Good Teacher Movies

Since I am a teacher, I thought I would list a few of my favorite "Teacher" movies. Some of them actually have to do with teachers and a few are movies that teach lessons I can use in class. Here is my list:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird -- not only my favorite movie, but it shows how you can be a hero without having superpowers. It also tells how you truly can't know a person, "until you've crawled inside their skin and walked around a bit."


2. It's a Wonderful Life -- again not a "teacher movie", but it does teach that you really don't realize how important the impact you have on others lives. It also teaches you don't have be the richest or most powerful person in town to earn and have the respect of the people in it.

3. Mr. Holland's Opus -- in this movie Mr. Holland is a reluctant teacher who over the years grows to love his job and his students, but only in the end does he realize that the musical opus he was attempting to write, was being written out in the lives of his students and the impact he had in their lives.

4. Facing the Giants -- Although steeped in Christian themes, the movie should remind teachers that the students reflect the attitude of their teachers. A bad or stagnant attitude will equal bad or stagnant results. If you change your attitude (and let God have control) the attitude of your students will change for the better as well.

5. 12 Angry Men -- this movie shows the power one person can have when he stands for what he believes in. When done with respect and a desire for the truth, one person can change the thinking of others.

6. Freedom Writers -- a great movie about the power writing has to tell one's story. Every story needs to be heard. In this movie the teacher uses journal writing to help connect students to events in history and literature that relate to the lives her students were currently living. A powerful movie.

7. Stand and Deliver -- another movie that shows that if you raise the expectations of your students you students, they will rise to meet those expectations. If you believe they can do more than they think they can and treat them with respect, like they can do it, they will will do much more than they ever have before.

8. Schindler’s List -- a great movie about how one person can save the lives of many by doing what is right, while facing great evil. It teaches the truth about many facts of the Holocaust and how not all German's were doing the bidding of Hitler and the Nazi's.

9. Hotel Rwanda -- again it teaches how one person can make a difference when standing for what is right against great evils. It is a story that teaches that genocide is still taking place in the world today, and the courage it takes to do the right thing.

10. Moby Dick -- a great movie based on the novel, showing the terrible effects of obsession and revenge, and how they will destroy not only your life, but the lives of those around you as well.

One I have yet to see, but will probably make my list...Anne Frank Remembered.

Honorable Mention: Dead Poets Society, Saving Private Ryan (the first few minutes showing the D-Day invasion), Teachers, Dances With Wolves, Gandhi, Dangerous Minds, and Glory.