I might as well draw a target on my back

I have worked on talking less in my classes, and it has yielded results, although it will still be a focus throughout the year. The biggest problem I've encountered is time with my back to the students. This has occurred mostly through too much talking, not pre-writing my notes for the overhead projector, and bad positioning when I help students in independent practice. I was in shock at the amount of time one student was lip-sinking to others behind my back when I recorded one of my lessons. Although the second class showed marked improvement, it still wasn't at the level I need when I enter a classroom of 30 seniors that don't need my class to graduate. I need to become more vigilant in class and have less blind spots in general. When I do see things happen in my class I need to react without hesitation, and crack things down immediately. Summer school has made me mildly hesitant to do this because of its strict expulsion policy. Some students would have been out during the first week if we stuck to our enforcement. During the year I need to dole out the appropriate punishment and just stick to my guns. I argued with one student during the summer about her detention, and while I knew I was right, and I think somewhere she knew I was right, as Chris Rock says, " She's not in it to be right, she's in it for length and irritability". I enjoy arguing, I can do so and normally win when there is a logical answer because I use empirical evidence, and if I lose to a superior argument, I can concede without feeling dejected. That is my achilles heel in this situation, empirical evidence and whose right is irrelevant, only talking and frustration and the attempt to just make it not worth it to the teacher to argue anymore are the goal of the injured party. They wish to fight a war of attrition, and they have won many because many teachers leave, but what they don't realize, is I don't have anything else to do, and I don't really feel the need to go anywhere else. Plus I really like teaching. So I need to minimize my target area, steel my skin, and make sure I'm prepared to remove all roadblocks toward my target objective, teaching kids about bugs and graphing.