their social identity. Students examine how we work independently and collaboratively in our communities and consider problems we see within our community to then examine and develop solutions to these problems. This is just the microlevel of analysis in the identity unit, after examining the place we call home, we consider a macro perspective of global problems that either connect or are completely separate from our community problems, and develop plans and solutions for these. A major goal of this unit is to build collaboration, respect, and reliance of those around us. To break down walls and barriers of how we see people differently from us and instead examine how much more we are alike. Students will discuss their future goals, plans, and careers, and how this will impact either our community or impact our world. Therefore, I will be using this disciplinary expert shadow as a lesson to my students and for my own professional development in understanding trade jobs and technology used in different career fields, as it relates to the development of our society and students entering into the real-world.

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While I was shadowing at Hoss Sales and Service, I spent my time in the garage observing the actions of Josh Mohr and his manager Rennick Hoss. The actions I observed were nonstop. Josh was fixing, analyzing, testing, and inquiring about the jobs he was working on. Josh is the expert I observed, as he is a certified auto mechanic, going straight to college after high school to receive his SAE certificate. Rennick, his manager, guides and assists Josh when he needs it. Actions I saw when I arrived was Josh putting the vehicles he was going to be working on for the day on the lifts. He did an inspection of the first vehicle, a truck, to determine what the issue was, taking it out on a test drive before he did the sight inspection. When having to fix a part of an engine or a different part on any vehicle they are going to service they use a platform on their garage computer called ProDemand Automotive. After observing the vehicle and looking up the how-tos on the site Josh gets to work on fixing the vehicle. He has many tools he uses when fixing vehicles, he uses the computer program, lifts, scanning tools, laser alignment machine, air tools, cordless electric  tools, and even Youtube. These tools are what Josh uses most regularly when following the procedures of servicing vehicles. When observing Josh I realized that he can recall a lot of information about vehicles from past experiences fixing similar trucks and/or cars. I also observed that Josh is moving constantly, there is little down time, as he is most concerned about appeasing customers by getting the job done quickly and efficiently.

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The environment in which I observed Josh was at Hoss Motors Sales and Service shop, specifically in the garage where Josh works, located in Monticello, IL. This garage has two car lifts in it, along with various other types of technologies in which Josh uses for different types of vehicle jobs. The space is large and allows for Josh to easily maneuver around the vehicles he is working on with the technology he is using. The environment is also loud, the drilling or hammering on vehicles is much louder than I expected, but even with this noise both workers had their music going as a means of entertainment on the job. There is no air conditioning in the garage, so you can imagine on these hot summer days, what that must be like to work in when wearing service gear. I must say although it was hot, it did not slow down the process and actions taking place in the garage. The garage was well organized, as Josh said multiple times, he likes to be able to find the tools he needs when he needs them quickly. The majority of the technology used to fix issues on cars was located in the garage between the two lifts. The technology tools not used as often were stored away in the side portion of the garage, still easy to access if needed. The environment was used effectively to allow for work to be done safely and efficiently.

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What types of Interactions and Users were observed?

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What types of Interactions and Users were observed?

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A service shop, in a small rural town, means there is a lot of connections, interactions and communicating occurring with customers and employees. Many customers are ones who live locally and come to the shop to get their car serviced because they know one of the employees or heard about it from a friend of a friend in town. Between the sales manager and the service manager Josh was able to juggle many tasks at once, along with answering varying questions from the managers and customers. Josh was booked from when the time he started until the work day was over. It surprised me that when a customer pulled up, unplanned, and needed a tire sealed due to a leak Josh was able to get the car up on the lift, inspect the tire to see there was a nail in the tire, remove the wheel from the car, dismount the tire from the wheel, apply the patch to then remount the tire on the wheel and then balanced the tire. Josh did this all in a matter of 15-20 minutes and the customer was on her way with a patched tire and Josh went back to fixing the exhaust manifold on the truck he was working on, an 8 hour job. Josh and his service manager Rennick, have a trusting and supportive relationship. If Josh needs anything he is able to share this professionally with his manager, who monitors and assists him throughout most of the day. Rennick also handles the ordering of parts, compiling customer bills, and setting up appointments in the sales building, where he uses a separate computer managing these through Google Calendar and Mitchell Team Works. What also helps is that if Rennick and Josh both are busy managing their individual roles, they have the sales manager Pat there to assist further with customers or phone calls when they are working in the garage. I realized it is essential in this job to have good communication skills.

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What were the Objects and Technologies used?

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What were the Objects and Technologies used?

