I finally did it. I apologised, in front of the whole class.
What on earth am I talking about? On Friday, I lost my temper with a child who is not only a misogynist, but is one of the laziest kids I've had to teach. After a series of failures to follow instructions, this kid got into an argument with one of the other kids in the class and called her 'stupid'. It was at that point that I lost my temper, and replied that the only stupid person in the class was him.
Not one of my better moments, I admit. No excuses for my behaviour. I'm the adult, I'm supposed to be able to keep my temper at all times and manage these situations better.
Since then, I've been working my way up to apologising. I figured that since I made the comment in public, I needed to apologise in public. It was hard, but not as hard as I thought it would be.
Fortunately, as I was talking to a colleague about plucking up the courage, she told me about her blooper. On Sunday, while driving home after a day of lectures, and in a rush because of imminent visitors, she nearly got trapped in the wrong lane by someone she thought was just being a road bully. When she finally managed to negotiate herself into the correct lane, she flashed the other driver, and then pulled a zap sign.
Well... yesterday, as she arrived at school, she was greeted by some of the prefects who suggested she might need a road rage intervention. Turns out the driver and passengers of the other car were these prefects - model pupils! - who had slowed down to wave and say hello to her. Hearing her story made me feel better about my situation.
The moral of the story? Teachers are human too!
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