i cried in front of my children for the first time today. that man came by to yell at me for giving a pass to a student (after allowing the student to stay in here during 7th period - not when i'm supposed to see him), and the student was with him, and he was so upset. "don't be mad at her. it was my fault. please don't be mad at her" it was very upsetting to both of us, even though neither of us really got in trouble (we both got warnings). i walked into my class and promptly started crying - quietly, in the corner, with my back turned to them. however, the children are damned smart, and they figured it out pretty quickly. i've never been able to get my room to be as quiet as they got as quickly as they got there. they got pissed at the principal. "man, he does these teachers wrong!" "you shouldn't take that!" "are you okay?" - all followed by hugs. i didn't say anything against him at all, but i couldn't stop the tears. it took another 10 minutes to pull myself together to the point where i could talk to the students in a full, strong voice. i don't care what they say about professionalism and being strong in front of the students. sometimes you can't help being human. at least THEY didn't make me cry. but again, i love the students. could do without the administration.