"No, I want to be Mrs. Ames!"

We just finished parent-teacher conferences and while emotionally and physically exhausting (as always), this round of conferences brought to me a new sense of fulfillment and joy in my job. Let me explain.
I have a student (we'll call her "Girl") who seemed to have it out for me at the beginning of the year. I won't go into too much detail, but just picture honking, parroting the teacher, pinching, hitting, and crawling around, all during lessons at the carpet -- do you have the image? Well after too many meetings with mom and the principal, she was taken to the pediatrician where she was diagnosed with ADHD and to my relief (and sanity), given medication. Hallelujah!!! Now I'm not one of those teachers who's solution is "MEDICATE MEDICATE MEDICATE," but for Girl, she needed it for her own success.
Now let's fast forward 6 months to last night's parent-teacher conference.
After going through all of the business of our meeting, her mom informed me that Girl had asked for a whiteboard easel for Christmas and now plays school everyday, in which game she is always Mrs. Ames! How adorable is that! AND, to top it all off, apparently whenever Girl has friends over to play from our class, they argue over who gets to be me. I love it. I'm obviously not a fan of the kids arguing, but if they're going to fight, atleast its for a good reason! ;)
I made an effort to especially watch Girl today as she did her work and I noticed that during Reader's Workshop, she read all of her books in her chair with her legs crossed, holding the book for an imaginary class to see as she read. It was PRECIOUS!
Needless to say, Girl's behavior has improved amazingly over the year and now, not only is she one of my top students, she's also higher up on the ladder of "teacher really likes you" status. Cute little Girl:)