Andy Neighbor is a sixth-form college biology teacher near London, England. Sixth-form colleges serve 16- to 19-year-old students who are pursuing academic studies. John Melton is a high-school biology teacher in Northern California. This fall, Andy and John began a one-year teaching exchange sponsored by the U.S. government's Fulbright Program. In this second article about the British teacher's experiences, Andy shares his impressions of his professional development meetings prior to the first day of school and his first week with students.

A British Fulbright Teacher in America: First Impressions
By Andy Neighbor

Staff Meetings and Inservice Training

My first day at my American high school was voluntary; teachers get paid extra if they come in. We don't have that in Britain. It was my first opportunity to officially meet the administration as well as my colleagues, although Dave (a science colleague who teaches physics) and two English department teachers had unofficially welcomed me over a week ago. After I introduced myself to my science colleagues and heard the principal's presentation, which I found impressive, Dave showed me around.

The second day began with a faculty meeting and another presentation from the principal, who explained his aims and objectives and presented his management structure. Again, quite impressive. The rest of the administration explained their roles and gave us some orientation as to who did what. I was introduced to the whole staff, who seemed friendly and welcoming.

That afternoon was the science department meeting. It was an ideal opportunity, I thought, to be oriented into where everything is. So what did I learn? If you want to book one of the special labs for the microscopes or computers, it's first come, first served.

I didn't feel nervous on my first day. In fact, I was looking forward to meeting the students. I'm teaching five classes a day: four Biology I classes for sophomores (with a few bright freshmen mixed in) and one International Baccalaureate (I.B.) class in Advanced Biology for juniors.

The first three groups of sophomores seemed pleasant enough. A couple of boys in each group seemed to want to make an initial impression, but I didn't have any problem handling them. In fact, the first three lessons got better as I realized the ability and background that the students have in biology.

The fourth group of sophomores was a little different. There were 36 students, with the class growing as the lesson proceeded. We finally used up all the chairs and discussed the fact that at least four of them would need to either move to the earlier groups or change out of biology. Also, a couple of the boys tried to make some smart comments. All in all, however, the lesson went well.

After lunch, Dave kindly came round to see how things went and gave me some helpful advice about finding out where to get the keys to the microscope and computer labs. I wasted all of my prep lesson finding out the numbers and codes for these two keys.

My first teaching day ended with my I.B. class of 35 juniors who want to take an advanced biology class that will help them get places in the more prestigious universities. They seemed a really mature group as well as having a greater awareness of the United Kingdom. One even asked me what the aims of the Fulbright exchange are. Hopefully, some of the students will at least make pen pals with my students in England.

My second teaching day was very much like the first one except that the earlier classes of sophomores decreased in size to 28 and 29, while the fourth group grew to 38, including one student in a wheel chair. It was now getting to the stage where one wondered if it was safe to have so many in a small laboratory. I was told, however, that teachers are to allow ten days for the counselors to move the students around and the groups to even themselves out. Also, it is up to the administration to make sure that you only teach a total of 150 students; otherwise, they have to pay you extra for each student. Currently, I'm over 165.

The day ended with my I.B. class, who impressed me with their work. I asked them to work in groups and do quick presentations on various aspects of the properties of water. Some of the presentations were excellent. The students have some really good communication skills, and all the groups seemed to understand what they researched. So I was feeling very pleased with myself as I drove home to enjoy the extended weekend.

Andy's Prior Journal Entries

PearsonAtSchool Products
Lifetime Conversation Guide