Going the way of Sun-zi

I had my hands full today. Hallim is usually my "good" school, but today, things really got out of hand. First, one of the second graders went up to my face and said "F-You" aloud in front of his peers and then ran off when I told him to come and allow me to explain why that is very rude. Second, two of the first grade class clowns became extremely disruptive and disrespectful while I was explaining the rules of a game.

In the first case, I made it clear that such behavior was unnaceptable. The students pleaded for me to just let it go, but I did that very thing last time this happened and that obviously didn't work. This time, I decided to be much more strict. I notified the second grade teachers and we hunted him down. I found him towards the end of lunch break and incidentally he was in the middle of being punished for another offense. When the teachers found out that he was also the "F-You" student, they were absolutely steamed and hauled him right to the teachers' office. The punishment has been decided and I will settle the matter along with the second grade teachers. They suggested a heavy penalty. However, I requested a much more lenient punishment since he usually is not a bad kid. Wonder if I'm being too soft here? We shall see.

In the second case, two of the first grade class clowns simply would not stop being disruptive despite repeated calls for them to be quiet. The rest of the class simply followed their example (incidentally, they regard one of them as their "boss") and it was total chaos. I got fed up with it all, cancelled the game, and just told them to sit quietly for the remainder of the class. After class, the two ankle-biters were outside mocking me in front of their friends. They continued to do so even when they noticed me present. I hauled both of them to the teachers' office. They didn't think I was serious until I brought them directly to their homeroom teacher. Now they're writing apology letters for disprespect.

It's said that when a duke presented the strategist Sunzi with the challenge of organizing the palace concubines with martial discipline, Sunzi chose to execute the lead concubine, who was the most disruptive of the bunch, to set an example. I don't like being strict and I'm probably coming off as a classroom despot, but in order to effectively show that blatant disrespect is not going to be tolerated, I'm going to have to show that I will not hesitate to use my authority. These hell-raisers drove my predecessor to tears and they seem to think that we foreign teachers won't exercise discipline - not going to happen with me. In these situations, I have to strike a balance between leniency and strictness. So far, they've only seen the "nice" side of me; time to show that I am fully capable of bearing fangs.

Still, these kids are far superior to the Gwi-il second graders and I do genuinely like them. I just need to show that there are still limits and there are things that I will tolerate and things that are unacceptable. The other teachers also have had problems today so it seems that this just isn't a good day.