Feeling like a mother . . .

Every so often there comes a day when I feel like a motherless child. Kidding, when I feel like the mother of literally 85 children. One of those days when everyone is demanding my attention, when everyone can't live or function without me, where everyone is screaming at me at the same time! While this may seem like a wonderful ego boost, I would beg to differ. It is probably one of the most exhausting experiences I have as a teacher. This barrage of demands usually begins when the weather starts to warm up, when everyone is feeling like it's the end of school and when they simply cannot focus on one single thing for more than 20 seconds at a time. This also becomes the time of year when I feel like I spend more of my time in the hallway having "the talk" then I do actually teaching my class. I suppose it is simply par for the course when teaching 12 and 13 year olds, but it honestly just wears me out.