#10

The first out of all my former students to wear Chuck Taylors on a regular basis. Red Chucks and a red hoodie sweatshirt. She was a hip low-key kind of gal. She had just moved to town from Worcester, but you wouldn't have known it. She was placed in my class because the brains- in- charge thought she might be friends with 11, the other Vietnamese fifth grader. But the two girls could not have been different. 10 was silly and friendly and very confident with English. She had inside jokes with half the girls in my class and half the girls in the class next door within 2 days of being in school. 10 also was one of the brightest kids I have had in all 5 years of teaching. She just 'got' everything. The answers she gave me on written work were so complete that they usually went a step further than everyone else and even included voice and humor! Her writing was such a pleasure to read. Hopefully she didn't get bored with my constant comments of "Yes!" or "Exactly!" but that is how I felt after reading her responses to things. I actually felt more like writing "You make me feel like a competent teacher!" but I guess that might have been a bit much. 10 really was the epitome of being a pleasure in class. Always smiling, always listening and participating, never mean or dramatic, and unconditionally agreeable. She is the kind of student every teacher loves but, more than that, she is the kind of person that people love.