An Exciting Time to be in Education by Laura

A few days ago, I received an email with the subject line "How to separate an egg."  I didn't know the sender.  This didn't concern me at all.  I subscribe to a listserve and frequently get emails from strangers.

The email contained a message enthusing that it was a beautiful example of air pressure at work.  Below, presumably from another sender since was written in a different font, was the reassuring advice that I shouldn't worry if I couldn't understand the words.

Here is the video:

Whether you are a cook or a science teacher, I hope you enjoyed it.  As much as I enjoyed the movie-- and probably will use it (or do the demonstration live) when I teach air pressure-- I really enjoy thinking about the path this movie took to make it to the blog.

This little video came from a teacher who I don't know, who also subscribes to the listserve.  She was enthusiastic and wanted to connect with colleagues-- during the summer no less, when cynics think teachers are on vacation.  The movie was filmed far away, and not in English.  Through YouTube it's possible to see it anywhere.  Some creative teacher made the connection from cooking to air pressure and voila-- we see the movie here.  Amazing, really.

Very early in my teaching days I took a position as a long term sub teaching earth science.  I had some general background, but was not an earth science teacher.  It was very difficult to find resources.  The school had a few, but it was very hard to tell if an activity would work.  I was the only earth science teacher in the school and had no colleagues to ask.  Frankly, it was not a joyful experience.

Now I get a daily serving of advice, visuals, and activities delivered to me.  Whenever I want, I can seek more-- through Twitter or a multitude of web sites.  Even through the long summer weeks, I am not isolated from other educators.  It's an exciting time to be in education.