Keeping Calm All Day

I've been doing well with self-control this month, if I do say so myself. I've felt more put together, less upset and haven't really lost my temper. I feel good about where I am. I feel like I'm really making a positive change in my teaching towards being more student centered and more controlled. I'm proud of myself and the work I've done It is nice to feel that way.

There is one more thing I want to work on and that is keeping my composure until the end of the day. I lose my cool more often in my last period than I do in other classes. While my students are gearing up for the end of the day and their energy is high, I'm winding down from a day of teaching and don't have as much energy. So they are chatty and my fuse is shorter. They don't do anything particularly wrong; I have bigger problems with behavior in other classes. They are probably my most creative class. But they are chatty and I lose my patience with them faster than I probably should. It is not fair to them that I get more upset because it is near the end of the day. I don't yell at them but I get sharp with them and enforce rules more strictly than I do in other classes. I want my last period to get the same kind of treatment as my other classes.

I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm trying to make sure I eat during the day so my blood sugar doesn't drop. I have a bad habit of not eating until I get home, which doesn't work for so many reasons. My prep period is right before my last period so I try to use that time to decompress. But neither of those things feel like enough. So this week I really want to focus on carrying my mood through to the end of the day. Maybe I'll have a brain wave how to do that at some point.