When I recently informed an old colleague of mine that I was heading back to the school counseling office for the 2024-2025 school year, he referenced Henry David Thoreau to me. That made me smile. Thoreau said he left Walden woods for as good a reason as he went there.
“Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more for that one.” – Henry David Thoreau
That is what my friend was alluding to. When you get that kind of encouragement, you know you are doing the right thing.
Room 127 has been good to me and my students the last couple of years. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to go back to my English teaching roots and try to help learners better negotiate the English language. At the end of the day for me, Indiana Academic Standards notwithstanding, I wanted to help my students become better communicators moving forward with their lives. The art of communication is a skill that is at a premium these days.
Room 127 is waiting for another life of its own with another English teacher to help students navigate the rigors and nuances of the English language.
Me? Well, I am heading back to the school counseling office, and I am thankful to our school’s administration for giving me a chance to return to a place I spent five years from 2015 to 2020. That is what I trained for. That is what I earned a master’s degree at U of L for. The counseling office is where I have spent 19 of my 29 years as an educator. I feel that we are waiting on each other. The office and me. Helping students and parents navigate high school is not a charge to sneeze at. This is an important time and place in the lives of impressionable youngsters, and they need all the support we can give them. I have been there. I think I can help. I know I can.
I can’t say enough good things about the students I have had the last three years. One student, Sarah Knight, drew this for me in art class this spring. I was moved intensely.
Vex Baysore wanted me to see the bird that was crafted in art class. It was a thing of beauty and inspiration.
One of my 9th grade students told me this week that, since we were wrapping things up, we needed to listen to some of my music. What could I say? I don’t make a habit of tuning into my own songs on Amazon Music. I rarely listen to them. I know what they are about. I was there. Still, I was honored the student asked. That is all I can say. And I acquiesced.
The last episode of North Harrison Hodgepodcast featured two of my senior students. Mario Mendoza, me, and Nick Allen. I had both of these guys in class as sophomores and seniors and spent the most of one football season hanging out with them. They are class acts. I will miss them.
The North Harrison High School Hodgepodcast was a strike! We had 11 episodes this year. They can be found here:
North Harrison High School Hodgepodcast | North Harrison Community Schools (nhcs.k12.in.us)
I read the Indianapolis Star each morning online. Was I ever delighted to see that former NH basketball player Langdon (LT) Hatton will be playing for the Indiana Hoosiers next season. After seeing more than a hundred football games at IU over the years, this past season my dear wife, Carrie, and I saw the Hoosiers play Wright State in my first game at the Assembly Hall. I expected more from this team when I saw them. Obviously, they were not a ‘team’. That will be taken care of. I believe that. I suppose I better make it to another game or two this year. Congrats to LT and his dad, Steve Hatton. They have both put in hours and hours and hours of preparation. There is still something to be said about hard work.
Speaking the rights…
Danny Johnson