I Am Somebody

Believe it or not, teachers actually work during staff development days. For the last staff development day, all the elementary school PE teachers in Mill Valley went to Castro Elementary School in El Cerrito to watch a PE teacher named Calvin Trampleasure do his job. I found it to be very interesting and very inspiring.

Castro School is part of the West Contra Costa County School District. This district is located at the east end of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge, so I'll bet all of you have driven through it. It's less than 30 minutes away by car. The West Contra Costa County School District is one of the poorest school districts in the Bay Area. The district went bankrupt (meaning it basically had no money at all) in 1991 and has been slowly recovering ever since. As part of the recovery, Castro will be closed at the end of this school year.

Just to get an idea of how poor the district is, Calvin teaches PE at 4 different schools and each class he teaches only gets PE twice per week. He only teaches grades 3-6, so the classroom teachers teach PE to grades K-2. All of the PE equipment for Castro school (250 students) fits into one walk in closet. In fact, on the day we were there, Calvin excitedly told us how happy he was to have, for the first time in his career, hockey sticks.

The kids at this school are completely different from those at Park. The first thing you notice is that they are almost all people of color; african american, hispanic or asian. It is also readily apparent that they are not wealthy, for most of the kids wear inexpensive, non-name brand clothing.

Calvin tells us that most of the kids at Castro come from working class families (families whose parents work at jobs requiring little education), because many of the the parents are first generation immigrants who don't speak English very well. One father, for example, was a doctor in Africa who works as an orderly here.

While Castro is peaceful, one of the other schools at which Calvin teaches is in an area where you can often hear gunshots at night. Many of the kids at that school know older kids who are in gangs. As a result, many of the kids want to join gangs when they get older.

The reason these kids want to join gangs, to be real gangstas, not gangsta wannabes like some of you, is because it will give them a sense of prestige and a sense of - power. What the kids don't see is that life in a gang often means a life of crime. Calvin tries very hard to steer them away from that kind of life.

Calvin does this by emphasizing Character Education in his curriculum. Calvin teaches his kid about things like: Responsibility. Respect. Honesty. Cooperation. Loyalty. Compassion. He also does a lot to try to build each student's self-esteem. He wants them to learn to believe in themselves enough that they won't feel the need to join a gang.

One thing Calvin did on the day we were there was have his classes recite a poem. Listening to 36 kids say it aloud was a very powerful and moving experience. Here's the poem:

I Am Somebody!
By Calvin Trampleasure (inspired by civil rights history)

I am somebody!
My heart is a diamond shining bright
My spirit is an eagle taking flight
My mind is a pearl strong and bold
My body can travel the roughest road
I am somebody
I can be what I want to be
I can learn what I need to know
I can always try to do my best
I am somebody!
I am somebody!
I am somebody!

As the kids recited the poem, you could actually see them stand up straighter and hold their heads higher. It was awesome.

If you ever feel down, try reading this poem aloud (slowly and with feeling!) to yourself. It'll make you feel better.