Some Days

Today was one of those days where the whining starts before you're even in the door and just continues on a rapid descent. I was walking into my classroom when one of my students (Jamie) comes up and informs me that he is bleeding because another boy (Arthur) hit him in the face. Fantastic. This can only get better. I pull the two boys out of the room and ask them what happened. Jamie tells me (through vigorous demonstrations) that Arthur hit him hard. I ask Arthur if this is true and why he did it. He admits to it, but won't tell me why although he does tell that two other boys (Cary and Ryan) hit him after he hit Jamie. Oh good, now they're tag teaming each other.
I pull Ryan and Cary and ask them what happened. They tell me that they saw Arthur hit Jamie so they basically were defending him. I explained to them that this is not something we do, it's not okay and it's entirely unfair for two boys to beat up one. (that last point probably shouldn't have been made, but it was) They apologized and went back to class. I sent Jamie back to class to see if Arthur would tell me what was wrong and why he hit Jamie in the first place. He said he didn't know how to tell me in English so I called Miranda over and she translated for me.
Essentially when Arthur got to class Jamie asked him if something was wrong and said that he looked upset. Arthur took offense to this and hit him. I'm sure there was some underlying reason, but there was no time to figure it all out.
By the end of class I had another student crying. Each class period two different students are "little teachers." Their jobs are to pass out cards to the other well-behaving students during class. Today Leon was a little teacher, but he was not setting a good example. He wasn't listening, doing his work and was constantly playing with the cards and his things. Finally I just took the job away from him and kept him after class to finish his work. I talked to him about behaving in class and being a good example and had him crying by the time I let him go.
I'm so mean.
A redeeming point in my day happened during my next class. The class went well enough aside from over half the students not doing their homework correctly. At the end of class as we're finishing up and going over the homework one of the kids (his name is Rex) comes up to me and hands me a piece of paper. I unfold it and it's a peacock that he made at school. Instead of bringing it home to his parents he wanted me to have it. It made my day.