The makings of a teacher—49 years and counting

As Scott Davison, an English teacher at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, is getting ready to start his 50th year as a teacher next fall, he looks back at the wealth of knowledge, experiences and fascinating stories he has amassed and recalls education wasn’t always his first choice.

In fact, he said he “sort of stumbled into it.”

Growing up in Oak Cliff, he dove into the arts at an early age. He became a child actor at 6, but he never limited himself to one discipline, also pursuing dancing, singing, playing numerous musical instruments and athletics. By the time he was 16, he enrolled at the University of Dallas to pursue a major in visual art. By the time he was 20, he accepted his first teaching job at the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. There, he met the students who sparked his passion for teaching for the first time.

“They would go through the motions, but they had no intellectual curiosity, and their imaginations had just been crushed,” Davison said. “I started asking myself, ‘Where is this process of not being inquisitive starting? Where can I make a difference?’ It seemed to me that high school was where it happened most profoundly. That’s also where I could turn things around before it was too late.”

So when Davison received a letter from Paul Baker, the founding director of Dallas’ arts magnet, asking him to join the team and to spread the school’s philosophy of “unique, creative imagination,” he left behind a scholarship to the renowned Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and accepted. This was back in the late ’70s, and Davison still recalls helping select the school’s Pegasus mascot and painstakingly creating the first yearbook in his free time with the help of a typewriter, a mimeograph machine and a few student volunteers.

Staying power

Davison has experienced countless ups and downs in his 49 years of teaching, and he identified two support systems that have helped him through the hard times. The first is staying connected with his former students and getting to hear how his teaching changed their lives. Not only does he run two alumni Facebook pages where he posts updates on their achievements, but he has also kept up with former students like Grammy-winning blues and soul singer Erykah Badu, Edie Brickell and others.

The second is his dedication to revitalizing himself every summer. He does this by traveling and engaging in creative projects like translating Italian and Swedish poetry or writing, which all help him find renewal and motivation for the upcoming school year.

“Every class is a new challenge with new students,” he said. “Just because I’ve done it or taught something before, this is their first experience, so it has to be fresh and new and exciting.”

At the end of the day, fueling students’ creativity is what propels Davison forward. He is passionate about bringing his love of the arts to students and finding innovative ways to get them interested in poetry, literature and critical thinking. While teaching has not always been easy for Davison, it has been fulfilling.

“When I was a kid, I went to Catholic school for a couple years, and I have a really strong sense of service,” he said. “Getting into high school, I felt like that was where I could make a real difference and keep students’ lights shining. I could have retired a number of years ago, but I don’t want to lose any time with the students.”