Ms. Petosa told us a little about who she was. It was boring stuff about where she originally came from, and how she always wanted to teach, and she left her job on Wall Street about six years ago to pursue her "dream" and teach kids. She ended by asking if anyone had any questions, and Julian raised his hand.

"Thank you!"

"Yes…" She had to look at the list to remember his name. "Julian."

"That's cool about how you're pursuing your dream," he said.

"Okay, so a few of you already know each other. But the rest of you, I guess, are new to the school, right? Okay, so everyone think of two things you want other people to know about you -- and if you know some of the other kids, try to think of things they don't already know about you. Okay? Okay. So let's start with Julian and we'll go around the room."

"Okay, so why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Julian? Actually, here's what I want everyone to do. Think of two things you want other people to know about you. Actually, wait a minute: how many of you came from the Beecher lower school?" About half the kids raised their hands.

"You're welcome!" He smiled proudly.

Julian scrunched up his face and started tapping his forehead like he was thinking really hard.

"Okay, whenever you're ready," Ms. Petosa said.

"Okay, so number one is that --"

"Do me a favor and start with your names, okay?" Ms. Petosa interrupted. "It'll help me remember everyone."

"Oh, okay. So my name is Julian. And the number one thing I'd like to tell everyone about myself is that… I just got Battleground Mystic for my Wii and it's totally awesome. And the number two thing is that we got a Ping-Pong table this summer."

"Is Battleground Mystic multiplayer or one player?" said the kid named Miles.

"Very nice, I love Ping-Pong," said Ms. Petosa. "Does anyone have any questions for Julian?"

"Oh, sure." Charlotte didn't hesitate for even a second, like she knew exactly what she wanted to say. "My name is Charlotte. I have two sisters, and we just got a new puppy named Suki in July. We got her from an animal shelter and she's so, so cute!"

"Not those kinds of questions, guys," said Ms. Petosa. "Okay, so how about you…" She pointed to Charlotte, probably because her desk was closest to the front.

"That's great, Charlotte, thank you," said Ms. Petosa. "Okay, then, who's next?"