“How do I learn? Please teach me.” These are the words that the late Ennis Cosby, the son of Bill Cosby, lived by. He overcame dyslexia to earn a master’s degree in education and became an educator to teach children like himself who suffered the frustration of feeling left out of “the first big job of their lives: learning in the classroom.”
“Ennis’ Gift,” premiering at 6:30 p.m. Friday on HBO Family (repeated throughout April), features interviews with students struggling with learning differences, as well as such notables as James Earl Jones, Danny Glover, Henry Winkler and Charles Schwab, who learned to cope with learning differences. The 51-minute “Ennis’ Gift” advocates “effective teaching” in helping children “find their gifts and learn how to share them.”
Release combines classic, original train tunes
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Kids with a one-track mind will get their engines running with “My Momma Was a Train,” a collection of 15 train songs by Parents’ Choice award-winning singer-songwriter James Coffey. Coffey, who is heard on the “I Love Toy Trains” videos, performs favorites such as “Casey Jones,” “Wabash Cannonball” and “Little Red Caboose.” Original songs include “Counting the Railroad Cars” and “What Do You Hear?,” a locomotive add-on song.
“My Momma Was a Train” is available on CD ($15) and cassette ($10), call 800-768-6337.
Lifeline concludes season with ‘The Rescuers’
Lifeline Kidseries concludes its season with “The Rescuers,” a remounting of its 1989 musical production based on Margery Sharp’s classic book (best known as a 1977 Disney animated film), opening at 1 p.m. Saturday and running through June 9, “The Rescuers” follows members of the Mouse Prisoners’ Aid Society, as they attempt to rescue an imprisoned poet. Lifeline is at 6912 N. Glenwood Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are $8 in advance or “pay-what-you-can” at the door, call 773-761-4477.