Sculpting Lives is What I Do

At 10:50 P.M. I have successfully completed my first official day of summer vacation. I spent a majority of the day doing reading and writing for my night class which is starting to seem a little tedious because we have to meet three nights a week instead of only one. The up side is that this particular class focuses on youth in America and how it's been defined over the past century. Therefore, I am interested in the subject matter.

One of the cool things we did last week was watch Blackboard Jungle a movie made in 1955. This is the film that began the inspirational teacher film genre. There is an optimistic new teacher, Mr. Dadier, who is hired to "teach" in a high school full of gang members and delinquents all of whom live in poverty in this inner city neighborhood. Interestingly, this movie is incredibly provocative for what I thought would be allowed in theaters in the 50s. Here is the trailer, and even though the movie isn't unbelievably terrifying and the trailer is a little cheesy, it might give you a good idea of what started films that focus on the lives of educators (I could only find one with Spanish subtitles):



And yes, that is an uncredited Sidney Poitier you see in the trailer. I love that he plays one of the lead hoods in this film because in To Sir With Love he is the optimistic teacher in a classroom full of troubled teens. Aside from the handsomely young Poitier, I really admire the stance this film takes in the end regarding two characters who simply refuse to conform. I don't mean in a "stick it to the Man because we should be free" kind of way. One of them, Artie West, is dead set against furthering his life beyond harassing Mr. Dadier's wife, beating up teachers, stealing, and pulling a switchblade on Mr. Dadier in class. Therefore by the end of the film while all the other students begin to set higher expectations for themselves, Artie goes to jail. I like that. It has nothing to do with him being misunderstood or from an unstable home. He is simply a rotten human being who makes the decision to stay rotten. I think we have lost this idea somewhere in education. Do I believe some students just cannot be reached? Yes and I believe most teachers who have movies made about their lives will agree with me. The number is minuscule, like maybe one or two kids for every 100 or so, which is why I much prefer focusing on the ones that are reachable.

So my fellow teachers, I tip my hat off to you and offer you this list of movies to inspire teachers (in no particular order), according to various lists. I took the ones that I agree with the most:

1. Stand and Deliver (1988)--though I am terrible at math, I know that Jaime Escalante could have taught me Calculus

2. Blackboard Jungle (1955)--aside from its overbearing patriotism because of its setting during the Cold War era, I love everything about this film because it shows me how education has been battling the same problems for over 60 years

3.  Lean on Me (1989)--you only need one quote, "Mr. Clark don't play!"

4. Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)--sometimes we stumble upon our calling in life while waiting for our "real career" to take off

5. Renaissance Man (1994)--Henry V's St. Crispin Day speech was never the same for me after I saw this movie

6. Miracle Worker (1962)--I will always admire those who work with special needs children because that is a challenge I would not be able to meet

7. Dangerous Minds (1995)--I debated adding this one because it is a great film but I think the genre started getting too sentimental "oh it's not the kids they are from bad home lives" and as I mentioned with Blackboard Jungle, sometimes kids are just rotten because they choose to remain so

8. To Sir with Love (1967)--Wow, Sidney Poitier made the list twice. He must be a good actor or something...this film shows how educators know that sometimes we don't actually teach our subject matter but rather life skills students need to have in order to survive

9. The Karate Kid (1984)--when I saw this on one list I almost laughed until I saw the reason why and it made all the sense in the world: sometimes students have to trust the unconventional methods of their teachers because it becomes evident in a big picture sort of way later on

10. Okay, I couldn't agree on a number ten because I haven't seen three of the following and I've heard some people debate about whether or not Robin Williams actually made an impact on his students in the other one: Mona Lisa Smile, The Great Debaters, Dead Poets Society, Music of the Heart

As your minds relax for a brief moment before you see something that sparks an idea for a lesson for next year, enjoy one of these films. And if your brief moment isn't long enough for a whole movie, please enjoy this video made by my district. I get slightly choked up every time I watch because it defines what I do so very well (even with a couple of typos):