Patience of Job

I have been told that I have the patience of Job. For some reason, God bestowed upon me the virtue of patience. There are may days where I wonder to myself, "Self, why do you put up with all that you put up with?"

As I am sure you are aware, there is no perfect class of children. For that matter, there is no such thing as the perfect child. Sure you have the ones you love. Like the boy who writes his name on his paper and then follows it with the statement: Name loves marshmellows. Or the boy who hugs me everyday when he leaves (he is the only boy who does this, all others simply high five). Or the girl who knows about football (hey, she knows what team C.J. Spiller plays for). But every class has one or two children that can just change the entire mood of the whole room when they are there.

Today I hit my limit with two of my children. The teacher that co-teaches with me looked and me and said, "I can't believe that you have put up with all that you have?" Now my question is why. Why do I tolerate the child that does not write a thing in writing, even when consequences are present? Why do I reward the child who can sit still for five minutes, but the other twenty couldn't stay in his seat? Why do I let the child who has no self control (and this is true... I am not exaggerating here) stay in my room when they are bothering all the other students and myself?

I think I may have come up with the answer on my way home tonight...it's because of the patience. I tolerate it because I can. I can handle the craziness. I can handle the talking back. I can ignore the behavior. The one thing I have to remember... I am not the only person in my classroom. The other students in my room don't have the same coping skills and patience that I have. So I have to ask... is it fair to tolerate disruptive behavior? I have come to the conclusion that it is not. Therefore... I sit here with a new attitude and outlook. I will not tolerate tomfoolery at the cost of my other students. I will put my foot down (gently mind you, after the broken ankle we don't need any unnecessary roughness) and give the other students the gift of learning.