Photo by David Holifield on Unsplash My father served in the European Theater during WWII. His plane went down during a mission, but he successfully bailed out of his doomed B17 Flying Fortress. He survived, but he was captured and held as a prisoner of war until the war in Europe ended. My mother worked in a factory […]
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash In teacher years, I am well past my prime (some might suggest). I am a 63-year-old teacher of AP and Dual Credit English. Many of my friends are either retired or ready to slide into the blissful years of sleeping in, walking around the mall, and going to the bathroom whenever the […]
By Roy F. Smith Light, camera, action! “Okay kids, I want you to engage in a self-directed intellectual conversation about Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath,” and by the way, I want you to film your conversation and upload it to YouTube.” Did my kids jump up and down and scream “O’boy Mr. Smith! Can we […]
My dog’s name is Andy and he loves his ears scratched. He lays his head in my lap and purrs like a cat when I scratch, rub, or crinkle his floppy ears. He also enjoys listening to me share the ups and downs of my day in the classroom. He pays attention and never […]
Photo by Bryce Barker on Unsplash My mother is 92 years old. As I was sitting with her this summer, she said, to no one in particular, “time is not passing anymore, it’s blurring.” I knew what she meant. Each New Year’s Eve seems to arrive quicker than the previous. I turned 62 years old this December. I […]
Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash By Roy F. Smith I avoided reading Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita for years because of the book’s content. With so many amazing works of literature to spend time with, why read a novel that explores the mind of a disturbed pedophile? I finally decided to pick up Nabokov’s classic after reading Roy Peter […]
By Roy F. Smith On the first day of every school year the bell rings and students, in my case seniors, walk in, shake my hand, sit where they will, and wait to see what kind of teacher I will be. I go through the same process with them. Each student requires something different from […]
Tragedy, unfortunately, is an inherent part of this life of ours. Try as we might to avoid the ugly, gut-wrenching realities of death, time has proven again and again that untimely deaths (aren’t all deaths untimely?) are a part of our human experience. But, when young people die early, well, where do we put that […]
By Roy F. Smith Winters in Texas often resemble spring in other parts of the country. These beautiful winter days offer great opportunities to take learning outside. Every year I wait for the temperature to reach a comfortable range and out we go to experience the natural world the Romantic poets extol in their […]
One of the most fulfilling parts of my teaching day occurs when I am reading a good book. There I sit reading for about 15 minutes at a time, while my students are likewise engaged with a book of their choosing. Quietly reading with 27 young people confirms the richness of entering a literary work […]
Roy F. Smith 