any teacher's dream

 Henry's Retirement Shindig, Revelations

some students and colleagues find their way

to where we are celebrating my retirement

celebrating "53 years of students,"

the students center me,

they are why a school exists,

not so the culture can pass on its traditions,

not so the teachers can reveal their tricks of the trade,

not so the student can be molded to fit predetermined standards,

rather, a school exists so that each student

can look in the mirror and like what they see,

can learn to trust that who they are

is who they've always been,

can figure what makes them special

and then figure how to release that gift unto the world,

I have long considered that I am not a teacher

as in a teacher as a trainer,

one who passes on specific skills that can be "taught":

the times table, grammar rules, dates,

how to footnote and make a bibliography,

all of which are important and need to be figured out,

but they are not the why and how of my job,

instead, I tend to call myself an educator,

and to define that as helping each student learn how to learn,

once the "on-off" switch as to attitude, is "on,"

then the "teacher" can be a great helper,

with the student in charge of finding the way forward 

and the "teacher" helping, supporting more than leading,

yesterday, at my retirement ceremony,

people spoke of me as the calm center,

where the student is known, loved, cared for,

even if home is less centering,

I heard of the importance of the embrace

of their creativity, of their ideas,

the ways that came to them,

as they wrote, drew, imagined,

I heard of the importance of listening to them,

hearing them, understanding them,

I heard of how vital it is to be who you are,

to figure it out, to embrace it, to express it,

I heard of how vital many felt nature to be,

how primal trips to the mountains could be,

or just to explore the creek by the school,

I found it sad how many felt middle school to be too easily

where one can feel lost, unseen, powerless,

my belief is that to be an educator

requires us to see the student,

to appreciate the student,

to connect with the student,

to support the student,

and then for all of us to enlarge our sense of self,

once we know we are loved and of worth, 

we can find our way forward.

by Henry H. Walker

June 16, ‘24