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.

For Your Listening Pleasure

I finally learned how to create a playlist on MusicJesus.com to add to my blog. Look at the bottom of my page to see what songs I have added...Enjoy Listening...ME

Tale of the Tape Tuesday

Today is Tuesday and I am searching for something to blog about. I might as well update you on how my exercise plan and attempts at some weight loss are coming along. As far as the Monthly Marathon is concerned; I have walked about 1 mile, if you count mowing the yard several times. I need to do some walking on days I am not swimming. I have been swimming 3 times a week since starting my job and that is exercise. Rather than just float around and play with the kids, I have been swimming laps. I can feel a difference in muscle tone and it has leveled out my weight gain. As far as losing weight; I need to loose about 10 pounds to be at my average weight for my size and age. I do really good during the week about eating right and exercise, but I tend to pig-out on Fridays and gain what 2 or 3 pounds I might have lost, back again. I am going to turn my eating over to God, because I can't seem to shake the craving for meat, lots of meat. I also need to eat more fruits and veggies, but then again don't we all. The fitness center I go to has racquetball courts, I should buy me a new racquet and some balls, and teach the family how to play. Even if I don't play "full-speed" the moving around will be good exercise for me.

Signs of the Times

Over the past few years I have finally had to come to grips that my body is finally catching up to my age. At age 40 I am still young at heart. I like to work in the yard (when its not over 100 degrees out). I like to dance around the house to music I like. I like to swim with the kids and play racquetball (when I get the chance). I am, by all means not an old man! Yet there have been some signs of the aging process, and how I am perceived by the "younger" generation.

The first sign that I was not as young as I thought came to me when I was teaching an 8th Grade class of kids. I was listening to my "80's Music" on my stereo in the room. The kids came into class, and they stopped. They looked at me and told me to "turn off the oldies music." Turn off the oldies music! My music is not oldies...or is it. I thought for a minute and finally figured it out. My parent's generation of music from the 60's was "oldies" to me, twenty years later. That must mean that my music from the 80's is "oldies music" to the 2000's generation. Wow! I listen to oldies music. My parent's music is classic. Hmmmm!

The next step came when was sitting on the floor with my kids and I realized my knees hurt pretty bad when I tried to get up. I'm to young to have knee problems. Still today, my knees get a little cranky with me if I fail to get up and walk them around often.

In college I used to run/jog all the time. It was a requirement for the military and I just liked to run. I would run at least two miles every other day. Earlier this year, my daughter was preparing for her belt-test for karate, which requires a one-mile run. I wanted to help her prepare so I mapped out a one mile course through our neighborhood. We took off one afternoon, and I almost died! I made it through the jog, but it was tough. Not the fun run I had when I was younger.

Finally the weight gain! When I was in college I could eat like a hog, and never gain a pound. But over the past 10 years, I have gained almost 20 pounds. It might not seem like a lot to some, but for me that is huge. I am a small framed fellow, and all the extra weight went right to the gut. Which in turn makes it tough to jog.

Ok, so my body is protesting a little as the years go by, but my mind is still young, and I am only half finished with my life. I plan to live to be 100! So crank up the 80's music and have a good dance!

New Words

This morning our family is getting ready to go to WaterTown U,S.A., a water park near Shreveport, LA. It will be out last "big" outing for the Summer before school starts up again. Last time we went to a water park we all got sunburned, so I'm a little anxious about our trip. Please no sunburns today. The weather forecast is cloudy with scattered thunderstorms, and 93 Degrees. Onward to fun!!

Also this morning...our family decided to make up some new words. Hopefully you will see them in dictionaries soon. (Ha-Ha!)

My word is snootwump: It is a noun, that refers to a person who acts "preachy" and "a little snooty" by accident! For example; It was pointed out to me last night by my family, that my last couple of blogs have sounded a little preachy and I made my blog sound like I was acting a little "holy" or "snooty". I had no intention of being a preacher, I was just blogging about what I happened to read about in my morning Bible studies. So I was being a snootwump.

My wife's word was Obonobo!: An interjection said when you make a mistake or discover something that has gone wrong, such as "Uh Oh! or "Whoops!" For example: When the waiter dropped the plate, he blushed and said, "Obonobo!"

My son's word is dirdirdirt (Can also be pronounced Deet Dee Dew) ?: Also an interjection, said when during a moment of excitement or confusion. For example: When the clowns first came out at the circus, the child started yelling, "dirdirdirt!", because she was excited to see them, yet confused about her feeling of fear towards them as well.

My daughter's word is blethelshabble: a noun, meaning a large imaginary deformed looking bird, that looks scary, but is very gentle, on which you can ride. For example: The deformed image of her blethelshabble did not bother her as she rode proudly on his back over the town.

Breakfast is ready so I must eat! WaterTown awaits! See ya, next time.

Sinners Who Need a Doctor

"While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?' On hearing this Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9: 10-13.

Who really needs to hear the good news of Grace and Salvation more than anyone? It is those who are lost in sin. Those of us who are already Christians and believe in the deity of Christ and have already accepted Grace, shouldn't have to be reminded over and over again of how we can be saved from sin. We should already believe in Grace enough, that we should be willing to share that good news with everyone. Sadly, many of us are like the Pharisees. We see people wallowing in their sins and suffering because of their sinful behavior. Rather than see them as the sick sinners they are and offer them the healing mercy that Jesus offers, we look at them in disgust and judge them as not being worthy or ready for Grace. How sad! More often than not we deny the sick access to the one "doctor" who can heal them.

Later in the same chapter, in Matthew 9: 36-38, the Bible tells us, "When he (Jesus) saw the crowds he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he (Jesus) said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' " The sinners are out there helpless, sick and harassed, and they need a doctor. Will you be a Pharisee or will you be a Harvester?