All+About+Me



**GREETINGS!** If you’re looking at the picture above, I’m the one who’s //not// wearing the red cap and gown. That’s my six-year-old daughter, Sonali. My name’s William Dawson. I’m a former print journalist who toiled as a writer and editor at newspapers for twenty-three years before deciding to be an English teacher. I last worked in journalism at the San Diego Union-Tribune (ten years) and the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis, MN (three years). The Star Tribune recruited me to be the industry’s first Story Forms Editor, a position in which I trained other editors and writers to compose stories in unconventional ways in order to reach reluctant readers. In Language Arts argot, I was the multi-genre editor.  **WHY DID I TURN TO TEACHING?** Because the best part of what I did as a journalist was teach. As a features writer, I often took a subject and tried to illustrate it to the newspaper readers like a good teacher would. I didn’t have the benefit of face-to-face interaction (which I love), but I used every communication skill I had to make the subject come alive. Ultimately, though, I wanted to make learning happen for young people in a classroom setting where I could see the growth happen before me.

**EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY** I believe Language Arts should be about more than old books and dead authors. Don't get me wrong, I //love// old books and dead authors, but art and instruction should be studied in ways that help students understand their world and meet the challenges of tomorrow. I want to help students be excellent thinkers and communicators, skills that will allow them to adjust and thrive in an ever-changing universe.

In my classroom students should feel safe to explore, ask questions, and learn in varied ways. I believe in using the Internet, podcasts, wikis, and other technology that can help students experience and understand the subjects we explore. At the same time, technology is only a tool and cannot replace the direct instruction and individual assistance a teacher can provide. I care deeply about students and will find the most effective ways to reach and teach them all.
 * MODERN CLASSROOM**


 * WHY HIRE ME?** Here's a video that should explain it:

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As a successful former journalist, I’ve lived language arts in a way that can’t be taught in a jumble of college classes. I worked with words every day for twenty-three years as a writer, editor, and graphic designer. In many ways, my job was like that of a teacher. Every day, I communicated with readers, mostly with printed words but also with graphics and photographs and illustrations. I made my stories as clear and compelling and engaging as possible, knowing that readers, like students, are easily bored and distracted. Unlike a classroom teacher, I had one chance to get it right — a reader can’t raise his or her hand to ask questions. That required planning and discipline. Confusing readers, and students, is never an option.

Furthermore a great journalist, like a great teacher, must study his or her audience to know what they want and need and how to get it across in the best, most lasting manner. That takes creativity and innovation. I spent the last ten years of my previous career as a multi-genre writer-designer-editor, coming up with varied ways to make stories relevant and engaging to readers. I discovered that good journalism is not about the reporter or editor, it’s about the reader, in the same way that teaching isn’t about the teacher, it’s about the students. That means examining every scrap of feedback you get and working on new and better solutions all the time. Again, that’s what great teachers do. It’s not easy refining and rebuilding lesson plans, it takes time and patience and deep, hard thinking, but it’s what dedicated teachers do.

I also practiced, and will encourage, risk-taking. There’s always a risk when you move from a standard template to something more exciting but less tested, as I often did in creating features stories. I believe in a classroom culture that encourages students to think for themselves and express their learning in varied ways. I don’t believe in downgrading students for what some might perceive as “failed” attempts at expression. Students who combine imagination with effort should be applauded.

Two other qualities I bring to teaching are passion and compassion. I love writing, I work on stories and projects nearly every day, and I love reading. I read about a hundred books or plays every year, including more than sixty young-adult books this past year. What students read, I read: I’ve enjoyed all the //Harry Potter// books, plus //Twilight//, //The Golden Compass//, and more. I want to know what connects with them as readers. I wear my enthusiasm for writing and books and English where students can see it, yet I appreciate that some find English an ordeal. I will do everything I can to kindle learning and diffuse the fear of words in students who struggle with the subject.  [|Here are some of my favorite books.] 

  