In the fall of 1999, I moved to London to work at The American School in London (ASL). It was exciting, as London was so full of history. It was also exciting since on New Year’s Eve we would transition into the year 2000 and everyone was so afraid that the world would shut down when the clock ticked into 2000.

At ASL, I was teaching 6th grade math and science. The building was built in the 70’s, I think and it was clearly from the open classroom days. Over time, the hexagon that was the sixth grade open wing was transformed so that bookshelves and other items separated the classrooms, yet three of them did not have a back wall. My teammate and I had lucked out and we had the only two rooms that were fully enclosed.

In my opinion at the time, the sixth grade operated like it was still the 70’s. I had been told by the principal that I was hired to make some positive and necessary changes in the way things were being done. That being said, every attempt at modernizing the teaching practices was met with a cold, stone wall. If I mentioned my efforts to the principal, she always replied with the fact that change takes time.

As it turns out, I found the guy who had my position before me. He had moved into the recruitment office. When I shared my concerns with him, he told me that he had also been hired to “make some changes.” I saw the big picture then. Changes were not coming to ASL’s sixth grade floor.

In our sixth grade pod, three of us taught math. Unfortunately for me, my two math colleagues liked tracking students. The curriculum had been divided into three big units. We would pre-test the kids and then divide them into high, middle, and low. Each teacher took one group. Then at the end of the big unit, not only did we test them again, but we also switched which teacher taught which group. Nonsense! Give me my heterogenous group and let me differentiate. Let me spend the full year truly getting to know my kids!

Not only did I have to change math groups each trimester, the fact that some of my students went to one of the other two teachers did not allow for me to be flexible with my day. In the past with two man teams, I was able to adjust my day. If I needed more time for math, I would just shorten the other course a few minutes. If I wanted to do math before the other class or vice versa, I could. However, at ASL I was locked into a very rigid schedule.

Teaching science was awesome. The most challenging part for me was the openness of the curriculum when it came to human sexuality. We were showing videos to sixth graders with some pretty interesting content. One of the videos dealt with pre- and post- pubescence. Another video was a live birth!

There were two social studies teachers – Alan Heath and my teammate – who taught ancient civilizations. That was cool because the kids would study ancient Sumer and then we would visit the Sumer exhibit in the British Museum. Each of the units that were taught were followed by a visit to the museum.

The ancient civilizations studies culminated in a 10 day visit to Greece. The students were each given specific locations that we were going to visit. When we stopped at a location, the student(s) assigned that location were to teach the others about the location. The trip was well planned and well executed. I could not have imagined a better group of sixth graders to travel with and teach me about ancient Greece.

My apartment was in Highgate. If you stood out on the back porch you could see all the way to the Millennium Dome. I invited Charles and Kristen Ellenbogen over for New Year’s Eve with the intention of watching fireworks in the distance and perhaps to witness the great meltdown of technology. Charles was an English teacher for the 8th grade.

As you would expect in London, New Year’s Eve was a foggy mess. When it came time to watch the fireworks, all we could see were faint flashes of light off in the distance. Oh well, it is the company that is most important on New Year’s Eve. In the end, the Y2K threat was not a problem at all and the world continued its path without incident.

As I mentioned in the ISD post, Dominic Colenso had graduated from ISD in June and had been accepted to the London School of Drama. He shared the apartment with me for several months until my landlord found out and wanted more rent if he was to stay. His parents found him his own flat closer to the school of drama and he eventually moved out. It was nice while he was there as his mom would often send food with his dad when his dad had business in London. The Colenso family were and are amazing people.

While I was enjoying my time in London, two of my colleagues from ISD had moved to Caracas, Venezuela. Terri Sue and Shiela kept me abreast of their adventures in Venezuela. They described everything as perfect from the weather to the people to the school to the pay. As a result, I worked hard to find my own place at Ecuela Campo Allegre (ECA).

During the job search fair in London, I was able to meet with the school director, Bambi Betts, outside of the conference. I guess it worked as I was offered a math position with ECA.

The parents of my students were saddened to hear my news that I was moving on already. For the end of the year, they worked together and purchased me a new set of luggage. Gifts from these parents were not uncommon and I felt that there was a competition within the team for best gifts. I do remember that at Christmas, I was given a gift card from Harrods worth 300£.

I really liked the students at ASL. The parents were also super supportive. Overall, it was a great place to work. I served as co-chair of the teacher’s representative council and met regularly with the school director. Finding a job at ASL is tough as people do not typically leave. It is a great place to work. Thanks to social media, I haven’t lost touch with Charles or Alan.