Jeff Birdsley’s career in education began as a teacher of college students, first as a graduate student working on his Ph.D. at Michigan State, and then as an adjunct instructor at Florida State and at the University of Illinois.
Then, Birdsley took a break from teaching to stay at home with his two children, slowly getting back into the school environment at Urbana schools as a PTA volunteer, swim coach and a substitute teacher, before he jumped back into full-time teaching at Urbana High School in 2021, where he teaches AP prep biology, anatomy and zoology.
When he’s not teaching, he’s the coach of the Urbana Park District Nadiators Swim Team, and he also coached a team of students to second place at the 2025 State Science Olympiad.
I find my work important because … In addition to educating kids about science, and about swimming, I see them gain confidence and inspiration. I want to give them a chance to shine. These are things that my wife and I value for our own children, and appreciate in the people who teach them.
I became a teacher because … Explaining things to students came easily to me, and I got a strong positive response from students in my first college teaching jobs. I thought, “Huh. I guess I can do this.”
My favorite or most unique lesson that I teach is … Field identification of plants and animals. It’s usually in Carle Park across the street from school, but my zoology class went to Kickapoo State Park for one of the best days I’ve had teaching. Phone apps that identify plants, animals, and bird songs have revolutionized field biology for high-schoolers. Learning to use binoculars, field guides and identification keys takes weeks in college natural-history courses. To be able to take high school students outside for one class period with just our phones and identify dozens of birds, plants and insects is an incredible advance in teaching biology.
My most fulfilling moments on the job are when … students have been working on posters or presentations that demonstrate knowledge of genetics or ecology. Each class seems to have fantastic artists and their presentations are both beautiful and knowledgeable about biology.
I keep students engaged by … first asking them to please stop conversations and put away phones (unless we are using them to identify insects or seashells in the lab). I always try to incorporate examples or phenomena that I think are really cool and that make me enthusiastic about teaching that lesson. After teaching a lesson several years in a row, it often bears little resemblance to its original version.
Something else I’m passionate about is … learning recent advances in swimming technique and how to teach them.
My favorite teacher and subject in school were … physical-education teacher Mr. Ambrose taught beginner and advanced swimming classes at East Kentwood High School, Kentwood, Mich. He was also our swim team coach and taught us exercise physiology and why we do things in training. He was enthusiastic and excited about the improvement of each and every kid.
If I weren’t a teacher, I would be … a full-time professional swim coach.
— ANTHONY ZILIS