Celebrities in education

Actors take time out to teach

"Mission to Mars" star Don Cheadle ended his class by coaching the students in improvisational acting. He and others were participants in a program to reach out to schools with children from low-income families

November 3, 2000
Web posted at: 5:33 p.m. EST (2233 GMT)

By Gloria Hillard
CNN Showbiz Today Correspondent

COMPTON, California (CNN) -- The substitute teacher for Mrs. Rosenfeld's second grade class took a small chair in front of the blackboard and told the group of wide-eyed seven-year-olds that they could call her "Alfre." In a crisp white blouse with colorful African beads, actress Alfre Woodard read aloud from the children's book "The Colors of Us." Afterward, she talked with the students about the different colors of people's skin.

In another classroom at Ralph R. Bunche Elementary in Compton, California, actor Don Cheadle was fielding questions from fifth graders about what it was like to make movies. The two actors were participants in an annual event sponsored by Teach For America, which brings celebrities and community leaders into low-income schools to help inspire children.

"I know the thing that has made the difference in my life were the teachers I had in elementary school, says Woodard. "I was fortunate to have strong independent women teaching me. Everybody in my family is in education."

Cheadle says he too comes from a family where teaching is a tradition. "I have teaching in my blood. My mother was a teacher, my sister is a teacher." "The Mission to Mars" (2000) star also talks about the importance of inspiring children from low-income neighborhoods.

"Very often these students in lower-income situations don't see themselves other than basketball players, football players or perhaps in some entertainment way represented in the world. So I think it's important for people representative of that to come back and say 'yes you can achieve, you can succeed.'"

Actress Alfre Woodard reads to a class as part of Teach For America, an annual event that brings celebrities and community leaders into low-income schools to help inspire children

Woodard says she tries to visit classrooms every chance she has.

"There is nothing more important than to make sure public education is funded...that teachers are paid," she says. "We're not bragging about how little we give heart surgeons or lawyers -- it's the most important thing."

In a question and answer period, the children in Woodard's class learned what it was like being in a movie, and that she was a mom of two children who only get to watch TV for one hour a day.

"Being in a movie is just like working, you stand on your feet 16 hours a day, people tell you what to do, its hard work," she says.

Don Cheadle ended his class by coaching the fifth graders in improvisational acting. And Alfre Woodard's students, who had "never met a movie star before," rushed to the front of the class and hugged the beaming actress.

Teach for America

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