My wife and I have been talking about moving to the Madison area for a couple years. We are not natives of the state line area. We went to school in Stevens Point. Our families live about 2 hours away by car, and most of our best friends are anywhere from 2-3 hours away. We need to be closer to all of that as our kids grow up. Because of this, I accepted a job at Waunakee Community Middle School to teach 7th grade Social Studies. We are moving after teaching at Turner for 7 years. Please believe me when I say that it was 7 of the best years of my life, because I absolutely mean it. I loved my time here, I love this district, I love my neighborhood and I love the kids I've had the privilege of teaching. I don't want to leave with anything left on the table. As Eleanor said in track last season, "NO REGERTS!" I'll be an absolute mental and emotional wreck on the last day of school, so I want to prepare now and give one big explanation, and officially invite you to become an emotional wreck right alongside me if you wish. When the news first went out a couple weeks ago, it was harder to deal with than I expected. Some seventh graders learned what was going on, told other people in the middle school, texted siblings in the high school, and before you know it a parade of freshmen showed up to my room in Titan Time to stare at me like I had a terminal illness. "What's going on?" "He's leaving..." "........... is this a prank?" I couldn't hold it together and the school day ended with me going to track practice a sobbing mess. BUT... I was able to get some of those initial emotions out of my system and be normal again the next couple weeks. I even held it together when Nadilee gave me a stuffed donkey, which doesn't sound like a sweet gesture on the surface but it was truly one of the most genuine acts of caring any student has shown toward me. Now there is one week left though. I've been telling myself to keep it light-hearted, positive, smiley, happy and fun. Focus on what's to come. Be excited about Waunakee and all the great changes it will bring. Look forward to new challenges and new relationships. But when I think about all the new relationships, I can't help but dwell on the roughly 1,000 individual student relationships I have already built at Turner. Building relationships is what I have always seen as my biggest strength, but right now it is turning into a huge emotional weakness. That weakness is about to be on full display... I WILL BE AN ABSOLUTE WRECK ON FRIDAY JUNE 1ST! As I write this, Owen is looking at my homemade yearbook and asking "is this thing gonna have a bunch of tear stains on it?" Yes... Yes it will. Luckily, many of you seem to already understand this. I just talked to two kids in Titan Time about how we can all cry together on the last day. Nobody needs to feel left out! Heck, I'm even predicting where and when I'll cry because it's a pretty full day packed with plenty of opportunities. I'll be fine right away in the morning, and I'll probably have kids bustling in and out of my room to check out the 8x10 photo of the #classcomp champions that will be displayed on the Honish wall of Fame and Immortality. I'll probably be fine when everyone goes down to the auditorium for awards, except there is the issue of me going up to give MY awards. Heck, I almost got a little choked up last year and bailed on a plan to give a little speech to the 8th graders because I didn't know if I could handle not seeing them so much any more. (You can read all about that HERE... I'm not sure which of these two blog posts is sappiest, but I'm sure it will be great party reading when Sam Wells could be getting LIT instead). Then there's the talent show. I think I'll be fine through all 7 renditions of "Titanium". Lunch should be no problem, and I'll probably be signing yearbooks the whole time. Sidenote: BRING ME YOUR YEARBOOKS. Yes, I write a lot. No, it's not just because I am leaving. I spent at least the last 180 days with you... you deserve to hear about it a little bit. Dance and activities time? That depends. I want to see as many people as possible, have one last little chat and give some well wishes. Take me up on that and there could be some tears. Sometimes high school students are roaming around in between finals. I cannot OFFICIALLY condone coming to the middle school in the middle of what is technically a school day, but come find me. I will make myself available. Once the dance and activities are over, everyone mills around the courtyard by where the buses come through. I will try to smile for pictures, and sign as many yearbooks as possible as I mentally cling to the last hour of my Turner career like a climber on a crumbling cliff edge. The buses will load, you will all go home, and then it's gonna get BAD. I will walk back into what is always an eerily quiet school building. Seriously, the place is so WEIRD. It's full of nothing but noise and rowdiness for 9 months and then it's like the building exhales deeply and settles in for a 3 month nap. I will go back to my room and pretend to pack or something. Will I REALLY have anything to do? Probably not, and I'll be coming back the next week for inservice, so it will be some thumb twiddling and nervous pacing. I will open my door and know for sure that students will never enter MY Room 17 again. I will see the empty desks and know I won't see them filled again. It is at this point I will reflect on my last week and decide if I have any regrets. I want my yearbook and photo album on my phone to be full. I want to feel like I had a productive last conversation with people I care about. I want to make sure I didn't MISS anyone in the process. If all goes well, I will be able to stay true to Eleanor's "NO REGERTS!" mantra... so in order to make sure that happens, I need your help.
4 school days remain. Come find me. Come sign my yearbook and give me yours to sign. Let's talk about that one time that one kid did that one thing. Let's talk about that one weird fact I said in class and promptly forgot about, but you still remember. Let's talk about where you want to go to college and what you want to do with your life. I needed to get the news out that I was leaving with enough time for people to find out and for me to come to terms with it. Now I need to invite you to spend a few minutes with me AT SOME POINT this next week. If I don't see every one of the approximately 750 students in this building I have taught, I can understand that. That's not realistic. But if you wanted to come visit and never did because you thought it was going to be a hassle or bother me or you're a high schooler that shouldn't be in the middle school, I could not forgive myself. So please... come bother me at your earliest convenience.
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AuthorJohn Honish: Archives
June 2021
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