Yadira (not her real name) came to my high school in August of 2006 from her middle school with a reputation as a troublemaker. As a special education teacher, I was asked to add her to my roster of challenged students. My task is to supervise their progress, talk to parents, accommodate their needs in the classroom and fill out the enormous quantity of paperwork needed to comply with I.D.E.A (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
After talking to her for the first time, I left convinced that Yadira was not a troublemaker. She was diagnosed as LD (Learning Disabled) which is a catchall term that covers a lot of unknown territory in the learning field. Still, she was entitled to a lot of help and I was determined to give it to her.
Yadira, a tall Mexican-American girl, was always smiling and laughing. We hit it off immediately; unfortunately, she simply was not interested in learning what the school was offering. I tried counseling her, I tried appealing to her good sense of humor, I showed her the perils of attacking life without a high school diploma; nothing worked. She started misbehaving by arriving late in class, or simply skipping the ones she liked the least. Of course, as a logical consequence, she failed most subjects the first 6 weeks.
The turn around for Yadira took place around Christmas time. She had joined the choir and they were rehearsing some songs for the holidays. I just happened to walk by one day when I heard the voice of an angel coming from the choir hall. I stuck my head in to find out which student was blessed with such gift; lo and behold, it was Yadira! She was singing a cappella all by herself and I could see the awe in the faces of the other people present, teachers and students. She truly was one in a million and only 15 years old.
A week later, I met her in the study hall where she was receiving one on one tutoring; I complimented her on her wonderful voice, but she didn't seem, at first, to attach much importance to it. But the real breakthrough occurred soon afterwards. As I started working with another student not far from where she was sitting, I used a strategy that had worked before to bond with teens: I said a few words in French, simply to catch his attention. As the young man started to inquire about the meaning, Yadira left her seat and came bounding over. "You speak French?" she inquired; as I nodded, she immediately asked me to teach her some words and phrases. I could see a new light shining in her eyes. A teacher told me later that it was the first time that Yadira had actually expressed the desire to learn.
That was the beginning of a huge change in the young girl; when I asked her to actually go to class and do the work, she coyly "blackmailed" me into teaching her more French. For the following 6 weeks she showed me how smart she was by passing every class and I "stole" a few minutes from my regular work three times a week to practice French with her. With her perfect pitch for music, she had no problem whatsoever pronouncing these difficult Gallic words. She even brought me a song she had written and asked me to translate it into French.
The story of Yadira shows us that every student has a secret door with a secret password. That door is hard to find and I was lucky to be able to do it. Unfortunately, Yadira's story does not have a happy ending. She confessed using drugs and having sex with her older boyfriend, and soon disappeared from the school. Her ambition to become a Tejano star may still take place; I fervently hope so for her sake.
