My general impression of Danny Watterson was of a competent teacher who had a very good handle of his students and the classroom. He told me that he believed it is pivotal for a teacher to be strict at the beginning of the year and then relax the reigns as the year progresses rather than be lenient initially and subsequently become strict out of necessity. He emphatically stated that the latter does not work and based on casual observation, I could tell that he adopted the former style of classroom discipline.
I noticed that Mr. Watterson had a commanding aura about him that did not require him to yell or demean his students. I observed him as a strict teacher and yet, I sense compassion and kindness in him as evident with the following scenarios. On one occasion, he noticed a male student chewing gum and evidently, this was a repeated offense. Mr. Watterson called him on it and proceeded to take a half a point off the student's grade. The student was apologetic and threw his gum out. The student did not contradict nor did he show any distain for the teacher. In another situation, Mr. Watterson called on a student to give specific facts to the class, the student was not prepared. Mr. Watterson decided to go to the next student and come back to the previous student after he got his notes ready.