Looking for uplifting teaching movies

[pedanticromantic]

Not the white saviour into black neighbourhood movies, but a decent film where a teacher makes a difference. I'm really struggling with my mental health and the (still currently online where I am) teaching at the moment. Need to remind myself why I do this.

[dismalist]

Not the white saviour into black neighbourhood movies, but a decent film where a teacher makes a difference. I'm really struggling with my mental health and the (still currently online where I am) teaching at the moment. Need to remind myself why I do this.

How about a black teacher in a neighborhood of white kids, working stiffs? To Sir with Love, 1967.

How about a white female teacher in a neighborhood of white boys, losers? Up the Down Staircase, 1967.

Can't be that the genre ended in 1967.

Best  of luck.

[mamselle]

"Dead Poet's Society," to the degree that the issues are addressed as well as the difficulties.

A cautionary tale, perhaps, as much as anything.

There's also a thread for sharing in more detail if that would be useful, here:

    http://thefora.org/index.php?topic=1380.285

And of course, if counselling is at all a possibility, that can be a support in the rocky spots, too.

All good thoughts as you work through this.

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

"Stand and Deliver" is cheesy but still well done.  A high school movie based on a true story.

Hope you feel better.  Education is one of the most important things that we have.  You are part of that.

[kaysixteen]

"Mr. Holland's Opus" was pretty darn good, too.

[ergative]

Not the white saviour into black neighbourhood movies, but a decent film where a teacher makes a difference. I'm really struggling with my mental health and the (still currently online where I am) teaching at the moment. Need to remind myself why I do this.

How about a black teacher in a neighborhood of white kids, working stiffs? To Sir with Love, 1967.

How about a white female teacher in a neighborhood of white boys, losers? Up the Down Staircase, 1967.

Can't be that the genre ended in 1967.

Best  of luck.

Up the Down Staircase was an excellent book, too.

[downer]

A different approach is to view some terrible students and terrible teachers, so you can then be grateful that at least you have it better then them.

[mahagonny]

'A Beautiful Mind'

and some movies/novels are about teaching without using a professional educator character, like 'A Patch of Blue'

[marshwiggle]

Not to be a big downer, but the problem with movies like that is like looking at the "top 40 under 40" lists and things of that nature. Mozart wrote his first composition at 4!!!!

All of us are human; we will probably make a difference in a few lives, mostly people very close to us. Those "inspirational" stories set a bar that very few people will ever reach. (The reason they make such popular stories is that they are very atypical.)

So enjoy them as you will, but don't use them as the standard for judging your own life. I've had lots of students say they enjoyed my courses, but I can't recall one in nearly 4 decades saying that I had changed their life. That's fine. I've consistently worked to improve in order to provide more value to my students. But the job of "messiah" is already filled.

[mahagonny]

I was once on a job where I didn't think I was doing my best work, or my work didn't matter enough. I bellyached about this to one of my co-workers at a coffee break, and she said 'what's missing in your thought process is the "take the money and run" attitude.'

[mahagonny]

Not to be a big downer, but the problem with movies like that is like looking at the "top 40 under 40" lists and things of that nature. Mozart wrote his first composition at 4!!!!

All of us are human; we will probably make a difference in a few lives, mostly people very close to us. Those "inspirational" stories set a bar that very few people will ever reach. (The reason they make such popular stories is that they are very atypical.)

So enjoy them as you will, but don't use them as the standard for judging your own life. I've had lots of students say they enjoyed my courses, but I can't recall one in nearly 4 decades saying that I had changed their life. That's fine. I've consistently worked to improve in order to provide more value to my students. But the job of "messiah" is already filled.

[spoiler alert] In 'A Patch of Blue' it was Sydney Poitier's character who was saintly, but the education that Elizabeth Hartman's character would get, that he made possible, and would change her life, would be from regular trained people like many of us...;-)

I liked the film, although you could say the prostitute mom was cast as a stereotypical villain rather than one forced by circumstances (which the masterful Shelley Winters played vividly.)

[pedanticromantic]

Thanks folks. Some good suggestions I'll follow up on.
I'm just thinking I'm done with this job, at this point. I've been teaching for almost 20 years. The students are getting worse. The service load is getting worse. The research time has shrunk. I'm drained after a back and forth of online offline online offline for 2 years. 
I have more and more difficulty dealing with student bullshit ("Oh, help, I TRIED so I deserve an "A"!!") or "What do I do for this assignment?"(After I covered it twice in class and it's in the recorded lectures, etc.)
I have no more patience and I'm going to lose my shit on someone.
I want to watch movies about teachers who love what they're doing and make a difference, even if I feel those days are long gone.  Maybe I will be inspired. Maybe I won't. I'm not sure what else to do though except cut my losses and go do some other job.

[mamselle]

Realistically, is it possible to do exactly what your last sentence says?

Or at least take steps to get you there?

Is going part-time or retiring soon an option?

If watching a few films feels like what you need, that's cool, too, but it sounds like more input/nurture/change might be even more useful, still.

In all cases, continued support and good thoughts.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

There's The Girl With All the Gifts... it's a bleak zombie movie, but the teacher makes a big difference.

[Anselm]

The Emperor's Club with Kevin Kline.