Full Name
Dawn Thomas
Where (school and city) do you teach?
Natalia High School, Natalia, TX
How many years have you been advising publications?
3 years
How many students are involved in your media program at your school?
3 currently, we are a new course
Most unusual item in/on your desk?
A bottle of Texas Wildflower Honey
Favorite deadline snack?
Crunchy Cheetos
Favorite journalism-related website?
Currently, Medium
Three words students use to describe you?
Happy, sarcastic, weird
Last great book you read?
“Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros
If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would it be?
Greece
Why is journalism important?
Journalists inform and recount and chronicle and narrate and share all of our stories. The good, the bad, and the ugly. They capture memories that will last well beyond each one of us.
What’s the biggest struggle you’ve had to overcome as a teacher?
At my previous campus, I had to get all of my students’ news stories or yearbook page submissions “approved” by administration. Oftentimes, news stories were denied completely or redacted to the point of no return. There was a particularly intense conversation between me and my formal principal when I stood up for journalistic freedoms and rights. My journalism and English 4 students fully supported me in this and even wrote letters, emails, and even spoke out themselves about this issue. Ultimately, it culminated in me deciding to leave the campus I had been at for the past 12 years. It was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in a very long time, but I am glad that I stood up for what was right. Unfortunately, they no longer have a journalism program at that high school.
Who are your biggest influencers as a teacher?
My students! No, really. Especially when it comes to journalism. There is so much “fake news” out there, and my students tend to believe everything they see and hear on social media. I challenge my students daily, both in my journalism class and in my English I classes, to think for themselves and dig to find the truth in the stories and news they read. Other than that, I do have some other teachers that I follow and look to quite often.
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