Time to Nap.

I was so close to losing it with a student today. I felt the anger rise up to my face and I got all red and hot. Why? While his classmates were giving speeches, he had his phone out. He saw me see him with his phone. He put his phone away and denied he even has a phone when I told him I needed to bag and tag it. What scared me was how angry I became simply because a student was being defiant. This was the first time I had to deal with a directly defiant student and I just felt so flustered. My goal was not to win. My goal in dealing with defiant students in the future is not to fight until I win. It seemed pointless, but I still felt like I needed to make a point.

To top it off, though, this is a student who has been doing very little work in the classroom. It's scary to think how easy it would be to give up and let him fail with no intervention. I'm ready to take a nap though - I had a great day and this one situation just wore me out. It's nice to know this is a dilemma veteran teachers face too. I think they just know how to not let it follow them home better.