GREENSBORO, Ga. — School officials say a Georgia teacher has resigned after a high school student said she recorded him calling her “the dumbest girl I have ever met.”

Greene County School System Superintendent Chris Houston tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that teacher Cory Hunter resigned at a school board meeting Monday night. Houston said the teacher apologized for any “disruption” caused by the ordeal.

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She says Hunter replied, “I have been around for 37 years and clearly you are the dumbest girl I have ever met.” She says he added that her purpose in life will be to have sex and have babies.

Shaniaya Hunter was recording the lesson on a school-issued iPad.

The phones are always on. The IPADs are always on. I am not concerned about the teacher who just resigned. He needed to resign. That comment was too toxic for any educator to share in a school setting.

But I do want to reach out to new teachers to share some advice: Watch the jokes. Watch the dry humor especially. Watch how you phrase perfectly reasonable demands for students to pay attention. Especially watch anything you say when your temper begins to fray. Your words now can easily be taken out of context.

If you feel the pressure building and feel that you are about to explode, get a colleague to take your class while you pull yourself back from the edge.

Let’s be clear that almost every teacher in America has blown up at some class or another over the years. Teaching can be a highly stressful job. When students are not listening to our labor-intensive, carefully-planned lessons, we sometimes take their lack of attention and interest personally. We get angry.

Teachers had an advantage in the past. When they blew, no one recorded the incident word for word. Students might say, “Mr. Smith got really mad. He yelled at Shaniaya.” They might even add that he called Shaniaya dumb. But second-hand reports never have the weight that recordings do. Mr. Smith might have gotten a stern lecture on never calling students dumb. If enough students complained, he might even have been suspended briefly. He would probably have held onto his job, however. Memories fade and second-hand accounts lose drama and intensity in the telling. We used to accept a few streaks of human weakness in our teachers, too.

Eduhonesty: When you feel yourself slipping off the leash, go get help. I recommend making a reciprocal agreement with a colleague to share students who are creating problems and making it difficult for the class to learn. But if getting one or two students out of the room does not fix your rising temper, get yourself out of the room. Create an agreement to briefly swap classes with another teacher when needed.

However you manage it, get out of the room before you become the next viral video that students are sharing across town, and board members are watching in the district conference room.