april 9, 2002.

Well. It got worse. The last period of the day was Lord-of-the-Flies-esque in terms of classroom management. Girl A was ruder than I've ever seen a student act: arguing, sighing, talking, smirking - all the move-to-power activities. What really precipitated the crash, however, was that I misplaced my transparency & lost my hold over the class for the entire second half. Afterwards I grabbed Girl A from her sniggering compatriots and had a little chat.

I worked really hard to keep things professional. I didn't dwell on how much it was hurting me, and I warned her that I would have to start enacting consequences. She was a total bitch queen, saying hateful things and smiling as if to ask what I would do about it.

She found out today.

I came in after a horrible night's sleep, unable to keep food in my body and dressed in black from head to toe. Talked about it to SuperTeacher and told her that I thought that I would have to kick out Girl A today. She recommended that I warn the vice-principal so that he would know what to deal with when I sent her down. When I tracked him down and gave him the story, he asked me to send her to the office before class. Which I did.

She came back humbled, tear-streaked and downtrodden. There were a few moments of smirking, but her tone was polite.

Truly did Machivelli say that it is desirable to be both loved and feared, but since it is usually not possible to be both, it is better to be feared.

We'll see how this plays out for the rest of the week.

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1 year ago today: cranky