the chutry experiment

Okay, I'll bite. I love, love, love the Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School. I don't know if that fits the teaching movie genre though. :-)

I can't think of any teaching movies I've seen besides the ones you've named, but just to make a contribution, I didn't see Finding Forrester. Antwone Fisher seems to be a variation on the teaching movie theme, and I wanted to see Higher Learning when it came out, but never did.

Oh, and Rock'n'Roll High School is in my top two favorite movies of all time.

Sorry--I originally posted this comment under the wrong blog post.

I was wondering--myabe this is a pet peeve unique to me. I *really* like Back to School. Sally Kellerman playing an English teacher reading "Ulysses" to her students...great stuff.

I really do like "Educating Rita" and "Surviving Desire" and recommend them highly, but my favorite "classroom film" is "Wonder Boys," which also seems to stretch the boundaries of what I called a "movie about teaching" even though it seems to portray some aspects of grad school pretty effectively...

Now that I'm hearing the term again, I think "movies about teaching" may not have been the best term to describe what I'm talking about....Also realized pretty quickly how grumpy this post sounds now (which is strange because I really didn't intend that).

I got so many bad papers on "Higher Learning" that I'll never be able to watch that film without seeing it through that lens, so I know I'd never be able to enjoy it...

How could I have forgotten Wonder Boys! I love that movie.

Well "Teachers" is an obvious one. What about the teaching scene in "Lone Star" where a Mexican American is trying to teach Texans some real history?

Here are several movies about teaching/education. Kindergarten Cop, School of Rock, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Pump Up the Volume, Mr. Holland's Opus, Heathers, Dangerous Minds (my personal favorite), Stand and Deliver, Dead Poet's Society, Election, Billy Madison, 10 Things I Hate About You, Agent Cody Banks, Get Over It, O, High School Confidential, Rushmore, The Perfect Score, Pleasantville, My Bodyguard, and Cruel Intentions (to a certain extent). These movies portray teaching at some point in the movie. Oh, yeah, and don't forget Summer School. Now, how many of them are realistic and how many of them show teachers or education in a poor light? What has this done for education in general? These are questions I'm still trying to answer!

Great suggestions. I haven't thought about this post in a long time. The "Dangerous Minds"/"Stand and Deliver" genre really bothers me--I think it defines teaching in some fairly limited ways. I actually like that "Summer School" makes fun of the whole "Inspirational Teacher" genre.

If we expand the genre wide enough, I suppose one could include most the 1980s John Hughes cylce (Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, especially), and I *think* I originally made this list/posted this entry before "School of Rock" came out (and I liked it quite a bit simply as entertainment).

Election's an interesting case for the "Teacher as Sexual Predator" genre, especially to the extent that it also portrays teachers as essentially irrelevant and/or meddling at best.

In general, most of the films either offer classrooms that are boring or irrelevant or the opposite, the teacher who consistently inspires, usually through highly theatrical and often teacher-centered techniques ("O Captain, my Captain," for example).

Just a quick note to say that I came across Dana Polan's "The Professors of History" in Vivian Sobchack, ed, _The Persistence of History: Cinema, Television, and the Modern Event_, Routledge, 1996, and it's doing more or less what I'm talking about, although Polan focuses primarily on history professors.

Teaching Movie List

1930 – 1939

1932 – The Penguin Pool Murder [Hildegarde Withers Series]
1933 – Topaze
1934 – Murder on the Blackboard [Hildegarde Withers Series]
1935 – Murder on a Honeymoon [Hildegarde Withers Series]
1935 – The Plot Thickens [Hildegarde Withers Series]
1936 – These Three
1936 – Murder on a Bridle Path [Hildegarde Withers Series]
1937 – Forty Naughty Girls [Hildegarde Withers Series]
1939 – Good-bye Mr. Chips

1940 – 1949

1940 – Anne of Windy Poplars
1940 – Little Men
1941 – Cheers for Miss Bishop
1941 – Pimpelmel Smith
1941 – Remember the Day
1943 – Hitler’s Children
1943 – This Land is Mine
1945 – The Com is Green
1948 – Apartment for Peggy

