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4 Omara—The Orphan It is easier and quicker to get to know the noisier students than it is to get to know the quieter ones. The student who asks for the bathroom pass and informs you, and the entire class, as to what bodily function must be performed immediately or dire consequences would result, is so different from the shy kid who would rather die than even ask for a bathroom pass! Some students tell you their life stories quickly, and others never say a word. Omara was one who never said a word—until calamity struck! She was a student who kept to herself, worked diligently, seemed pleased that she was making good progress in reading, and was getting good grades—and never revealed anything personal to me. She was very pretty and wore her dark brown hair pulled back tight. Her facial features were very regular, in perfect alignment, and the severe hairstyle emphasized her natural good looks. She always appeared to be neat and clean, in typical teenage attire, jeans and a shirt—nothing fancy, nothing that stood out. She was absent from school one day, a rare occurrence for her, unlike so many students who are chronically absent and/or cutting classes—and I remember asking her if she had been sick. Instead of just nodding yes or no, she explained to me that she had had nothing clean to wear. She had washed out her clothes, but they hadn’t dried in time. I smiled at her sympathetically, but didn’t question her any further. Years of experience had taught me never to pry, just listen to whatever they wanted me to know. This was the first time she had revealed anything 51 52 Defying Expectations private-like to me. After this incident, I did notice that she wore and ‘‘re-wore’’ the same two shirts. On the last day of school before the Christmas vacation, she gave me a small greeting card, signed it ‘‘Love, Omara,’’ and kissed me goodbye. I was surprised by her show of affection and thought that maybe she did it in the spirit of the approaching happy holiday season. After all, except for that one talk about her wet clothes, she never really had spoken to me. Now, students kissed me hello and goodbye all the time, but for Omara, this was a first. In retrospect, it was a breakthrough. I hope by now that I’ve convinced you that teaching was my calling, but don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint. I look forward, desperately, to all the holidays and vacations. Unless you are or have been a teacher, you have no idea how exhilarating and exhausting it is to teach 170 students per day (five classes, thirty-four students in each class). A colleague, a young English teacher from the Philippines, left my school after accepting a position at Great Neck High School, Long Island, where he taught only eighty students per day (four classes, twenty students in each class), and received $10,000 more in salary! Most parents, after spending a day with their two or three teenagers, are worn out—so think of the huge numbers of students city high school teachers meet and deal with each day. The Christmas break, however, is not a happy one for many students. Their home life often is difficult or even chaotic, and the gifts we shower on our loved ones and the family gatherings we have around the table for holiday fare are not part of their experience. Let’s face it; we have commercialized the holidays so much that many people equate gifts with the celebration. And if you don’t get gifts, and if your family gathering is tense or nonexistent, you can get very depressed at such times. I worry about many of my students who have told me about their hatred of the holidays. (Omara was not one of them.) All I knew about her was that she had few clothes. She didn’t share her holiday plans with me, and I didn’t question her. The first day back after the vacation, kids are very chatty, catching up with their friends and teachers. (What did you get? What did you do?) It is difficult to get classes back on track, but in less than three weeks, the January regents examinations would begin, a week of high-stakes testing. Omara hardly greeted me, which surprised me because of...

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