Manic Monday (I wasn't manic)

So I show up at school with the usual routine, except I am drinking some coffee and I have a freshly shaven face. The kids show up at school with the usual routine, except a few are more chipper than usual after the thanksgiving break. So class starts going along with the usual routine, until the usual chatter from one student is directed at another who never, ever talks. And this student who never talks suddenly found her voice, and she is ready to fight. Next thing I know I am in the middle of a girl fight for a minute before the quiet girl throws a chair and storms out of the room. Weird, ten minutes later another student keeps talking and he needs to get sent to the office, not that weird...actually kind of normal.

And so I think the rest of the day is going to go normal. Class continues, students go to lunch, I eat my peanut butter with jelly and then print out some worksheets. I am on my way to class and then I walk out of the teacher break room and into a friggin bar fight. There is so much going on, I don't know who to restrain. My star basketball player is throwing all the punches, while the quiet kid who draws all the time is bleeding out of his neck. It seems the whole school is excited about having front row seats for this, and those who missed out get the play by play for 15 minuts once the spectators make it back to class.

The next class doesn't seem normal because the fight made such a disruption, it doesn't help that I really only had about half the time to teach it. Once it was over I went to the office to go see how the star basketball player was doing, I participated in a nice conflict mediation, watched the two guys shake hands and headed out of the assistant principals office ready for a normal afternoon.

In the lobby of the assistant principals office sat the principal, 2 instructional leaders, and my point guard who was in the middle of a serious temper tantrum. When told that this temper tantrum was going to result in a suspension he freaked out, punched a wall, yelled every profanity known to man and tried to escape. He went to the wrong door so he took his tirade into the assistant principal's office, where the two brawlers from this morning were having their suspensions explained to them. For a split second I feared a wwf kind of explosion of violence, but then my pg kept the tirade moving so he came back and started calling my principal an alcoholic. (which he may be?)

The weirdest part of the day is how it ended. I went down stairs for basketball and both of the kids were there and were acting like nothing had happened. Since I really didn't feel like confrontation I said they could stay. Practice went completely normal, although the point guard kept insisting that the principal is a "fucking alcoholic", but that is kind of normal for him. No fights on the court or anything close. I also got out on the court and played, and my team killed them. As usual, I helped give the history teacher a jump and then I went home. I hope that this is not the start of how all or our normal days start to look.