angry

sometimes I take pictures of my students at recess when they're "solving their problems" 

Teaching can really bring out the worst in you sometimes.

This past week, I have been inwardly rejoicing at the progress my students have made - particularly in regards to their behavior. The battles have begun to rapidly decrease. The hitting, fighting, and name-calling that were all-too-common at the beginning of the year, have seemed almost non-existent this past week.

In fact, today as I walked by a neighboring class's students as they were "solving a problem" (i.e., fighting), I pridefully thought to myself, "I'm so glad my students are way past that."

Oh friends....if I only knew what the morning held, I would have never have thought that.

In just a matter of moments, my students were hitting, crying, kicking, name-calling, defacing school property….all in the short span of one morning. 

I wish I could say it was my fault (since it can often be traced back to me and my need to plan better, use a different teaching method, etc.)….but today, my kiddos were really just on a mean streak. 

Which led to an impromptu “How-to-stay-calm-when-you’re-angry” lesson after our morning snack time. 

“EK friends, what should you do when you’re angry? Do you hit your friends?"

"No!" They shook their heads. 

"Do you say mean things to your friends?"

"No, absolutely not!" Some of them even made our universal "no" hand signal.
"Right. So what should you do?”  I asked my kiddos. 

“Stay calm.” They all replied in unison. (Apparently we had discussed this before. :). 

“Okay, what else?”

“Count to 10.” A student shouted out. 

“Take a deep breath!” Another responded. 

“Good! What else?” I prodded.

Silence. 

It was at this moment, that I realized that I had never talked about anything else they could do…..which meant I needed to come up with another method to teach them on the spot. 

And so, I told them the first thing that came to my head….

"Do you know what Teacher R* does when she’s angry?"

They shook their head. (Some of them - bless their hearts - had a look of shock like they couldn’t imagine me angry, haha). 

“She prays. When Teacher R* gets angry she will pray and ask God to help her not to get angry.” 

This led to a few looks of disbelief on their faces. and emitted a few giggles by others. But as I shared a recent story about a time I was angry and prayed (and by recent, I mean like from two minutes before), I could see it dawn on them that I was serious. I really do pray when I’m angry.  A few responded and were eager to share about how they’ve noticed me pray at lunch. In all, the kiddos just loved this new piece of information…(some even proceeded to pretend like they were meditating on the floor?! - not quite the same thing, I’m afraid).

And yet, despite how lovely it sounded to share that with my kids…..I wonder if Satan heard that and decided to test my resolution to pray and stay calm the rest of the morning….because their crazy behavior only got worse as the morning progressed. 

But despite a broken shoe, two bathroom fights, and many more “problem solving sessions,” we made it through the morning, and I pray that He is using each of these battles to mature, discipline, and develop these little ones - and me! -  into the men and women He desires us all to be.