I read that Sidney Poitier died the other day and I didn’t feel too good myself. Why? Because it was after seeing his movie, To Sir with Love, in my younger days that I was inspired to become a teacher working with troubled children.
So, me and my friend watched the movie again last night. This morning my friend asked me again how the movie had inspired me, and my answer was that there are so many children out there—just like in the movie—that just need someone to love them.
He asked me, “So, why did you not go into working with teens as opposed to the direction you took, working with pre-K kids?” I said, “I did work with 13–17-year-olds for a year but decided then that I wanted to work with the little ones because I knew I could make more of a difference.”
I thought that because in those teens I saw the kinds of behavioral problems that come from an inability to communicate and growing up in poverty, the latter being a significant problem in West Virginia, where I was born and raised and have spent my entire career of more than 30 years as a pre-K educator.
I’ve been a part of Kanawha County Schools’ Preschool program, which includes the Head Start Program for several years now.
And I passionately believe that our success comes from the fact that—in addition to a host of other early childhood physical and mental health issues—me and my colleagues are giving our children the ability to communicate. Because that’s the crux of so many early childhood behavior problems (e.g., aggression, acting out, hitting, and biting); the child cannot properly express his or her feelings.
But the role that poverty plays in the lives of these children cannot be overlooked. Poor nutrition, lack of a stable nuclear family, grandparents raising their grandchildren because their parents are missing or addicted to drugs, these are all things that have a profound impact on a child in their first three to four years of life. So, our pre-K program also includes resources that address these influences on a child and their development.
So, thank you Sidney Poitier, wherever you are, for being my inspiration oh so long ago!
Brenda Hoit Riffe 