Below is a PARTIAL list of movies about teachers, teaching, schools, universities, kids, learning, knowledge, intelligence, etc. I’m sure I missing many good choices. Some of these have stood the test of time. Others have not faired so well over time. Try to watch in context of the times and the earnest intentions of the artists. These are just a I’ve seen and could remember off the top of my head. The best movie of all time is first listed. See the instructions for an HMS assignment below. -MJS
Old School:
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Black Board Jungle
- Goodbye Mr. Chips
- My Fair Lady (connect to Chapters 5 and 14 in Woolfolk)
- Rebel Without a Cause
- To Sir With Love
- Charlie
- The Paper Chase
Back in My Day:
- Breakfast Club
- Children of a Lesser God (with academy-award winning performance by Marlee Matlin)
- Dead Poet’s Society
- Educating Rita
- Fame
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (launch of Sean Penn’s career)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
- Good Will Hunting (launch of Matt Damon’s career; He also earned an academy award for best screenplay)
- Heathers. Bad teaching…really bad. But a good (if not sordid) lesson in the dangers of peer pressure.
- Mr. Holland’s Opus
- The Outsiders. A movie about adolescent development. And hydrogen peroxide. It’s also the movie that launched about 6 careers, including Tom Cruise; Note, the person playing the nurse (read the credits)
- Pump Up the Volume
- Revenge of the Nerds (Me, in college)
- Sixteen Candles
- Summer School
- War Games (launch of Matthew Broderick’s career)
In Your Time:
- Akeelah and the Bee
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Freedom Writers
- Hunger Games
- Mean Girls
- Precious
- The Ron Clark Story
- School of Rock
- Stand and Deliver
- Peanut Butter Falcon
Documentaries:
- My Octopus Teacher. I can’t recommend this movie enough. Ask me about potential emotional triggers. This is more than a documentary.
- Student Athlete.
- More TBA
Also, here from Netflix are 10 Movies for Social Workers (certainly related to education)
- 13th
- Happy
- Hunting Grounds
- Babies
- Requiem for the American Dream
- Autism in Love
- I Am Jane Doe
- Bad Kids
- Fire at Sea
- The Mask You Live In
Movies Option for one of your HMS submissions
Before March 11, 2020, HMS emphasize active engagement in arts, science, athletics, etc. But now we need to explore HMS via learning-at-home means. So, with this option, you can do an HMS by simply watching a movie. Well, not just any movie, but one about teachers, teaching, schools, kids, learning, knowledge, intelligence, etc. I’ve put together of movies list above to be suitable for this HMS option.
Process
- Select a movie from the list. If you know of a movie that is not on the list, let me know in advance. I don’t have those movies above linked to anything but I’m sure you could figure out IMDb.com or Google to learn more about each movie in advance. I’d be happy to make some recommendations for your teaching area, level or other questions you have. Please choose a movie that you haven’t seen before, or are willing to watch something that perhaps you saw years ago but now want to examine it from an education scholar’s eyes.
- Obtain/watch the movie legally. Most of these should be free in the popular streaming services or your cable provider. The Ball State Library and the Muncie Libraries have large collections of DVDs too. If you need to borrow a DVD player, let me know. I have many of these on DVD or BluRay you may borrow.
- I’m a movie connoisseur so I hope you watch the movie like the art form it is. Try to watch it like you’re in a theater: Continuously and without too many interruptions or distractions. But sure, make some popcorn.
- Have a pad of paper nearby to jot a few notes during the movie. You’ll be writing a reflection about the movie in relation to an education issue within the movie. Some of the movies on my list don’t shout the issues, but they are there. Sometimes they are hidden in the art form. Ask if you need help.
Deliverable and Scoring Key
- Write about 2-3 pages about the movie with the
following information: - 2 points for:
- Your Name, Course, Section, Semester
- Title of Movie, Director, Year released
- Brief summary of the plot
- Evidence of you watching the movie
- 4 points: Discuss at least one educational issue in
the movie. Connect it to a theory from our class or another education
class. Cite that theory. Ask for help if
you need it. For example, My Fair
Lady is an exploration of the Pygmalion effect (Chapter 14 from Woolfolk). - 4 points: Discuss the movie’s impact on or relevance
to you. This could include an appreciation
of the artistic expression of the movie.
I can help with this too. For
example, in Dead Poet’s Society, the slippers shot reveal a bit about
the father’s own hang-ups which might explain, well, you need to watch the movie.