For Cathy Dawson, one of the best parts about being a teacher is seeing the sense of accomplishment when a child writes his first sentence or finishes a new book.
“When they come in, smile and say, ‘Oh Mrs. Dawson, I finished that book. It is just like you said,’ that’s what we are here for,” Dawson said. “We are not here for anybody else; we are here for the kids.
“That’s what I’m the biggest advocate for.”
Dawson, a fourth-grade literacy teacher at Howard Perrin Elementary School, was recently selected as Teacher of the Year by the Benton School District.
She has 37 years of experience as a teacher, all in the Benton School District.
“It is always an honor to be chosen by your peers for such an awesome award as being named Teacher of the Year, Benton Superintendent Mike Skelton said in a statement. “Cathy Dawson has a passion for teaching.
“She is constantly striving for new ways to reach her students. She is full of energy, and she works hard to make a positive impact and inspire the students she comes into contact with each and every day.
“The Benton School District values her contribution to education, and we celebrate her accomplishments.”
Dawson said she doesn’t want it to ever be a popularity contest, but “I’ve been here long enough that maybe somebody knows something. There are teachers in the high school and the junior high that I’ve taught.
“[The award] is voted on by the district, so somebody had to know something. At least the work that I have done, finally somebody notices it, because I do believe we work really hard as teachers.”
Dawson graduated from Benton High School in 1970 and from Ouachita Baptist University in 1974. She was one of the first first-graders at Howard Perrin Elementary School when it opened.
She credited her first-grade teacher, Sarah Culbertson, as one of the biggest reasons she went into teaching in the first place.
“She was 18 when I started because at the time, they could do just two years of college,” Dawson said. “She loved all her kids, but she made me want to do things.
“She is just special in my heart. She now lives in Petersburg, Alaska.”
Dawson said Culbertson loved her kids.
“I think if we don’t love our kids and they don’t know we love them or care about them, we can’t get them to do anything, especially nowadays,” Dawson said. “She expected a lot out of us.”
Dawson said she had a hard time reading as a kid, “but I guess that’s why I love it so much now.”
“I like to see the kids want to do it,” she said.
Dawson started teaching kindergarten in 1980 and did that for 10 years. She has taught third, fourth and fifth grades since then.
“When I first started, it was sitting in rows in desks, being still and having no interaction,” Dawson said. “When I moved up the hall, I had this principal — Pam Burton — who challenged me.
“I didn’t like half time, we fought sometimes over it. But every time I went, I came back with a new understanding that not every child sits in a seat, looking at the front of the room learns something.
“So I started changing. We sit in different seats, we lie on the floor, and I let them help each other at times.”
Dawson said Burton, who has been retired for 10 years now, was way ahead of her game in a lot of things.
“I recognized that she was a very strong teacher,” Burton said of Dawson, “and I encouraged her to do some things quite differently. She was a little resistant at first, but when she decided to go in that direction, it made her even better and stronger.”
Burton and Dawson are now good friends.
“We fought over a lot of education stuff, but we love each other,” Dawson said.
“She has a very student-centered classroom,” Burton said. “She doesn’t just throw out a lesson and assume everyone gets it.”
Burton said Dawson is very aware of the needs of every child and assesses where they are.
“Children can be very successful wherever they are, but in her class, they are both challenged and encouraged to grow,” Burton said. “Kids always make progress in Cathy’s classroom.
“She is keenly aware of each child and how to encourage them to make progress.”
Currently, Dawson teaches nine kids with dyslexia.
“That’s a challenge for me,” she said. “To make sure, I teach and work with those kids. …
“Twenty-eight kids in a classroom is a lot of kids to touch. Class size is the biggest [challenge] for me.”
Dawson said she doesn’t have a single textbook in her classroom. Instead, she uses books from the classroom library to help with the lesson, and the only homework each student has is to read either for 20 minutes or 20 pages.
“You don’t learn everything from inside a book,” she said.
Ten years ago, Dawson partnered with Master Gardener Pat Gipson, and together they planted a butterfly sanctuary behind Dawson’s classroom. Dawson said it has helped her students learn more about migration, habitats and butterflies than any book could.
“She is a really great teacher, but she requires a lot from them,” Gipson said, “from learning the subject that they are on to their maturity level and discipline.
“By the end of the year, by the time they leave, they are in great shape to head up to middle school. She is a great teacher, and the kids are crazy about her.”
The butterflies go through a symbolic migration every year, so the kids write letters and draw pictures to send to a school in Mexico. When the butterflies return to Canada, Gipson said, the students from Mexico do the same.
“It is a great experience, and the kids have a lot of fun doing it,” Gipson said. “It has been a pleasure to work with her the past 10 years.
“She is so easy to work with. It makes it fun for everybody.”
Dawson said she is constantly learning and trying to make her classroom an enjoyable one.
“If you aren’t willing to change and you have stayed here as long as I have, you’ve got a problem,” Dawson said.
“Cathy’s got a ton of great qualities, but I believe what sets her apart is her ability to make her students want to learn and perform well,” said Stacye Shelnut, Howard Perrin Elementary School principal. “With her own passion for education, she evokes a sense of excitement in her classroom and helps her kids believe that they are capable of anything.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.