How is teaching portrayed to the public?

 

“In order to be a good teacher you have to be a super teacher” (Kansas City PBS, 2014).

“In foreign films, students are shown to respect their teachers...In American films, teachers are not well respected" (Kansas City PBS, 2014).

“The ‘magical thing’ has really been part of American history and art education history from the beginning” (Vox, 2014).

How is teaching portrayed to the public? Most of the time it is depicted unrealistically. Not only has Hollywood constructed and followed up with this image of a “perfect” or “imperfect” teacher, but like Dana Goldstein mentions in the video “As if teachers’ jobs aren’t hard enough, they’re asked to fix poverty, too,” that these representations go way back since the 1800s. People in politics, movements, news articles, have placed this pressure on teachers to solve our everyday problems. Yes, teachers are an important part of our system but they are human too who may accidentally spill their pumpkin spice latte onto students' work they have yet to grade.

 

If you are wondering, I'm writing this blog post at a Starbucks and it’s my first time trying the famous pumpkin spice latte! I’ll give it 7 ½ fall leaves. I got it with 2 pumps of pumpkin sauce if you want to try it :) and no...that scenario I described above did not happen but it may in the future. Anyways, like I was saying, the whole public has placed this burden on the profession of teaching that for a teacher to be “good” they have to go out of their way to change their students’ lives for the better. Not to mention, these consequences are seen mostly in America and Hollywood’s films are a great example of how this image has developed over time. 

I’ll say two days ago I watched the film “Freedom Writers,” a great movie by the way in terms of how important it is to talk about racism, tragic events in the classroom, and how culturally responsive lessons can create a welcoming classroom for students, but it is a movie and the storyline is exaggerated to hook the audience to keep watching. From the beginning till the end I think it did a great job generating emotion because I sure did almost cry like 5 times and tears were out around 1:25 time-stamp :( “Mama, I want to come back home” *cries in Spanish*

Anywho, many tears later I read the article, “Hollywood Goes to School: Recognizing the Superteacher Myth in Film” by Adam Farhi. 

“The superteacher formula is fairly simple. Take one teacher, often male, ranging from someone who has "different" ideas to someone who is an outfight rebel. Give him an uncaring or unwilling administration, incompetent or lackluster coworkers, and students whom everyone else has given up on. With little assistance from anyone and teaching methods that are barely existent, the teacher is able to overcome the odds and quickly transform the class. Frequently the teacher, who has no personal life of his own, becomes something of a cult figure and proceeds to solve the students' personal problems. Along the way, the teacher alienates someone in a position of power, thus putting his job on the line. The students, of course, join together to pledge their support, because the teacher has changed their lives forever. The end” (Farhi, 1999)

 

You know, even though I enjoyed the movie very much the way the filmmakers portrayed Mrs. Gruwell, the “at-risk” students, the administration, the school’s coworkers, the whole production...Farhi is up to something. 

Overall these were my thoughts: 

I think the purpose of the filmmaker in the movie "Freedom Writers" is to show how Mrs. Gruwell's teaching methods and resistance help her "at-risk" students change their perspectives in life. The filmmaker achieves those purposes in the story by adding riots at the beginning of the movie to show how violence has affected many of Mrs. Gruwell’s students' lives. Hip music at the time was added to show the kind of culture and ideas the students had. In terms of lighting, the honors students’ classroom was very bright in comparison to the normal English class, it was very dull at the beginning but then it lit up once Mrs. G students started to take their education more seriously. Clothing was also showcased in a way that segregates different races, ethnicities, social statuses, and incomes from each other.  Overall the storyline was a big part of the main purpose of the teacher "making a difference" in every single student's life with the way they teach. The storyline showcases a lot of sad emotions and hopes for the future to show that a "good" teacher is what Mrs. G did to help her students graduate.

Mrs. G is portrayed to be resistant against the administration of the school who has given up on the education of the 203 class. Her coworkers think her ideas are ridiculous; they think her students do not have a chance to succeed because they have the reading proficiency of a 5th-grade student. With the effort that Mrs. G puts into her teaching methods, she ends up transforming the classroom and her students. The effort that she puts in exceeds the limits of her personal life because she becomes too busy solving her students' problems. In the end, room 203 students idolized Mrs. G for helping them see life differently and they joined together for her to keep being their teacher for their last 2 years of high school.  

Teachers are an important part of our system, however, they do not hold a cape. 

 

 

 

 

Reference list:

Typecasting teachers: How media portrayals mirror public perception - YouTube

As if teachers' jobs aren't hard enough, they're asked to fix poverty, too - YouTube

Freedom Writers - YouTube

 

Hollywood Goes to School: Recognizing the Superteacher Myth in Film: "Start Your Research" (txstate.edu)