When I grow up I wanna be a witch...

As with many mornings, my students start off with answering/completing a journal prompt. When kids write, as noted in this post, their writing is for the most part pretty funny and give much insight into the life of a 6/7 year old. Some show wisdom beyond their years, while others act their age. And then you have that rare individual that just shows peculiarity.

Journal Prompt: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Response: When I grow up, I wanna be a witch.


This is the response that I got from K.L. Yup. That's right. She wants to be a witch. And for some reason, I dont think she's joking. And for another reason that I cant begin to fathom, I believe that she will attempt to pursue this goal. And she will try her best to make sure she is a darn good witch too.

K.L. is one of my peculiar and most interesting students of the year. I knew that she would be right from the beginning. And well, as unfortunate as it is, her grandmother was the one that told me that she was a little "cuckoo". And when grandma told me that, I wanted to punch her in the face.

Swear to God.

She said it right in front of K.L. It's one thing to joke around and say that someone is crazy and/or silly. And frankly the connotation of the words are very different in respect to the context in which you use them. But it's another thing for a person to be called cuckoo. And to hear your own grandmother say it about you. When grandma said that, I know I look perplexed. So she went on to explain to me that K.L. was diagnosed with ADHD and sometimes she acted out in very bizarre ways.

Ok, so let me back track just a little, the reason I wanted to punch grandma in the face was because who says that upon an initial meeting of their granddaughters teacher. I think she thought she was doing me a favor, but in all actuality, she wasn't. She put a judgment in my head that she had no right to put there. I would rather have learned this upon interacting with K.L. on my own. Regretablly this wasnt the case.

Regardless of this fact, just as soon as grandma told me about K.L.'s odd behavior, I witnessed it for myself. Throughout the day she would talk out and have sudden singing outbursts and she would hum really loudly to herself. For some odd reason, she likes to chew on the end of the back of her dress, thus resulting in her mooning the entire class on multiple occasions. When asked why she was doing that, she would respond with " I dont know." While sitting with her peers she said "You suck" and "Damn" to them multiple times, landing her on "red" (Red=Not so good) on the very first day of school (which in itself is a rarity). She also took her shoes off in the middle of class and stuck them inside of her desk and when asked again why she did that, she, again, responded with "I dunno".
By the second day of school she was sitting by herself, away from her peers.

She had also already ripped up most of my books. And the response again? Surprise, surprise: I dunno why I did that.

Having had two weeks of classes in, I have learned some things about her that make me smile. While also learning about things that make me want to cry, pull my hair out, and run out the door screaming and just quitting my job. (I also learned from her previous teacher that on the first day of kindergarten, she pulled the fire alarm because no one was giving her attention.)

Albeit all of these things, there is something about K.L. that makes me have a soft spot in my heart for her though. Something that tells me that she obviously really truly means no harm by the things she does. She's the student that will make this year the most challenging for me.

For some this may sound strange, but sometimes I look forward to going to school, just so I can see her.