"Juan"

I have a student by the name of Juan(we'll call him that just in case he finds my blogspot one day). He is blond, tall, thin and extremely high maintenance! He is usually the most vocal of the kids in my eighth period class. I had a conversation with him today that made me laugh. It went something like this...

"Juan": Miss Platt, what are you doing by my desk?
Me: I'm just standing here talking.
"Juan": I don't want you to stand by my desk.
Me: Why "Juan", does it bother you?
"Juan": You intimidate me.
Me: (shock in my voice) ME...Intimidating?
"Juan": Miss Platt, can I move to a different seat?
Me: Sure, but you don't need to, I'll just stand by a different desk.

The greatest part of this conversation came 2 seconds later, when I hadn't moved, and he thought that I had, and he turned around and almost fell out of his chair, becuase he was so startled that I was still there.

There is such a strange sense of empowerment when you know that your students are intimidated by you! Today was a great day!