This is by far the hardest group of children to work with. They have developed their own ideas of what they want to do at this point and are becoming more and more headstrong. Their behavior is more intentional, they may try to hurt you just for kicks. They are at an age where they are trying to exert their independence, and they are reaching an age where they want to test borders again, show that they are adults. Add to that the frustration of seeing children not working up to their potentials, being unable to reach kids who are gifted and won't acknowledge it, or who are going down a path that they could resist. It can be very frustrating to work with this age group.

The way to survive as a depressed individual is to keep parts of your life separate. The part of your life that is in school cannot affect your home life. What happens in school needs to stay in school. It has also been my experience that you want to try and a

void anything particularly hard on Fridays. If you have a student who is in trouble and it can be dealt with on Monday, hold it until then. If you fail on Friday you will carry that with you the entire weekend.

Accept that the students are what they are, and move on. Do your job as best you can. You will reach some kids, and others might not be reached, which is unfortunate. But you can make a difference if you let yourself. And you will help more children than you realize. It's that thought that keeps me going. I hope it works for you as well.

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