I get it because I have been there.  Fire drills were the worst.  The kids ran and screamed.  Hall behavior?  Oh, my!  At first I tried to control the kids, but I soon realized that if the administrators weren't going to support me, I was losing my voice for no reason.  If I sent anyone to the office, they usually came back after a "talk?" with a smile.

Let me just comment:...Do you have students running around your room trying to stab someone?  Talk about an inmate running the asylum!!!  It only took me 4 months to get him placed somewhere else.

Sorry about that...I used to teach Middle School and I loved it.  But, I do know exactly what you mean.  We used to give out tickets for breaking the rules and I had one boy set a worlds record for 483 tickets in one semister.  Mostly chewing gum and the like but he did end up in jail a few years later.

yeah, it's of no purpose to send them to the office unless they break a major school policy---i think i have written 5 referrals all year and 3 of them were for the same student.

and while they weren't running around with the scissors trying to stab anyone, just holding the scissors against each other's necks, leading to getting plastic safety scissors that only that one 8th grade class uses.

i had a kid spit out gum 3 separate times today. trying to get a hold of mom. just found out 2 students from last year who changed schools are in lockup for some serious vanalism of their 2 schools.

it seems like a trivial way to get in trouble, but the constant disregard for authority w/the gum does indicate his jail time.

i love my job. i am truly doing *well* where i am and i love my kids.

knowing that i am in the right place at the right time and having been led by God to my current teaching position makes the situation much much more bearable. also, i would rather have my current admin than some i have heard of who feel the need to micormanage.