the whole year?

i informed my class today that, try as they might, they could not get rid of me. i didn't mean for it to come out quite the way it did, but the conversation went something like this ... (prefaced by me telling them that i am not teaching them for the money but because i want to be (a *common* misconception)) ...

(me - in the harshest and evenest voice you can imagine from me. sort of low with eyebrows moving a lot) "... so i want there to be no doubt (do you know what doubt means? it means not sure. i need to be sure that you understand what i'm saying) in your minds that i am here because i want to be. so, like it or not, we're in this together, you'll be in my class all year, and that is not something you have a choice about. it's not something *i* have a choice about. what you *do* have a choice about is how you respond, about how you act while you are here..."

(student) "i got one teacher to leave before, i bet i can do it again."

(me - even sterner) "i bet you can't. not me. i'm not going anywhere." (in my mind: oh nooooooo. i did *not* just challenge this kid to try to push me as hard as he can. it's that same shudder in my mind (lauren) as "so when's that baaaaby due?" "what baby?" shuuuuudder. hahaha.)

(student) "haha we'll see."

eeeek.