The Silver Lining

Things that frustrate me:
1) Head aches
2) That same student
3) Getting another e-mail from a parent expressing extreme concern that a particular student in my room (The Bad One) is bullying and threatening their child and all the red tape I have been wading through that DOES NOT allow my principal and I to simply send him away.
4) Stupid memory cards that say there are errors on them and not being able to access my kick ass Green Lantern Ring of Power pictures.
5) My dog chewing on a container of Cling Wrap. WHY? Because it is there.

The silver lining to all this? The fact that a different student in my room who has bee a problem off and on since 4th grade has done so well today. I can take all the above things and shove them out of my focus when I am able to assess this other kid and actually give him ALL his points on his behavior contract today. I grade him on three categories and he can earn between 1 and 4 "points" for each thing. Up until today he has never gotten any 4's in anything. He is always a level 3 or below on all. Today I gave him all 12 points and got to tell him how proud I was of him. He was more surprised than I thought he would be. But like I told him- he has been a model student practically all week, but today he was above and beyond! Seriously, it made me so happy to see him do so well that I wanted to cry AND I EVEN TOLD THE KID THAT! I sent him next door to his 4th grade teacher and she gave him a reward too!

I can't wait to talk to him tomorrow morning to hear about how proud his parents were. Now that takes everything above away and gives me hope that I really am making a difference despite The Really Bad Kid.