MOVIE CLIPS
School of Rock & The Mighty Ducks
School of Rock
SCHOOL OF ROCK
In School of Rock, Dewey Finn, played by Jack Black, ends up teaching a class full of musicians and he eventually forms them into his own personal rock band. Even though Dewey is not a licensed teacher and is posing as another teacher, he displays multiple examples of good teaching throughout the movie. I chose these clips because they both include students approaching their teacher about mental and self-esteem concerns that they have. The first example includes Lawrence walking up to Dewey and expressing his concerns about not being cool enough to be in the band. When he does this, Dewey reassures Lawrence that this is not the case, and he lets Lawrence know about his own self worth. A similar type of occurrence happens with Tomika, who believes she’s too fat to be a singer. Again, Dewey tells her that her body weight has nothing to do with her as an artist, citing Aretha Franklin and himself as examples. In both of these examples, it shows that Dewey has created a strong enough relationship with his students so that they feel that they can approach him with any problem, including self-esteem issues. Also, when they do approach them with the problem, he doesn’t just dismiss their mental issues since they don’t relate to school, but he talks them through their problems. By helping them talk through their problems, Dewey essentially creates a positive, safe, and efficient learning environment, since each student feels that they are capable enough to continue learning. I think this idea is important, because the teachers that I especially loved throughout the years were the ones that I formed genuine friendships with. After all, the idea of a strong teacher-student relationship is the foundation for the student’s growth as they are taught more concepts. I think as future educators, we need to keep this in mind whenever we are nurturing our students so that they can thrive as learners.
The Mighty Ducks
THE MIGHTY DUCKS
The Mighty Ducks is a film about a young hockey team that explores the relationship between the coach, Gordon Bombay, and his hockey team. The first clip shows the exact moment in which Coach Bombay meets his hockey team and introduces himself as the coach. In this first interaction, the teacher-student relationship is instantly formed on tension. It is evident that Coach Bombay uses a large amount of sarcasm when speaking to the children. He constantly speaks to them in a condescending tone, since he thinks he is more elite than the children. In the second clip, it is shown that his condescending teaching tactics are not effective at all. As he starts to yell at the children, the children make it evident that they do not respect Coach Bombay as a person or teacher at all. Since there is no respect in the teacher-student relationship, the students state that there is no reason for them to listen to Coach Bombay at all. Even though the Coach begins to form this relationship near the end of the film, I chose beginning part of the movie specifically because it shows how poor teacher-student relationships can easily lead to poor teaching and learning. In my personal experience, I have also had teachers who are very condescending and hard to approach because they refuse to form a relationship with their students. In general, myself and my peers never felt comfortable to approach the teacher for help in class, and thus, the performance of all of the students in that class would take the hit. When viewing these clips, I want people to take away the message that respect between teachers and students is vital for the learning experience of both parties. I think that as educators, we need to acknowledge students not as subordinates, but as people as well. Just because the students know less than you does not mean that they are less intelligent than you; it simply means that they are less experienced as you. As a teacher, it is not our jobs to show that we have more knowledge, but it is our job to give our students experiences that give them more knowledge.