Terrible, Awful, No-Good, Very Bad Day

Ever have one of those days that you just woke up on the WAY wrong side of the bed? Yes, Friday was one of those days for me. Everyone that crossed my path or made eye contact with me was on my list. I honestly had no reason for my piss poor attitude.

My mother has always told me to choose joy, and this was one of those days that I openly bashed down that option. I just didn’t want to. Yes, it was bad decision making on my part, but sometimes I just have to ride my bad attitude out. I definitely wasn’t the lone wolf in choosing to opt out of a joyous day. It seemed as if a looming rain cloud was suffocating the staff and teachers. Nearly everyone was ready to take on a boxing match with everyone. This definitely proves that misery thrives on company.

My impatience and lack of tolerance got the best of me in the afternoon. One of my students was obnoxious, scaling to a whole new realm of annoying. He was throwing kids’ shoes in the rafters, running around like a mad man, and terrorizing the music teacher. We tried talking to him, having him stay in for break time, and a number of other mechanisms. Nothing worked. Halfway through the class I had him sit under my desk. Still, he was laughing and screeching and thrashing his legs out from under the desk.

I looked at him and asked him to stop and he refused. Then I made a deal with the classroom management devil. I crossed over to the dark side and did something that was against all my teaching beliefs. I bribed him with candy (despite his bad behavior) with candy if he would be quiet. For an hour I passed him candy and was able to get peace – FINALLY. Budi laughed and admitted he’d do the same thing if he had candy. The kids was driving everyone bonkers.

As I write this and look back on Friday, I realize my poor judgment (even despite the laughter that consumes me as I think of all the funny misfortunate things that occurred in the classroom that day). I would be lying if I said that I wish I could take that day back. Yes, it was not the best day I’ve ever been through, but I learned that an attitude like that can be miserable and cause uncontrollable mayhem in the classroom. Every day is a learning experience – and this particular day I learned a lot.