Why Teachers Get Gray

By the end of the school day yesterday, I was so out of sorts that I figured I would snarl at anyone who crossed me. During 5th period, I heard an angry male voice in the hall, yelling. Turned out to be one of my colleagues reading the riot act to a couple of our youngsters whom he had banished to the hallway. My students, of course, were curious as to who was in trouble...and why. The boy of the duo--I'll call him "James"--was getting the worst of it. One of my kids asked, "I wonder what he did?" My response was, "If you ask him, I'll bet he'll say he didn't do anything at all." And sure enough...before the period was over...I heard him plying his plea with anyone who walked by: "I didn't do anything." Sure! (This only showed me that I'm not the only one experiencing problems!) *(Oops! Check the asterisks for paragraph breaks...again!) In my last post, I mentioned a lost textbook. The lit texts are brand new this year--and quite thick. I suspect they are $75-$80 books, so when one is lost, it's a big deal to a kid whose family will have to pay for it. This student's book has been missing for a couple of months. He had left it in the classroom and it just disappeared, thereafter. He (I'll call him "Craig") was convinced that another student ("Stan") had taken it just to make his life miserable because Stan harasses Craig all the time, under his breath. Just to accommodate Craig, I did a book check in all of my classes, where students had to produce their books and convince me that they had the ones that were assigned to them. We uncovered one mix-up, but not the missing one. I figured we'd have to wait until the end of the year to uncover the book. In the meantime, just this week, I issued Craig a new book--mentioning in class that he'd have to pay for a new one if the old one didn't show up. That very same class, Stan asked what would happen if a student paid for a lost book but then I found out that someone else had it. Interesting question! Today, sometime between 3rd and 5th period, the missing book mysteriously appeared on the counter in my room! Of course, Craig wants us to watch surveillance camera video to see if we can find out who had it...but I doubt if it would prove anything. Kids lie, you know? *Back to yesterday. During 7th period--last class of the day...and my worst--I put up with a chronic perpetrator of immature antics for awhile, then finally banished him to the hall. He has spent more time in the hall than he has in the classroom, but it hasn't improved his behavior. SO, when I heard him singing out there, I sent him to the office and called his parent. He is accusing me of picking on him. It might be true! I am less patient with him than with other misbehaving students because HIS misbehavior is constant attention-seeking immaturity...and correcting him has no effect. I feel sorry for his parents! *Thus, when I got home yesterday and Robin replied "Why should I?" when I asked to take her book to her room, I just about came unglued! With each passing day, I am more and more certain that retirement is the right decision for me. It isn't fair for the rest of the people in my personal life to get the brunt of my frustrations carrying over from school! *I felt a little better today re: the cold. I guess I'll live...darn it! *And speaking of cold, I am SO read for the weather to begin to take a change for the better. May the Force be with you all!