I don’t think anyone ever said that being a teacher is an easy job. This week I had a situation that reminded me of one reason why this is hard. As teachers, it goes far beyond the content. I not only have to make sure these bright stars are learning, but that they are shining emotionally and morally as well.

I had an unfortunate interaction with a student this week as well. So here is what happened: My cooperating teacher was in a meeting at the end of the day so I had to handle the situation entirely alone. We  started the positive behavior incentive chart with Isaiah last week. Since he did so well last week, my coop had a conversation with him informing him now in order to get a prize, he has to have two awesome days in a row. It was the end of the day on Thursday and the students were getting the papers from their mailboxes and gathering their coats, backpacks, and lunches from their lockers. Isaiah came up to me inquiring about his prize from yesterday and the current day. I explained t him and showed him since he did not get a star in the morning since he had a breakdown during writing, he did not get a star for the “AM”, so no prize for that day. Then, I showed him that he got all stars for today and praised him for that. However, he was confused and frustrated why he didn’t get a prize for today. I reminded him about the conversation my cooperating had with him about how now he needs to get two days in a row with all stars. He relayed his exasperation and it was evident he was frustrated.  I explained that I was unsure and he can take the prize from last week he had in his hand and we’d ask Melissa tomorrow. He started crying, saying negative statements such as, “this is stupid,” and “I don’t even want to do this anymore”, and threw the prize he had back in the bin. He said he didn’t want to come back to school, which broke my heart. I felt awful and even contemplated calling his guardian, forewarning her that he was upset when we left school and explain the situation. Sometimes though, I have to remind myself that even if they are upset, the students know how much I care about them. However, it is always going to be hard to see the lovelies I care about be upset!