McLean

So I have decided to do some profiles of some of my students, so that stories I tell will make more sense. I can’t do all of them for several reasons. First, I have a lot of students. Second, I don’t know some of their names, and third I don’t know some of their personalities (you’d be surprised how often numbers 2 and 3 DON’T line up). Given that she factors in to my weekend pretty strongly, I thought I would start with McLean.
McLean is a girl in my 6th grade class and she is probably the smartest one there. She sits in the front row, has an answer for every single question I ask, and is incredibly curious- you cannot believe how many questions she has. I think she’s 11 years old and she can be quite bashful.
McLean has made it clear since I’ve been here that she does not really like her family. It started out more subtlely, but at this point she has outright told me. This means she doesn’t like being home so she spends a lot of time at my house. A LOT. This past weekend I came home to find her taking a nap on my back porch and she stays until at least 7 almost every night. I’ve told her this is fine, I want her to feel like my house is a safe place, as long as she doesn’t expect me to entertain her. This means whenever I read I do it outside and we read together, or she keeps me company while I grade, and we have a lot of conversations about race. I’ve gotten better about just shutting the door when I need some alone time and she knows she can stay if she wants. It can get exhausting, but it’s still nice to have someone around.