This is why I love my friends

Before I get into why my day sucked (or at least had a really bad moment), I need to impart how great my friends are. In response to my, "I had a bad day, leave me a note," I got the following messages:

1) Sorry your day was bad.
2) Hope your day improves.
3) I love you and hope your day gets better.
4) I love you.
5) I love you like ridiculous amounts. And also, to cheer you up, just think that Marquette's mascot was "gold"... gold diggers, solid gold, oh the fun statements are endless.

Its the little stuff like that that helps me to feel like I can make it through the day. Thanks guys.

In all actuality, my day was great for the most part. I did very well in all my classes, but Streetlaw is where I came up on my problem. I dont think I have written about Streetlaw yet, but the long story short is that I teach a 10th grade class about legal issues. I was paired with an older student (in his forties) from the UofM here, who spent the first few weeks shoving his ultra-conservative viewpoints down my throat. Anyway, after trying to diplomatically remedy that situation, and feeling like we finally had a good week with the rather rambunctious group of students we teach, my partner bailed on me about half hour before the class.

Well, thanks again to the support of my wonderful friends, I was able to throw together a last minute lesson plan, and another friend came to teach with me. Things were going decently until one girl interrupted my teaching to stand up and begin a conversation at the front of the classroom with another girl. Here's what unfolded:

Me: Would you mind sitting down for me?
Her: Whatever.
Me: Seriously, please go sit down.
Her: You can't tell me what to do.
Me: SIT DOWN!
Her: You cant talk to me like Im a dog.
Me: Apparently not, because dogs obey.

Yeah. I lost it. That was a totally disrespectful way to try and remedy the situation. I owe this girl an apology for not being the adult. But here's the thing: I should NEVER have been in that situation in the first place. This class is out of control, and the teacher does nothing to try and help us. I am not there to learn how to teach. I have no desire to discipline these guys.

My father, who feels strongly that I need to find a new classroom, pointed out that if this teacher cant control his own classroom, how should I expect to do so? He also mentioned that when I was in highschool, I took almost exclusively AP, Honors or AT courses with the only exceptions being choir, spanish, and newspaper, which were all very high-end electives. This is a gen ed at an intercity school. My expectations might be a bit high. But even so, this has just been so extremely painful so far. My partner is a schmuck, my teacher is unwilling to assert himself, my classroom is out of control, and I am miserable.

The "What now?" question keeps running through my head. Do I give up just because this sucks, and is the hardest thing I have had to do in a while? Reminds me of my relationship with (Mitchell). Do I give up just because it is hard? If I face a future of unfullfillment and frustration, as I did with (Mitchell), then it is time to walk away. But I dont want to be the guy that walks out on a class, a partner and a program. So.... What now?