This has been a very difficult week for me already. I have had to write up 2 students and I had to give a student a zero on an assignment because the student plagiarized Wikipedia. It was a very difficult situation for me and, obviously, the situation contained many firsts for me. When I talked to the student today, he told me that my class was an elective and wasn’t important. The student told me that he didn’t have to listen to me and walked away from me. It really took a lot out of me emotionally; hearing a student tell me that the subject matter about which I harbor a great passion is unimportant and the complete lack of respect I was just shown. I took a deep breath and walked back into my classroom. I had to work hard not to hang my head or let the students know how upset I was.  That really wasn’t what I signed up for when I decided to become a teacher. It was a really difficult class period to get through. I tried to hide my emotions and I hope I succeeded. I was relieved and still quite upset when the class was finally over. I was wondering how I was even going to face my next class.

Then the students from my next class began walking into the classroom. They each had smiles on their faces. As they walked into the classroom they said, “Hey Ms. Groover!” or “Hi Ms. Groover!” It began to turn my day around. For the past few days, we have been learning about how people in public safety manage crises and emergency situations. In order to see what they have learned, the students in the class were assigned groups and were required to create a Crisis and Emergency Plan for certain large events throughout Georgia. Today was the day that they were to present. I was worried that my emotions were going to distract me from giving my students my fullest attention. But when the first group walked up, I saw that they were all dressed in professional attire (something that I taught them during the beginning of the year and not a requirement for the presentations) and were excited to begin their presentation. I began glowing inside with pride. The group began presenting and I was immediately impressed. They had notecards and spoke professionally. It was clear that they had learned a lot from me already this year and had practiced their presentation thoroughly. They captured my fullest attention and made me forget about my negative experience from the period before.
 
My students made me realize that while there may be one student who thinks my class is unimportant, there are another 50 students who eagerly anticipate coming to my class and learning from me. They greet me with a smile and make me remember why I became a teacher in the first place.