<p>David Pierson, a Louisiana native, labored for many years as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor before returning to the classroom as a high school English teacher. He says he finds more intellectual stimulation working with young people than with adults whose minds have already been set.</p><p>An experienced public speaker who has been interviewed countless times on television, radio and in print - he prefers being "on stage" every day in the classroom, telling stories to his students. </p><p>Well-read, especially in classical literature, he has written detailed, in-depth reading comprehension questions and answers for many epics, novels, short stories and plays (among them every play by Shakespeare).</p><p>The founder of the longest-running scholastic chess league in the country, Mr. Pierson lays claim to being the most checkmated person in the history of the game. (That is because he has drilled more than four thousand young people on how to force checkmates on their opponents with two rooks, a queen or one rook.)</p>
