Dear Mr. Giller,
A woman at Riverside Church lent me your tape of "I’m A Person" and asked me to teach the song to the children in our Cherub Choir. The children loved it and will perform the song at the Riverside Church celebration of Earth Day in New York City. I was very impressed with the words and the "catchy" tune and thought my second grade students at our public school in the South Bronx would enjoy it. I’ve been teaching for 26 years and have always used music, art, photography, dance, language arts activities and stories to build up my students’ self-esteem. But I was totally unprepared for the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response the children had to this song.
Our school is located in a very depressed area in the South Bronx. It is in a community inundated with poverty, the hopelessness of welfare, abandoned buildings, filthy, dangerous, crack-infested projects, drugs and its accompanying violence and family disintegration, children having babies, and the crisis of an AIDS epidemic (one of every 12 babies born here have AIDS). In my class alone, 1/3 of the children live in foster homes or with relatives because their parents have died or are drug addicts. The children are moved from place to place and consistently voice their fears of being taken from their immediate families and about where they will be placed next. They are angry – often violent – fearful, insecure, very far behind academically, and need a great deal of love, affection and attention as well as the security of structure and knowledge of rules to live by. Of course their self-esteem is very low. They constantly denigrate themselves and each other with terms such as "stupid," "crack head," and various curse words. (i.e. One parent, in my presence, asked her son "Who do you think you are?" Her child put his head down and said, "Nobody." "That’s right!," retorted the mother. "Just you remember that!")
Although they almost seemed embarrassed when I first presented the song, the children loved it and learned it immediately. Staff members, who came in to hear them sing, were amazed at how quickly they – some of whom don’t even know the alphabet – had learned this song. Most of all, I was impressed at how the children were when they sang it. My more active ones clapped their hands and danced as they sang. Some of more reserved children sang quietly, but with a sparkle in their eyes. Even my violent ones (those who have brought in weapons to protect themselves or hurt others) beg to sing the song over and over. We sing it after we say the Pledge of Allegiance, on our way to lunch, during a break in the afternoon and on our way home. The children practice the "fast, hard" part ("I’m an ever-loving, thinking, feeling, peaceful-going, real live person") at home and come in each morning to show me they’ve been practicing. They have been teaching it to older and younger siblings at home. I put a copy of the lyrics in the back of the classroom. Often, when the children get restless or tired of working, they will go over to the song and practice reading it, or copy it into their notebooks or on the blackboard. Even children who are punished and have to sit in the back of the room, will sit next to the song.
I made a bulletin board outside our classroom door with the words to "I’m A Person" surrounded with photographs of the children from our class. I was amazed to hear that children form other floors and other departments came past our door to read the words. Even staff members have become interested. Our language coordinator has been using it for speech and language development with children who have language disorders. All her students love the song and look forward to her singing it with them. One little boy, who had surgery on his mouth, and has a difficult time speaking, enthusiastically participates in trying to sing this song. Our school is considering using "I’m A Person" for our graduation song.
I just want to thank you for giving us this beautiful song. I think it may change many of our children’s lives. As they sing it over and over, they are affirming that they are "loving, thinking, feeling, peaceful-going persons" deserving of respect and a chance to find themselves. Once they truly believe this about themselves, and are confident they can "do what they have to do to make all their dreams come true," they may be able to transcend their violent, drug-infested environment. It may give them the courage and hope to try to succeed, rather than escape hardship by using alcohol and drugs.
Thank you from all of us. I am looking forward to seeing your other materials on positive self-development.
Sincerely,
Sharon Prichard
