Teaching 4th Grade

Well I have officially been teaching my own 4th grade class for about a month(I'm technically a long-term substitute, but I have all the responsibilities of being a full time teacher minus the pay). I have to say that it is harder than I expected. Most of you already know this, but on the first day I had a kid run away and pass on the message that he was "f***ing tired of me already." How can he be tired of me...I had only been there for 2 hours before this happened. Things seemed to have been getting better in the next few weeks, but after Spring Break the craziness started up again. The same kid ran away again. I get a ton of disrespect with all the kids and have a hard time handling it because I've never encountered this before. I've been told that this is rough bunch of students and when I get a new group of students next year (that is if I get a job)that it most likely will not be like this. At the end of last week I was very discouraged with the whole situation and actually broke down and started crying...by the way this was in the middle of the day so I still had to teach for 3 more hours with puffy eyes and a red face. My kids kept asking "Why are you so red??" and "Were you crying?" I wasn't sure if I should tell them I had been crying to let them know that I am a real person or if I should put on my teacher face and say that I was fine, just a little hot. LOL

This morning God reminded me that we do not learn as much in the good times as we do in the difficult ones. This is the verse that came to mind:

Romans 5:3-5
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I'm so grateful God reminded me of this and I now feel I can get through the next 8 weeks of school. Thank you, Lord.