Connections

How teachers are approaching current events

By Evan Dawson,

Published April 14, 2025 at 3:22 PM EDT

Three people wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man at left has short brown hair, a brown beard and is wearing a yellow, black and white plaid button-down shirt; a woman at center has long brown hair and is wearing a black blazer over a black shirt; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a light green button-down shirt. — Dan Hart and Evvy Fanning on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, April 14, 2025

A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.

It’s spring break, and we’ve invited local teachers to come in and discuss how they’re approaching issues related to politics and current events in the classroom.

Are classes more politically charged? Are students more engaged? Or more tuned out?

Our guests:

Evvy Fanning, high school English teacher
Dan Hart, 9^th grade literacy teacher at East Upper School

Connections

Evan Dawson

Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.

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Megan Mack

Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.

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Julie Williams

Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson" and is also the office administrator for radio, news and technology and operations. She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.

See stories by Julie Williams