Stuck in a rut

This really has to stop. I can't do it anymore. I can't continue to feel like I'm trying to be taken advantage of every day. I can't feel like I'm short-changing them at the end of every day. I can't feel overwhelmed because I'm getting great ideas but don't know how to work them into my lessons. And it's probably all because it's February... the official half-way mark of the school year. They have one foot in elementary school and one foot in jr. high. They think they're in jr. high already and are so over elementary school. But guess what? They're still in elementary school. They're still in my class. And I still have to deal with them. But I'm about to rip some of their faces off. Literally.

They keep lying. They keep being lazy. They keep not paying attention.....I guess they keep being 12 year olds. But they need to stop!!! It's driving me mad.

And my teaching has been affected by all of this. Their laziness is rubbing off on me. I've lost my drive to want to teach them to the best of my ability. I try new things and I get discouraged when they don't respond how I want them to. I taught a lesson today in math with manipulatives and although I feel like they understood algebra more than any other class I've had, I still feel like they were bored. It's like nothing is making me happy about my teaching right now. And I'm blaming them. But is it really them? Or is it something that I have to change?

I don't know. I'm lost for words. I'm lost for an answer. I'm hoping that these two consecutive Mondays off will let me sit back and digest some of this. I just need a change. Not in my job... I love it, I really do. But I'm just so frustrated with it right now. I need something that will make me enjoy some of those kids that I'm having a really hard time dealing with every day. I think I need a summer vacation.