Retirement Benefits: Teacher

. . . I wish that I could let you know, that I did not forget you . . .

“At Any Given Moment” by MJH

“Words cannot express to you our appreciation for this school year. Daniel has learned so much this year and I know your dedication and creativity had a great deal to do with that."This card was delivered, in person, with a freshly baked loaf of bread - by Daniel’s parents, the evening after the last day of school. (5/23/96)

“You sang songs, told jokes and just made learning much more fun. -You weren’t cruel like the others, you showed you had fun with us.” Shannon was a very quiet fifth grader my first year of teaching, probably in eighth grade when she wrote this to me.

I used my initials, MJH, quite often on my chalkboard (no, I don’t mean dry erase marker board - not to start with) As the year went on, I noticed one of my fourth grade students started signing her papers “CBF.” For Christmas, CBF made me a “Mr Haney” nameplate that was on all of my desks for the next 15 years. It is still doing service on the desk in my home office.

The mother of another very quiet, very bright and talented sixth grade girl told me on several occasions over the years, how she had seen her daughter begin to blossom and grow in confidence while she was in my class. I watched it too.

In a freshman English class at a rural high school, many of the students came from very small towns - small like the Pepsi machine was the youth center. A poetry assignment I gave involved Walt Whitman and Robert Frost hitch-hiking through their little town. Two of the girls in my class produced such creative writing that I am still thrilled by the way each poem exceeded my expectations.

Another unforgettable moment came a few years later, during another writing assignment at a different school. I had given the class class time to work on their writing. I don’t remember the exact assignment or which student it was, but I will always remember the way she came up to my desk, filled with a young writer's pride and said “Mr. Haney, you’ve got to read this!”

At the same school, different class, on a dark and stormy . . . afternoon, I had the class go to the gym, which was not very bright - not because of the teacher; the gym had skylights and it was . . . “a dark and stormy . . . afternoon.” I had them spread out and told them to simply listen; no noise. Of course, freshman boys can’t always control their fascination with the variety of bodily sounds they can produce . . . and this was just after lunch . . . and the acoustics of the gym were, well, you can imagine (if you choose to). But this is about Samantha. She was very good at everything she did: academics, volleyball, rodeo - but from this writing assignment I learned how much she loved basketball. She laid down at center court to think and listen.When I read her paper, it was almost like getting a glimpse into a dream. It had a wonderful, honest quality that still amazes me.

I was almost retired from teaching by the time that freshman class became seniors. One of my greatest honors as a teacher came when they asked me to come back and be their commencement speaker. Going out the way I came in, I still “sang songs and told jokes” and let them know that “I had fun with them.”

Another gathering with former students took place in the lobby of the Ottawa Municipal Auditorium after a senior high stage production. They were talking, with a lot of detail, about their fond memories of sixth grade. Finally one of the group said “I don’t remember anything from sixth grade.” Almost in unison the rest responded “That’s because you didn’t have Mr. Haney!”

My time in the classroom ended after filling in for a teacher on maternity leave, my last educational honor came in the form of a handmade card, addressed to Mr. Haney-“SUB.” It read:

Mr. hainy you are the coolest teacher in the school. even though you are only

a sub and your funny & also play your guitar which I never seen a teacher do!

Peqwas

I don’t anticipate ever running out of my retired teacher benefits; this

is just a sample of the highlights- MJH