1950 – 1959

1953 – Bright Road
1954 – Her Twelve Men
1955 – The Blackboard Jungle
1955 – Good Morning, Miss Dove
1955 – The Private War of Major Benson
1956 – Bigger Than Life
1956 - Our Miss Brooks
1956 – The Unguarded Moment
1957 – Spring Reunion
1958 – As Young as We Are
1958 – Teachers Pet

1960 – 1969

1962 – The Children’s Hour
1967 – To Sir, With Love
1967 – Up the Down Staircase
1968 – Rachel, Rachel
1969 – Decline and Fall of a Bird Watcher
1969 – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

1970 – 1979

1972 – Child’s Play
1973 – Paper Chase
1974 – Conrack
1977 – Looking for Mr. Goodbar

1980 – 1989

1982 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1984 – Teachers
1985 – Heaven Help Us
1986 – Hoosiers
1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
1987 – Leader of the Band
1987 – The Principal
1987 – Stand and Deliver
1987 – Summer School
1989 – Dead Poets Society
1989 – Lean on Me

1990 – 1999

1990 – Class of 1999
1990 – The Freshman
1992 – Sister Act
1992 – Waterland
1993 – The Man without a Face
1994 – The Browning Version
1995 – Lotus Eaters
1996 – The Mirror Has Two Faces
1996 – Carried Away
1996 – Dangerous Minds
1996 – Mr. Holland’s Opus
1996 – The Substitute
1997 – In and Out
1997 – Good Will Hunting

2000 - 2005

2000 – Finding Forrester
2002 – Spellbound
2003 – Mona Lisa Smile
2003 – School of Rock

~Thanks to the POD Listserv for this compilation~

My personal favorites are Finding Forrester, Dangerous Minds, and Mona Lisa Smile. However, I open to seeing any movie that touches on the subject of teaching...inspiring students that is.

I'm trying to remember the name of a movie that contained the following scene:
A college professor is lecturing on the first day of class and lists an overwhelming number of assignments/papers/etc. that will be required throughout the semester. One by one, a number of students begin sheepishly sliding out the side door. After the exodous appears to have stopped, the professor announces that all of the assignments previously described were actually not required. The professor simply used this tactic to "weed out" the non-serious students. This is driving me crazy! Does anyone recall having seen this?
Thanks!

That scene sounds familiar, but I'll have to think about it becaue I can't quite place it.

One of my favorite movies about teaching is the Emperors Club. Kevin Kline did a wonderful job portraying a teacher who is not over the top, yet makes ancient history interesting and cares about the education of his students. It was one of the factors that made me consider history as a major.

I would just like to say that I stumbled into this site and found it rather interesting. I nearly forgot about all the "educational" movies out there. Thanks so much for reminding me of some fun and heartfelt movies about teachers/teaching.

oh..what about some of the funny ones like High School High..it's a movie about teachers and teaching too :p

I'd almsot forgotten about HSH. Don't think I ever saw it, but I definitely apprecaite some of the comedies that mock all of the pretensions about teaching.

I once attended a workshop called Teaching Hollywood Style. The presenter, who was getting a PhD in Education, chose to use films that depict various teaching styles, as a way of getting undergraduate Methods class students to think critically about teaching and learning -- as shown in the film clips. The clips he used were scenes from Dead Poets, Miracle Worker, My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, and another film whose title I've forgotten (this workshop took place about 12 years ago). It was a powerful presentation and I've used this concept many times in my career as a teacher educator (music, in my case). I agree that these films represent only selected aspects of the teaching art -- but I can tell you they DO stimulate thought and discussion among these novice future teachers!

That sounds like a useful activity. I guess my major beef with movies about teaching is that in many cases they set expectations that teachers should be entertainers or missionaries. And while I'm pretty entertaining sometimes, I'm no Robin Williams, and I've learned to acknowledge that I'm not nearly as heroic as Michelle Pfeiffer.

I found this page while searching for other movies like the superb British production titled "The History Boys". It's a surprising, quirky, fast paced story, with endearing acting and very realistically portrayed young boys - although I must say that the early 80s included the BeeGees, disco, and so on, but none of that makes it into the movie. These kids are too busy really learning about history - and preparing for their future.

I still haven't seen The History Boys. The trailer played up what sounded like a new wave or alternative music (New Order, maybe). I know it's an adaptation of a play, so I'd be curious to know better how it was changed.