Brownie points?

For my A1 class which is the first level for the advanced classes, I assigned them an essay to write about their favorite thing. It could be about their favorite sport, movie, actor/actress, color, band, etc. One of the students who is doing really bad in the class turned in her essay and she wrote how her favorite teacher is me. She said I was beautiful and in big bold letters she colored "We heart you (yes she drew a heart)" I was really surprised. I thought she actually didn't like me because she does have an attitude in class. Sadly I thought maybe she was just trying to get brownie points since she's doing pretty bad in the class and barely passing. After reading it, I told her thank you about the essay and she just smiled. It was pretty nice of her, I just hope her English can improve so I don't have to fail her.

-Chihchat