My second year of teaching took place at Stewart Elementary in Forrest City, AR. I taught 1st grade. Like most first graders, my students had trouble staying in their seats. On one particular day, it had gotten really out of control and I told them to PRETEND that their rear ends were glued to their seats. Little did I know that one of my students took that statement literally.
The next day, a little girl in my room, we will call her Dee, called out to me and said "Mrs. Vuns....M put glue in my chair!" At first I was really frustrated with why M was putting glue in Dee's chair until I realized what I had said to them previously. Little did I know, the day before he had put glue in his own seat and sat in it. When I called his mom to explain what happened, she laughed and said "well, i was wondering what that stuff on his pants was!"
Fortunately, the mother wasn't mad and everything turned out to be fine. I explained to the kids that I did not actually mean for them to put glue in their seats and we had a good laugh. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and I can promise you I have never said anything like that to any of my students since!
