Press play on the eye before you start reading...please:

*assumes best Geordie accent*

Day One - 06.50

Day one teaching at Northbridge High School. Having been told by a colleague to aim to arrive before 7am as the traffic situation isn't especially easy to navigate once the buses and parents are there, I pulled up in the 'parking lot' with ten minutes to spare. Despite it being early September, my alarm had gone off when it was still dark, and, being a night owl, I was feeling far from my best...unfortunately for me, this is to be my life for the next sixteen weeks.

The high school system here is very different to the UK equivalent. School starts at 07.20 (aka stupid o'clock). There is no registration (the electronic attendance taken at the start of period one counts for this purpose) and so teachers here are teaching by 07.25. I'm pretty sure most of the students are struggling as much as I am to function on any level at that hour, so just how productive this start time is remains to be seen. Being the first day, the timetable was a one-off seven period day, meaning lessons were on average around 45 minutes. As there's only a ten minute break after lesson one (for this teachers remain in the corridors or with students - I'm missing Kath and her flapjacks already) and a twenty five minute lunch around 11am (yes, 11am!!!!! That's technically breakfast, not lunch, if you ask me). Lunch also forms part of an extended lesson, based on a rota according to the floor you're on. So I have students for twenty minutes, then we go to lunch and after twenty five minutes they return and the lesson resumes for a further hour. Teachers here teach pretty much straight through from 07.20 to 11.23 without any sort of break! Lesson-wise, the seven period day was like a weird form of speed dating (minus the dating part, of course).

Being used to Fairfield, I was initially surprised by how rude the students seemed: they wander into classrooms without knocking or even acknowledging the teacher; no one lines up; chewing gum is generally accepted (although staff *are* free to make their own rules - the words 'fighting', 'losing' and 'battle' come to mind) and, with my first college prep class, only one of the 17 or so students responded when I greeted them at the door. Also, when I invited said class to note down a stereotype and/ or question about Wales or the UK and post it under a series of magnets on the board, I had zero response. Not one student wanted to know anything. They did, however, sit in silence and followed my instructions without any problems.

As the day progressed, I realised that that class were not indicative of all US students. Most are genuinely interested in the culture difference and pleased to have me teaching them: I have some lovely classes. The youngest students I teach here are sixteen years of age, so it's a little different to what I'm used to but I'm really enjoying having 'A-level' students again. I was also pleased that nearly all my seniors responded to me greeting them at the door! The rest of my classes seemed pleased to have the opportunity to ask questions about my country. The stereotypes were interesting: having tea and crumpets was a frequent one but I also had the 'bad teeth' stereotype cropping up - again. One student even wrote that Brits don't have much need of electricity as we mainly live in huts in the hills! Most heart warming were the comments that appeared, several times over, from each class ' 'it's true that you have cool accents'.

Each lesson passed quickly and by the end of the day, I felt I'd started to gain an insight into the students who will be in my charge until Christmas. The school day ends at 13.55, but to someone who's only had a twenty five minute break in seven hours, it feels more like 20.55! Goodness knows what coming home to hours of marking every night is going to feel like.

Day Two - 12.50

My timetable is somewhat jammy, in that I have a free period every afternoon, after lunch. Teachers here have one - sometimes two - free periods a day, though the timetable runs over a seven day period so the total number will vary each week. Lessons last for sixty-seven minutes and one of these free periods will be spent on duty, supervising the foyer, but for now I have been able to enjoy the time to prepare for the next day. As there is a four minute passing period between each lesson, they all end at really weird times - like 10.48, 11.23 and 12.56. Today was the first day of a 'proper' five period day (which has entirely different times to the seven period day) and although I am still bemused and confused by the times on the schedule, I successfully managed to end each lesson right on time!

Having only taught my Honors and AP students, today was really rather pleasant. Which was fortunate as I'd had even less sleep than afforded by the ridiculous start time due to a rather horrific non school-related nightmare. We worked on letters of introduction and chatted about cultural differences. I'm starting off doing pretty much excatly what Kristin would do, though I did build in some of my own activities and a smidge of AfL, which seemed to work well. Within the first two lessons,the Superintendent of the district and both Principal and vice Principal came in, at various points, on a 'walk through'; they were doing this to everyone (I did wonder!!), I later learned. The Administration seem very supportive, which is nice.

One thing I simply cannot get used to is the tannoy system. Every classroom has a speaker built into the wall and every morning at the end of lesson one, the call will come for us to all stand and face the flag to pledge allegiance. This is followed by announcements. However, the tannoy frequently crackles into life, mid-lesson, to make an announcement, meaning the teacher and students have to pause in the middle of whatever they're doing/ saying and listen. One tannoy message instructed us teachers to check our emails! My students tell me sometimes a message will be delivered to individual teachers this way, too. Personally, that's a little too reminiscent of the telescreens in 1984 for my liking! Similarly, teachers can be contacted mid lesson via the phone in their room, even for matters which do not relate to the class that they teach.

Day Three - 15.30

I am pleased to report that my first week ended smoothly. I had the vice Superintendent walk through with the Principal today and she commented that she liked my lesson objectives; she also seemed impressed with what we'd been doing. Good times! I am aiming to keep the grading systems here in place but introduce more AfL too, along with my own style of delivery, as it's worked well thus far.

All the lessons went well - even with *the* college prep class. They did try it on initially but I reiterated my expectations and remained calm and consistent, despite the best efforts of one student who was really quite rude. Gradually, they began to meet my expectations (at least, for now!) and they ended up being the first, and only, class to applaud my letter of introduction to them! I don't believe they were employing sarcasm, either: they've finally started to ask questions about my culture and the difference with schools. Bizarrly, the turning point seemed to be when I told them that when I'm happy, I bounce. Go figure!

The rest of my classes were as lovely as ever. I was touched when reading through the letters of introduction written by the honors classes as many had said how pleased - more than one even used 'honoured' - to have me here, teaching them and that they hope I have a fantastic term. I'm encouraging them to dare to be an individual, injecting originality and creativity into all that they do, and their letters showed promise. I've also had several students imploring me to teach them for the whole year!

My students have given me the best insight into the school system so far. UK students have it so much better, I think. High school students here have to pay a sum of money at the start of each school year to entitle them to participate in any school-run activities. Those who play sports pay an additional fee - and it's not cheap. They are also expected to equip themselves with notebooks (in place of exercise books) and for some courses, they must buy textbooks also. And this is the comprehensive system, not private! Many of them work, meaning they finish school around 2pm and then work from 3 - 9pm. Only then can they start on their homework. Due to the grading system, where *everything* counts, if they are late submitting their homework they will probably get a zero. Homework has a much lower percentage in terms of their grade point average but it is still a tough penalty. I'm interested in how much of an effect it has on the sort of students who are perpetually in detention in the UK for not having their homework.

So it's all been good so far, but I've not yet had to really get my head around the multiple deadlines for each class each week: vocab tests, pop quizzes, tests etc etc...that bundle of joy awaits me after the Labor day weekend (like a bank holiday weekend, though I'm still trying to find someone who can tell me the background behind it).

Will I manage to cope with the amazingly complex grading system? You decide!