When I moved to a new school district I was dealt a tought hand. And by that, I mean that my class was a real handful. I was scared. Just 17 kids, but 11 of them were boys. Rough and tumble boys.
This one kid, who was about a foot taller than I am, his first words to me were along the lines of, “In 2 months I can legally change my name because my dad abandoned me and hasn’t tried to contact me.” Sigh. He had “defensive from the get go” written all over his cute little face.
This next student one of those rare kiddos that…well, I’ll be completely honest, I could not find one redeeming quality about this kiddo in the first few weeks of school. He was cruel to be cruel, a low functioning student, and was always causing problems with the other kids. Geez. After a chat with mama, meds were adjusted and he became the Robin to my Batman. Seriously. Kiddo stood up for me when the rest of the male posse was acting up. He worked hard to improve himself and he was totally my choice for MVP that year. By the way, he also won like every event at our grade level field day. Made his teacher mama proud.
And then there was my nemesis that year. This kiddo did not need anyone. He came from a rough upbringing and he didn’t want to get close to anyone. He was like a light switch. One day he was bright and cheerful and hardworking, and then next day the dark shadows across his face warned our class that we were in for a treat. Honestly, 90% of the problems emerged in some way because of this kiddo. But…I still kind of adore him. Kiddos can’t help where they come from, and it’s our job to guide them to a better place. I’m not sure how successful I was at that last part, but I gave it my all.
More stories featuring these little friends to come!
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