Welcome, My Weirdos: My People.

My class was "The Quirky Class" for a number of years, which made my colleague across the hall a little salty.  Every spring, he'd use his charisma and seniority to hand-pick his homeroom class list while we worked on the fourth-to-fifth grade transition.  He chose the kids with wealthy, cool, or talented parents,  arguing that his rising sixth graders needed this student or that as a buddy, or that the other students had recess conflicts with his current crew.  Usually, it would shake out pretty evenly, but one year I just ended up with all of the oddballs, and his class was nearly all of the popular sporty kids.  The students absolutely clocked this, naming my room the Nerds and the opposite the Jocks.  

My colleague knew more about sports than I did, but he also wanted to be able to claim the Quirky title, too - he was a true Vermont Granola: musician, artist, gardener, etc.  He was also a condescending, patronizing, inflexible jerk when I needed him to be a supportive mentor or teammate.  

So I buckled up and reveled in the quirky vibe of my class that year, partly to spite my colleague, but mostly because the kids were just happier that way.  They played MTG, we used Minecraft and Stardew Valley to teach math concepts, they wrote skits for fun and posted all of their weird and wonderful doodles on the closet door behind my desk (I have these saved in an envelope still).  They had all of the typical conflicts of fifth and sixth graders, too, and one student petitioned to switch to the Sporty homeroom when he decided that he didn't like "Nerd stuff" anymore.  I wasn't really offended, as the student had grown totally new friendships in his fifth grade year, and none of those were in his homeroom.  After that year, my class was just stacked with the weird kids.  It didn't always work out perfectly, but I started to hear from parents that their child felt seen for the first time - a miracle in a small rural school where your kindergarten social label travels with you all the way to middle school.  

"You were the first teacher who really made my kid feel comfortable."

When I eventually switched to teaching Library instead of general ed, the vibe followed.  I started a D&D club, which always had a waitlist and near-100% interest from the upper unit students.  I supervised a co-ed track team for kids who were sick of the formulaic Girls on the Run club model.  I let kids explore technology, current events, and talked to them like they were capable of More.  I definitely had small conflicts with students over the years - many of which could have been solved if I'd been a better teacher, or more patient.  It's something I strive to improve in my practice and it's going to take some Work.  Even so, I'm still proud to have been there for those kids who didn't quite fit in before.

I'm proud to have been their person.