Emotional Roller Coaster

This past week at Suburban High was a roller coaster of emotions. I ran the gamut from happy and elated, to frustration and anger, back to happy again. All, of course, mixed in with exhaustion. I desperately need a full nights sleep! The worst part of my week came with the summative assessment quiz I gave to my students. There is a strict no-cheating policy and I warned my kids before the quiz not to cheat, yet I caught a student red-handed! I was so aggravated, and weirdly, my feelings were hurt more than anything, and I am not sure I understand that emotion exactly. I took the paper up, called home, and did a referral and the final grade for the quiz will be a zero. The problem is I am not sure that any or all of that really made a difference. I was so burnt out by the episode and the behavior in my classes that I just came home and went to bed at 5 o’clock. Sad, right? Is this a normal emotion for a teacher? However, it’s just as I have been known to say, the worst day of teaching still beats the best day of working retail!