tgif...

it's been a difficult week. i have a student i worry will hurt me, and i have a student i worry will hurt herself. i had to call both their parents on wednesday.
one of my seniors has anger-management issues....major ones. he's threatened both teachers and students, and explodes at least once a day in my class. he hasn't threatened me verbally yet, but he's made me very nervous on several occasions. this boy is a very good student, but he's very lazy. he takes lower-tracked classes so he doesn't have to work as hard. it's his choice; however, he picks on the other students, treating them with a total lack of respect because they aren't on the same level as he is, and he is also bored in my class. we don't move at a fast enough speed for him. i've asked him several times to keep his comments to himself, and i'm to the point where he doesn't get a warning. when he is disrespectful, he has to leave the classroom until he cools off, and he can't come back in until he apologizes to the other student. wednesday things really got bad when he decided to sleep while i was giving background information to the tempest. he decided he already knew everything, so he put his head down. i asked him several times to keep his head up and at least humor me by paying attention, but from what i gathered he was passive aggressively disrespecting me. after about five times of asking him to keep his head up, i gave up, but when the rest off the class left, i said to him, "please don't sleep in class anymore. it makes me feel really disrespected." he glared at me. so i told him, "m, i know you're too bright for this class, and you feel like you don't need to pay attention to me. next time you plan to sleep through class, don't even bother coming because i don't want to be disrespected that way again." he glared at me, slammed his notebook shut, and walked out. i've never gotten such a hateful glare from a student...and i had a kid throw a desk at me he was so angry with me...so, i wrote him a detention, and i called his parents to let them know what is going on. they seemed supportive; however, what i got from them is "that's the way he's always been, so deal with it"...we'll see.
the next phone call was a bit more difficult. i have a girl i worry about. she's having a really bad time at home and at school. and i had to call her dad to try to figure out what i can do to help. i really like this girl, and i'm genuinely concerned about her, which made the phone call that much harder. even as i sit here typing, i want to cry for this kid again...she's just sweet, a good kid, and i'm at the end of my rope. talked to her dad, and he's feeling the same way. i still don't know what to do, and she hasn't been in class since the phone call. i want to call home to find out if she's okay, but i don't want to overstep that invisible line...
and to top it all off, this whole school stress is making me real life frazzled, and i'm taking it out on people i care about. i haven't been the easiest to deal with in the past week. i've been an emotional wreck...one minute crying, the next minute being angry, and the next needing a hug. this whole first-year thing is hard.
i have the weekend to re-group and catch up...and de-schoolify myself.