wanting to strangle children....

Today I experienced a really dark side of being a teacher. People who are not teachers really do not fully understand just how difficult it is to be "on" for an entire day. In order to be an effective teacher you really need to project a calm, exciting attitude about learning in order to coax the most out of your students. I know at least with middle school students, it is impossible to bluff being in a good mood - if you are having an off day, they know it.

So I hope I do not shatter the image of teachers being super-human beings with these mythical powers of greatness but from time to time, we have off days and are just not in the mood to teach. As much as we love what we do, there are those days that when a student justs asks a simple, valid question, you just want to scream.

Today was one of those days for me.

I am happy to say these days are very few and far between but in the past when they have crept up, I have simply changed my pre-planned lesson and my kids have just done bookwork. But sadly today, I am right in the middle of a lab where they are learning a new concept and what they are doing is very meticulous requiring very precise calculations. The questions firing at me were non-stop and I had to physically remind myself with each one that they are simply trying to learn and were not wanting to drive me over the edge. The day definitely could not end soon enough for me or for my students but I found my answers were getting a lot more terse and sarcastic.

Thankfully the day is now over and I have to believe that tomorrow will be an awesome day where I will not be wanting to strangle any children. With out a doubt, I will fully apologize to all of my classes for my bad mood today and hopefully I have not squelched any of them from asking their questions because that really is what I live for.