Jeffrey “Jeff” Smith
Casco Bay Schooner |
Mt. Fuji Summit |
AET Teaching in Japan |
Japan Summer Festival Yukata |
English, Literature, Reading, Writing, Languages, Beginning Japanese
B.A. Clark University, Worcester; J.D. Boston University
Maine Teaching Certificate, Post-graduate ETEP Program, University of Southern Maine
State of Maine Certified Professional Teacher K-12 & Adult (English and Social Studies)
Maine Lawyer (retired); Maine Classroom Teacher, English and science, Grades 6-12
Assistant English Teacher (AET), Japanese Public Schools, Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan
River School, Japanese and American Literature, 2009-2010
Outdoor activities include biking, hiking, swimming, boating and sailing, and traveling.
Indoor activities include reading mysteries, histories and historical fiction, science, and travelogues, while visiting historical places and points of artistic, natural and cultural interest around the world with my artist wife, Betsy.
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Since becoming a classroom teacher my philosophy of teaching and learning has evolved to encompass both the traditional and non-traditional student. In the Maine public school classroom where I have taught at the middle and high school level in both rural and urban school districts, students have ranged from highly motivated to challenged learners. In my view, all students can and will learn in their own way (in my case, English and science), if given the appropriate classroom environment, content, materials and resources.
I began teaching with this concept in mind: “We learn 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear, 70 percent of what we discuss with others, 80 percent of what we experience, and 95 percent of what we teach to someone.” William Glasser (Psychiatrist, 1925-). Some call this the “cone of learning”, and say, “we learn 90% of what we say and do”. However, in any form or name, in my experience it proves true. I first try to learn from students what and how they want to learn, provide them the environment, content, materials and resources to do so, then encourage them to teach it to each other through research, study, oral presentation and other exhibitionary formats.
At River School, I try to do this in a personalized and student-centered way as described on this website. For years, I have affixed this quote inside my classroom, "Education is Not the Filling of a Pail, but the Lighting of a Fire" William Butler Yeats (Poet, 1865-1939). I try to light fires, not fill pails.
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