I was one of these kids! Nobody understood why I couldn't listen, and from grade 5 to 7 especially I was locked in rooms and constantly asked to fill out behavior reports on myself.

The strangest thing to me is what it was like being in the 'behavior room', because I could see how I didn't relate to other kids who misbehaved. From my perspective they all had obvious mental issues, but then I'd ask myself how I ended up in the same place. . I was there for intense belligerence, to the point where I suppose teachers thought I had a disability.

This teacher I had in grade 7 changed my life, but not in a good way. He was a unique teacher, in that he was a body builder and a younger male. This guy would always single me out and make me leave the classroom or make me the butt of a joke in the class. One problem after the next all year with this guy.

One day my school banned Pokemon cards from the premise, but I didn't care, I had a fat stack in my locker. This teacher walked past me as I had my locker open, and he reached in and grabbed my Pokemon cards to confiscate them. This was the first moment in time I chose to threaten a teacher with physical harm, and he was stunned. First of all he had probably 200 lbs of muscle on me, I was just a kid in grade 7, but I distinctly remember threatening to punch him in the face if he didn't return my cards. When he began to walk towards me, I doubled down, I threatened to hurt him if he touched me, and I had caught the attention of all my peers in the hallway. I was the 'hilarious' belligerent kid who suddenly went to the dark side.

Everything was different in this moment afterwards for many reasons. The teacher refused to ever let me back into his classroom for good, so the issue spiraled out to involve my mother and the school principal. It was finally in this moment when my mother and principal were listening to me that they could perceive that this teacher was bullying me. I was like a little lawyer, pointing out that daily he removed me from the classroom, often times without a behavioral report to back it up. I had a few of my friends testify that the teacher singled me out in class frequently. I mentioned how he entered into my locker and stole from me without hesitation, and finally I doubled down on all my actions showing no remorse. He would return my Pokemon cards or be punched in the face, no exceptions. I don't think they saw a violent person, but instead someone who had completely became determined to control his own environment.

I seemed to have prevailed, I was allowed back into class. . the teacher was basically neutered now and left me alone. However everything was actually worse, I had no ability to sit through an entire class and understand its structure because I was never properly taught how to do that. I ended up failing everything while the teacher just watched and let it happen. He 180'd on me, he completely neglected me now.

The cherry on top is to come. After being leveled with about my performance in school, I had this final book report of great importance. Well this clown of a teacher right away accuses me of not reading this book, so he opens it up and flips to a few random pages and asks me some questions. Surprise surprise he nailed me with a gotcha question, to which I responded by making eye contact and forming a fist. That was the last time I ever interacted with him, and he was never seen at the school again the following years.

I went through life never resorting to these tactics again.

I'm 30 years old now, but still to this day when someone is being willfully dense with me or trolling me, they can see in my facial expression it isn't going to get them very far. I have this prickly edge to me that never went away.

Am I an educator today? In many ways, but I'm not a teacher! I always find who needs help the most, and I focus on them. I'm not phased by threats or belligerence or truancy because I recognize they are pieces of utility kids will use to try and control the environment they're in, which is the most natural thing in the world. I would honestly be more concerned for the kid who can't stand up for themselves than the kid who breaks all the rules.

Thanks for being a great teacher, the world needs ya : D
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