[Ms. Dotson in a seminar by Golden Apple Teachers. Photo Credit to Northwestern School of Education]

“My favorite moments as a teacher are seeing students do well…” These are the words of Ms. Danna Dotson, who is much more than an extraordinary teacher. She’s a person like you and me, unsure about some of the things in her life and just trying to make it through enjoying as much as possible. Ms. Dotson has been teaching math classes at Whitney Young for 7 years and she is also the Head of the Math Department. “She’s more than what meets the eye, she’s not what you’d expect of just an everyday math teacher” says Adrienne Truitt ‘17. There are many things that make Ms. Dotson fantastic, like her hobbies, which include gardening, traveling, and shopping.

The most simple and small place Ms.Dotson spends her leisure time is her garden where she grows a variety of flowers and vegetables, she’s currently working on perfecting her eggplant! Where does one like Ms. Dotson shop? The Water Tower Place and all of Michigan Avenue and State Street combined aren’t enough for Ms.Dotson. Her favorite place houses more than she says you could ever need. “…the Dubai Mall. It’s the largest mall in the world!…” according to her “You can find anything you ever wanted or rather anything you didn’t know you wanted”. Dubai isn’t the only place Ms. Dotson has been; she’s never experienced a dull moment in New York City, and loved her immersion in the art, music, scenery, and people of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Teaching is as much part of her life as anything, meaning, she wants to be as good at it as she possibly can be. She’s gone to seminars like the one pictured above to perfect her craft. So when not absorbed in the exciting details of life outside of school, Ms.Dotson is dedicated to her students. She leaves kids wishing for more time with her, Adam Flam ‘17 is just one example, “Ms. Dotson is cool! I had her my freshman year for geometry, kinda sad I didn’t get her again”.

Some students have trouble in their math classes and for them she has a recommendation everyone needs to hear; “My advice would be to talk to your teachers and seek help from them and just be patient and you’ll end up getting it”.