It Was Meant To Be A Threat!

Today we had an assembly for the Battle of the Books. One of the teams from my class was representing the whole 5th grade, so I was pretty proud. It was in the morning. We went first thing, got the kids settled on the floor in straight lines, and then I sat in an uncomfortable folding chair off to the side of my class where I could cast glaring looks at unruly children.

The assembly was about to begin, and I had my eye on Adam. He had something in his hands that looked like Silly Putty, but frankly, I didn't care much as it kept him fairly quiet and his hands busy. However, he was having a pretty good time showing it to kids around him. So I got his attention.

I gave him one of those teacher looks. "Adam," I said. And I pointed to a spot right next to me at my feet. "Do you want to sit here?"

Now, I fully expected him to say, "No." Then, I was going to follow that up with a comment like, "Then turn around and be quiet!"

But Adam did not follow this script. He looked at the spot I pointed to at my feet, looked at me, gave me a smile and said, "Sure!" He got up and came over and sat down at my feet. He was my buddy for the whole assembly.

It was supposed to be a threat.