Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent as real-life former marine Louanne Johnson. Teaching English in a tough inne
r-city school, she reaches the "unteachable" through caring and understanding. Very true-to-life, Dangerous Minds does not fall into sentimentality but instead teaches us of the importance of making our own choices and not allowing circumstances to rule us.
Morgan Freeman plays Joe Clark, the real-life bat-wielding Principal whose goal was to bring discipline and learning to Eastside High School in New York. While he was not always the easiest on the teachers, it would sure be nice if more Principals stressed the importance of discipline and learning in their schools as he did. This film shows the importance of having strong leadership at the top.
Produced in 1967, this film with Sidney Poitier as a novice teacher has a lot to teach us today. Poitier takes a teaching position in the rough part of
London in order to pay his bills. Realizing that his students need to be taught important life lessons more than the curriculum he has been handed to teach them, he throws out the lesson plans and makes a real impact on their personal lives.
Robin Williams gives an awesome performance as an unconventional English teacher in a very conventional (read conservative) private school. His love of poetry and his inspiring teaching methods have a great impact on his students. The central message of the movie, to live life to the fullest everyday, is not lost. Further, Williams' poetry recitations are awe-inspiring.
Hilary Swank plays real life teacher Erin Gruwell who takes on freshman English at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. The school is racially diverse but not well integrated, with students sticking to their own ethnic groups. Gruwell proves to be naïve and out of her element yet her dedication to finding a way to reach these troubled kids is truly inspirational and moving. In real life, a number of Gruwell's students have themselves turned to teaching because of her.
I think Dangerous Minds was the first movie I ever saw about a teacher trying to teach the "unteachable". I love that movie. I love how it shows that students are still people no matter where you are from.
ReplyDeleteFreedom Writers is also one of my favorite movies. I really like that it is based on a true story. Both of these movies show that if a teacher tries to understand their students and get to know them as people they might be able to get through to them.
Out of all the movies you posted I've only seen Lean on Me and Freedom Writers but I'm definitely interested in seeing some of the other movies. I love Freedom Writers and every time I watch it I become inspired and I begin to think about my own views on teaching. I would love to teach like Erin Gruwell and I would recommend Freedom Writers to any future teacher.
ReplyDeletePersonally, Mr. Keating in Dead Poet's Society is one of my teacher inspirations. I really hope that one day we can all inspire students in English like he could, even though he was a fictitious character. Other than that I have never seen any of the other movies. I'll have to check them out.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome, did you watch all these in one day or like a span of a couple, either way well done. To Sir, With Love is one of my favorites, but I also really like Freedom Writers and Dead Poets Society. I recently watched a movie called The Class, that was based in a high school in France and followed the teacher. It was made to feel like a documentary, but was actually fiction. I would definitely recommend it, it's not a feel good teaching movie, in fact I felt pretty terrible after watching it, but it's still worth watching.
ReplyDelete