How Is Teaching Portrayed To The Public?
From movies I've seen, teaching has mostly been portrayed as a good thing. They show teachers seeing the potential in their students and helping them achieve that. Of course at first, the teacher is usually not the favorite because classrooms are seen as boring, but then the teacher uses techniques that gather the students attention and make learning fun or more interesting for them. One of my favorite examples is School Of Rock, where Jack Black's character becomes a teacher at private school. He sees musical potential in his students and tells them that, but they still are hard on themselves. However, he doesn't for one second let them doubt themselves, he encourages them every day and plays music with them to make the environment not only more fun, but a space for them to freely express themselves. Another poplar example was in Freedom Writers, the teacher in that film noticed her students weren't taking her seriously because she was privileged enough to not experience any hardships like her students were. So, she took the opportunity to learn about them and encourage them to write about their lives, she also helped them plan their futures and found culturally responsive ways to teach history to them. They eventually warmed up to her and liked her because she didn't give up on them, she showed them that she cared. Overall, from my own personal experience, I've seen teaching be seen as positive, life changing thing in movies and that alone inspires me to be impactful just like those movies. However, these positive portrayals can be seen as unrealistic and create a higher standards for real teachers by students, which can create a sort of burden.
Hi Alexis, I like your counter-argument you made at the end and I agree that the portrayal of teachers in Hollywood films can raise the bar for educators in real life, because it sets an unrealistic expectation that every educator must be that way as well. I love the School of Rock, and I think watching films where the teacher genuinely cares about their students needs are beneficial to prospective educators, because it gives us inspiration to want to be like those life changing teachers. One thing I found interesting from this module is the "Typecasting Teachers" chart, and it allows us to see what kind of teacher the main character is trying to relate to, I think Jack Black would be the "Oh So Cool" teacher because of the rock music and relatability, and Robin Williams from "Dead Poets Society" would be the "On a Mission" teacher because he wants to save the world and change all of his students mindsets. Great post, thanks for contributing to this weeks discussion!
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Hi Alexis! I liked your post and agree with a lot of the points you made. I think that for the most part we see educators in movies overcoming tough obstacles, being great role models for their students, and impacting them in a positive way. I love this depiction but as you said at the end of your post it can often be misleading and portray standards that are too high to meet. The truth is as educators we are going to have hard days, hard weeks, hard years, and in this career where you strive for perfection it can be very discouraging to see these movie teachers accomplishing what you cannot. I think the important thing to remember is these movies are purely fictional. There is also a lot to learn from them, the strategies that are used could very well be used in our own future classrooms. It is important to have kindness and compassion while teaching, relating to students and understanding their struggles is something we often see in movies and can do in our own classrooms. You made some great points during this post, awesome job!
ReplyDeleteIt's true, although these movies are fictional we can still take what we can from these movies to gather ideas for our classroom. We won't always be perfect, but we can still be the teacher our students need!
DeleteHey Alexis! Great thoughts! It's interesting how we notice that in the beginning teachers come across as boring but in the end they can be seen as heroes. That is how it seemed in the movie I chose to watch, Freedom Writers. I think it is so important for teachers to have goals for their students so that they can all work together in the class and have a drive and motivation to achieve success. One example that I think of is from the movie Freedom Writers. Mrs. Gruwell had a student give himself a self evaluation of an F. She knew he was so much more than that and so she talked some sense into him and revealed to him what she saw in him. Teachers need to help bring to light and reflect the mirror back on the students, in a sense, and show them what we see. Each student is capable of so much and it is our job to build them up and guide them!
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ReplyDeleteHey Alyssa! I definitely agree with you in that a lot of movies about teachers portray good things. One of the best things that they show is the love of the students. As most people know, no one teaches for the money, we want to teach because we want to see students succeed and do whatever is necessary for them to be. The teacher’s whole purpose for being there is for the students. I like that you pointed out how the teacher in Fredon Writers was culturally responsive. She used ways of teaching material without doing it in a harmful or disrespectful way. But I do agree that these movies can set unrealistic standards. A teacher can be a good teacher without getting three jobs to buy resources for students that the school will not give like the teacher in Freedom Writers. Teachers do not have to always go above and beyond to be a good teacher like the ones in the movies. A good teacher does all that they can to learn about their students personally and give them what they need to be successful.