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First off, when going to shadow Josh, I never imagined the amount of technology and materials used by those that work in the auto mechanic industry. There are a ton of objects and tools used to handle and service vehicles. For one, the mechanical tools that Josh uses on a regular basis include: lifts for cars, tire balancing machine, alignment machine, battery tester, scanning tools for diagnostics, laser machine, and Mitchell products which are their online platforms. There are two computers Josh and Rennick use on a regular basis their garage computer for diagnosing problems and their computer in the shop building which is for parts and customers. There are many different platforms they use on these computers. For one, in the garage they use ProDemand Automotive program, a Mitchell product which came out in 2004, where Josh can examine ANYTHING he needs about a vehicle he needs to service. This platform is SO useful, it takes Josh through the process of diagnosing and fixing any issue on a vehicle and then explains step by step how to remove and replace any parts needing to be serviced. Besides this program assisting Josh in servicing the vehicles it also tells you what common problems might happen among certain models of vehicles, the amount of time it takes to complete, errors that could occur and what tools to use to fix the issues. I never knew programs like this existed and reflecting upon this, Josh said that when he first started working in the service industry he had to use books. He stated there was a book for every car, model, and information on how to fix any part or portion of that vehicle. He also mentioned that before all the powered machines that help him do his job quickly and efficiently, everything had to be done by hand. This means jobs used to take a lot longer, with having to read a ton of manuals to diagnose an issue and how to fix the issue and then also by doing it all by hand without the help of powered machines. The auto mechanic industry was revolutionized by products like Mitchell which assist and provide information necessary for diagnosing and fixing vehicles all online. At times though, the ProDemand platform might not have all the answers to some of the vehicles that come into the shop to be serviced. For example, a customer brought in a 1987 Honda Elite Scooter which needed a tire changed. There was no information available with how to change a tire on this year and model of the scooter on the ProDemand site.  Therefore, Josh used the next best site, Youtube. Josh uses Youtube in cases like this to assist him in servicing these types of vehicles. These are just a few of the tools that Josh uses in the garage to service vehicles. When it comes to ordering parts, billing, and appointments, Rennick is the guy that handles this portion of service. Rennick uses Google Calendar to set appointments, and a platform called Mitchell Team Works. Mitchell Team Works allows for Rennick to look up parts in all local auto stores, compare and contrast prices, and then order their delivery to the shop, ALL online. Rennick doesn't even need to call about ordering parts, it can all be done through this online platform. This is also the program where billing and estimates are handled and stored from past and current customers. It was fascinating to see how easy the use of this technology came for both Rennick and Josh.

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When shadowing Josh and his manager Rennick, I realized that technology mediates almost everything that they do. As I stated previously, Josh brought to my attention how mechanics used to service vehicles prior to the use of technology, with manuals and the absence of air powered tools. Jobs took longer, mechanics had to create their own community where they called and asked for opinions on various vehicle issues, and jobs also had to be completely done by hand. Josh mentioned how before there were car lifts that everything was done on the ground, the working environment was much more dangerous. When Josh was going to school to get his SAE certification, he learned how to service vehicles in the traditional methods without the presence of technology. He now uses the most beneficial and top notch technology platforms online to service jobs, learning to use these programs himself, representing how adaptable he is in his field. Working as an auto mechanic takes a lot of patience. I also noticed that Josh is very good at explaining what he does and what he is doing to cars in a way that those who don’t work on cars can understand. I also realized that Josh utilizes the programs on his computers for almost every job. I could not imagine having to look through 10 books on a Ford truck to first diagnose an issue and then determine the best step by step process to fix an engine issue, before these online platforms were available. I thought it was fascinating to hear about the problem solving steps Josh takes when he encounters a service problem. For instance, as stated earlier, when the information he needed to service a vehicle was not found on his ProDemand site, he countered the issue with using Youtube.  He stated Youtube is a great resource for auto mechanics because many people around the globe post how-to videos on the site, which in many cases is extremely helpful in guiding him in completing jobs. I have a newfound respect for anyone who works in the auto industry. Patience, communication skills, adaptability, problem solving and critical thinking skills are tested and used on a regular basis. These skills are at the heart and soul of STEM and relevant to the social sciences curriculum. Tracing the history and development of technologies for any profession is essential in understanding overall how technology mediates many aspects of our daily routines. Collaboration between Josh and Rennick made me reflect on how I can better establish collaboration among students in groups by developing lessons and activities that are relevant and engaging to them. I am excited to explain to students the process in which I observed when shadowing Josh, I never imagined the amount of technology surrounding mechanics and how this mediates almost EVERYTHING they do.