Miss Corissa wedged between two fists

I stopped a real fist fight at my school today between two of my 8th grade students. The bell had just rung to signal the ending of "recreo", our 30 minute break, when I came across the boys. I witnessed another professor in the process of calming the two down. The teacher left a second later to go get "back up" or grab the "inspector" (guy that handles discipline) to deal with the two. At this moment, the two went at it again.

All of my students in this period were returning from break and were in the hall spectating the fight, yelling and encouraging. In a split second i realized, "hey I'm their teacher. I must intervene..and save the day!" I can be the "peace-maker!" My heart began to pump at an abnormally fast speed and i jumped in between the boys.

"Nada mas!" "Que paso con Uds?" "Tu vaya a la oficina" ...."Estas bien?"

I broke them up, sent them to cool off, and then comforted them like a mother.

The best part about this exciting event was that the boys returned to my class 30 minutes later (after they received a stern talking-to by the inspector), ...my class was in the middle of learning the lyrics to "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. We were all belting out the lyrics. How ironic to find the two belligerent boys singing such a romantic song, so soon after their fight. They both left my class calm. However, i think they were sent home soon afterwards.

I am happy that the students respected me enough to stop fighting when I stepped in between them. I realized that I am a much bigger role model for these students than I imagined. I don't only teach English, I also teach about things such as openness, esteem, and humor; friendship, peace and love.

My Chilean students come from broken homes and need to be loved. Just like the students I've taught in the States.