Need I say more?

I think this photo might sum up the kind of day I've had today. I don't know if there is a measuring stick long enough to measure how hard it can be to be a relief teacher (substitute teacher).

At the start, the class eye you with suspicion and then there is a quiet calm as they lull you into the belief that this might actually be a 'good class'. What is really happening is they are using their super human child brains to size you up, calculate your weaknesses and ready themselves for the pounce. The pounce is a strange chain reaction sequence that begins its ripple affect slowly at first, and then bam, they all start popping like kernels in a fry pan. One after the other, their true colours show as they begin attacking from all sides. You are thrown off your game. Your cool is going, in fact a nuclear disaster is in the making.

That's when the threats begin. You scramble to remember the names of the naughty ones and forget about the rest. Names go on the board. Bribes are promised for good behaviour which end up being a royal waste of breath. You just pray a sigh of relief that the principal walks past in rare moment of peace and quiet before the bedlam breaks out again.

By the end of the day, you get the out right "you can't tell me what to do!" You find yourself ready to wave the white flag. "Somebody rescue me!" The bell rings. Ahhh, you walk out. Smell the freedom in the air. Promise you will NEVER return to 'this' school, but yet another day and another dollar or so away, it begins again.