It was the work of the solar eclipse

It started off with a lovely morning.
A tall glass of orange juice and chicken sandwiches. Primetime morning and a walk in the lovely morning drizzle.
It started off with a lovely morning.

Teenagers will not always be teenagers. Boys will not always be boys.
Ill-mannered teens become ill-mannered adults and rude boys become assholes.
Notice, they are not in the same category as ill-mannered adults.

I started off my class with saying that I wanted very much to let them off early for recess, as an apology for inadvertently cutting into their recess time in the last two weeks.
A couple of boys shot eraser bits at me and then told me I was bad-tempered.
Mind you, I didn't yell at the them or tell them off for shooting stuff at me. I just got them to apologize.

How can i possibly be bad-tempered if I started off the class saying that I'd like to let them off early AND did not get pissed off when I had stuff shot at me?
It amazes me that they can shout to my face and tell me I am bad tempered, following the heels of "Hey guys, wanted to let you off early for recess today. How's that sound?"
Blimey.

Then another bloke. Always cracking jokes. Jokes that are not funny in the very least.
me: There's a random insignificant chicken throughout the Transformers movie. Would you put it into your frozen picture?
boy: yes. to give the transformer eat.
me: i'm sorry, i somehow fail to find that funny.
boy: to gib the transformer eat chicken rice.

once, twice, fuck, five times I can take.
Every single lesson? For every single question I ask?
There's a limit to how many times you can milk a joke.
A joke that was a complete and utter fail to begin with!

Now, I know more than anything, what it's like to have teachers who are mean to you.
Who bully you and who treat you like dirt.
But if I've only been nice and tried to be nice from Day 1, then I will not stand to be walked all over by children who have neither a sense of respect or courtesy.

I love my job. I love teaching drama and public speaking and debate.
But I am not a good teacher. I am not like that fantastic math teacher that inspires us to become a teacher when we grow up.
I AM NOT INSPIRING.

I am passionate about drama and all the rest of it, and I want to teach you and be nice to you and be a part of a happy memory you will keep of your secondary school days.
But so help me God, I will not grill you and force it down your throat. I will go the extra mile to work with you on your project or your script.
But I will not inspire you.
I am not meant to inspire.

In other words, my friend, with exceptions to all drama students, public speaking students as well as debate students, in particular reference to those couple of students in a particular class,
I do not, repeat, do not, give two hoots if you fail.
Whether you pass or fail, it does not affect me. Especially if you're the only ones who fail and the rest of your class passes.
It does not affect me if you hate me (today was the first and last time I will let it affect me) and if you want to be difficult. Because at the end of the day, I'm the one with a life. I'm the one who walks into your school later than you and leaves earlier. I'm the one who gets to step out and have a smoke and a glass of port.
Nothing changes that.
I pop into your school, get pissed off, go to another school where students OF THE EXACT SAME AGE are more willing to learn and I teach them. I pass on knowledge that helps them score during the assessment.

Good teachers inspire. Yeah, I know. But I am not a good teacher.
I have a hoard of information, and if you want to tap into that, I'd love to share it with you.
In fact, I want to share so much with you.
But you know what?
I am thoroughly sick and tired of little brats who think they know best. Who crack stupid jokes continuously, over and over and over again. Who underappreciate and run off without a Thank You.

For the sake of the handful that listen, I'm going to keep trying to make my lessons interesting. But you know, if you don't want to get anything out of it, I'm going to be completely fine.
In the last ten or so minutes of our lesson, you were kind of nice and attentive. But clearly, it can't affect me if you're not like that every single time.

Yes, we all wish that we had eager and passionate students.
But more often than not, we don't.
We still need to deal with it. I still need to deal with it.
I'm just amazed at how it can affect me.

The Broadrick kids and the TKSS kids, they still make me smile when I think about them.
If I keep remembering, I'm going to hold on for a lot longer than I think I can.