So I have about five more weeks until I recieve my Master of Arts in teaching. This has been an incredible learning experience thus far and anticipate many more enriching encounters. It seems like everyday I am in the classroom I walk away with much more knowledge or "know how than the previous day. I look back at my first few encounters and jabs at standing in front of 180 middle school students and trying to teach them some confusing scientific concepts. There is something very nerve racking about planning a lesson and actually implementing it. I hope for the best and anticipate the unforseen. There is one big lesson that I have learned and that is to practice and preview exactly what it is you are going to teach before you actually do so even if you think you know everything and will deliver the information properly. A prime example of this would be when I was teaching a unit on the periodic table of the elements and matter. I requested a movie from Portland Public Schools multi media library. The description of the movie seemed to be right on with what we were learning so I thought I would give it a go, without previewing it must say. It was my first class of the day and I had warned the students that the movie was made in 1982 but should have some good information for us to talk about later. The opening scene were these two religious looking figures walking on a beach in robes and sandles. One of the men picked up sand from the beach and ran it through his fingers while the narrator mentioned how everything is made of tiny particles too small to see. It was not but about 2 minutes later that chemical reactions were being introduced and the movie went in depth about how the egyptians brewed their own beer and alcohol. The students became very excited and giggled much at the idea beer was being talked about in their science class. I calmed them down (not an easy task). The movie moved into certain metals on the periodic table. The movie began to talk about how gold has been used for centuries by many cultures for relics. Thats when the unforseen happened. The movie showed a gold medallion attached to a necklace up close. The screen began to scroll an all of a sudden the entire movie screen was full of female boobs! The class erupted in laughter. So did I. It took a bit to calm them down, understandably so. The movie was near its end and was discussing the important uses of elements and compounds in society. The drug industry was a topic during this section. The movie began to go over what are called "mind altering substances" and before I knew it the entire screen had a bunch of hippies dancing and in the background was some psychedelic band from I'm guessing the 60's playing. There was projections of liquid moving around on the wall behind them and many crazy colors of lights flashing. The whole meal deal. Then the chemical configuration of LSD was shown on the screen for about a minute while the narrator talked about the various elements that make it up. This day was very funny as I decided to continue to show the movie to my other 5 classes as it did illustrate some important concepts well. Above is a photo of a bar magnet placed under a sheet of paper where iron filings were sprinkled on top to show the magnetic lines of force. I am about to teach a 10 day unit on electricity and magnetism and I thought I better preview what I would be showing the class.

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