STUDENTS rallied in support of Maitland Grossmann High School teacher Michael Kable as he arrived to a media scrum at court on Thursday.
The 62-year-old is charged with assaulting a student after a "paper fight" in the classroom allegedly went wrong.
Year 12 student Michael Tansi told the Newcastle Herald he "felt sorry" for his teacher who was usually friendly and cracking jokes in the classroom.
"They were just taunting him, tormenting him and stuff like that - unfortunately they pushed him to the limit and he snapped - everyone does, I don't really blame sir," he said.
"At the end of the day he's only human, he's 62, he's been here long enough and he cops this every time."
Magistrate Ron Maiden granted Kable an adjournment on Thursday to seek further legal advice and reminded him of the conditions of the apprehended violence order against him.
"I just need to indicate to you that whilst there is issue with an adjournment on the first occasion for advice, if you come back and want another adjournment for advice it's more difficult to get that," he said.
"Thank you for your appearance, please get advice as soon as you can."
Kable was charged with common assault on March 21 after police were called to Maitland Grossmann High School on reports a student had allegedly been assaulted by a male teacher.
Footage allegedly showing the incident has gone viral online, but students close to Kable told the Herald the "cropped clip" doesn't show the full story.
The video allegedly shows Kable asking students to "Do you understand me? Stop doing it" while holding a handful of paper balls that appear to have been thrown at him.
The student then appears to throw another paper ball at Kable before he allegedly pulls the student into a desk.
A desk is then thrown towards Kable, after which he allegedly appears to begin hitting the student on the ground.
The students in support of Kable at court said the 62-year-old teacher had regularly been the subject of taunts and abuse, claiming students would cut his headphone cords and throw pens and paper at him.
Another video shared with the Herald allegedly shows another student letting the air out of Kable's car tyres in the school carpark after the alleged fight.
Mr Tansi said nobody had ever seen Kable get angry like that before, sending a message out to his teacher on Thursday.
"We hope to see you soon, I hope you can get a job and all that other stuff but we all love you, we miss you, everyone at school is talking about you and trying to help you out," he said.
"Don't worry bro, we all love you, the petition we made is going good and everyone is showing love and support.
"We all love you, maybe you should have gone about it a different way but we still love you."
Kable's matter was adjourned to April 27.
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