Queen

Another one, just because I feel like I’ve been giving too many profiles of the boys.
Queen is one of my grade 6 learners (well, this queen, there is one in grade 5 too… I will save her for another day). She is one of those girls that I definitely wanted to be when I was younger; she is smart, pretty, fun, caring, and popular. She gets teased like everyone else (middle school is brutal) but is usually very happy. I met her mother who is a teacher in another town and seems very supportive. Queen currently lives with a grandmother or aunt, like many of my kids.
She had a really rough week about a month ago where something was very clearly wrong. She didn’t bring her books to class, never did her work, and would just stare at her desk or the wall all during class. It was terrifying to see, given how good of a student she usually is. I tried to talk to her about it, which just made her burst into tears that I could tell something was wrong, and so I backed up to just being supportive. Eventually she got better and things went back to normal, much to my relief, but it was scary for a while.
Usually she and mclean are the ones I can count on to shout out answers during class, and she can also be counted on to laugh when her fellow classmates are acting out in some amusing fashion. She has a fantastic smile that always feels incredibly sincere. She is one of the learners who balances out kids like Delvin, and makes teaching fun and feel worthwhile.