Films
From LiteracyTentWiki
Stand and Deliver (1988)
"Plot Outline: A dedicated teacher inspires his dropout prone students to learn calculus to build up their self-esteem and do so well that they are accused of cheating" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094027/
Front of the Class (2008)
Dangerous Minds (1995)
"Plot Outline: An ex-marine teacher struggles to connect with her students in an inner city schools." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112792/
Educating Rita (1983)
"A young wife decides to complete her education and take her exams. She meets a professor who teaches her to value her own insights while still being able to beat the exams. The change in her status causes friction between her and her husband." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085478/
My Fair Lady (1964)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058385/
Green Card (1990)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099699/
Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087747/
Pretty Woman (1990)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100405/
The Corn is Green (1945)
Plot Summary: Schoolteacher Lilly Moffat is dismayed by conditions in a Welsh mining town. She sets up a school to teach fundamental education to the villagers... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037614/
Coach Carter (2005)
This is a moving very modern (this took place in the late 1990's) story where Samuel L. Jackson plays a sporting goods store owner who takes on the challenge of coaching a high school basketball team in a poor shool in Richmond, CA, where the students are plagued by violence, drugs, and a school system that assumes they will not graduate or amount to much. He ends up benching the whole team after he learns they are underperforming academically. Even though he is hired as a coach, not a teacher, his focus on academics and the change in his students' attitudes is inspiring.
Take the Lead (2006)
A new movie with Antonio Banderas playing a ballroom dance instructor who volunteers to monitor detention hall at an inner New York City high school, and ends up changing the life of the kids, their self esteem, and their outlook on life after taking on the challenge of teaching them ballroom dancing.
Lean On Me (1989)
Morgan Freeman plays Joe Clark, an inner city Patterson, New Jersey, high school principal who takles the issue of drugs and students' expectations in an underperforming school and succeeds in spite of having parents, teachers, and politicians against him. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097722/
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
Richard Dreyfuss played a composer taking a job as a music teacher at a high school and facing the challenge of teaching music to teenagers who are not interested. He of course ends up learning as much about himself as teaching his students and inpiring them with his passion for music.
To Sir With Love (late 1960's)
Sidney Poitier plays a black teacher in a white slum of London facing kids who distrust him because of his color at a time when he could not find any other job. Slowly through unconventional methods (including throwing away the books) he turns the lives of the kids around. In the process, they learn to call him "Sir."
"One of Sidney Portier's best! He finds a job outside of his engineering field teaching inner-city students in London. He realizes that they need much more than literature and math to become contributing citizens. He gives them basic living skills and lessons." Marsha Connet, PT instructor, Milwaukee Area Technical College-Wisconsin
Dead Poets Society (mid to late 1980's)
With Robin Williams playing an English teacher at a prep school who attempts to teach appreciation for literature to completely uninterested students. As students learn to challenge assumptions and behavior expectations they and their teacher run into a very conservative 1950's New England establishment.
The Emperor's Club (2002)
Kevin Kline plays a classics teacher at a prep school who 25 years after teaching his first group of well off New Englanders has an opportunity to see how profoundly he has affected the lives of the majority of his students. He learns, then, that he has had an impact even though he failed to change the one student he had wanted to turn around early on.
Good Will Hunting (1997)
"Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, a boy genius who was severely abused as a child and has been in trouble with the law ever since. When Will finally agrees to get counseling to keep himself out of jail and with his girlfriend (Minnie Driver), he meets Sean, the therapist (Robin Williams) who will change his life. Good Will Hunting tells the poignant story of Will and Sean's coming to terms with the blows life has dealt them and with the questions that lie in the future." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119217/plotsummary
The Karate Kid (1984)
"A handyman/martial arts master agrees to teach a bullied boy karate and shows him that there is more to the martial art than fighting" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087538/
Good Morning Vietnam (1987)
Robin Williams does a very funny English language teaching scene.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093105/
Conrack (1974)
"A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island that they have virtually developed their own language ("Conrack" is their way of saying his name, Conroy) and, in fact, don't have much interest in learning about anything outside the island. He has to find a way to get through to these kids and teach them what they need to know and also to keep on the good side of the school superintendent, who doesn't want him there." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071358/plotsummary
The Water is Wide (2006)
"The Water is Wide is based on Pat Conroy's book of the same title. It recounts a year he spent teaching African-American children on a remote barrier island off the South Carolina coast in the late 1960s. Mr. Conroy was young, naive, idealistic, and controversial. There are people still living in the South Carolina Lowcountry who regret the outcome of the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, who will tell you that this work is fictional and unfair to the school superintendent and the black teacher. From my own experience working in Georgia schools during the same period, I know that Conroy's observations are right on target." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444706/
Rennaisance Man (1994)
"Danny DeVito plays an advertising man who is slowly sliding downhill. When he is fired from his job in Detroit, he signs up for unemployment. One day they find him a job; Teaching thinking skills to Army recruits. He arrives on base to find that there is no structure set up for the class. He begins by having them write and summarize books and magazines they are reading. When one of them asks him to describe what he is reading, he gives a National Enquirer's view of _Hamlet_, (Incest, murder, intrigue.) They ask to read it with him and the structure of the class is born; They will read _Hamlet_ and critically analize it." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110971/
Stanley and Iris (1990)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100680/
Finding Forrester (2000)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181536/
The History Boys (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464049/
Freedom Writers (2007)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463998/
The Miracle Worker (1962)
Annie Sullivan, played by Anne Bancroft, uses 'tough love' to get through to the deaf and blind Helen Keller, played by Patty Duke. Bancroft and Duke each won an Academy Award for their performances.
The Class (2008)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068646/
"Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood." (128 mins.)
Norma Rae(1979)
"Featuring an Academy Award performance from Sally Fields this is the story of a working class mother in a southern textile mill who becomes the central figure in a successful unionizing effort. It illustrates the process of adult education as it plays out in the real life issues confronting many of our students." Art Ellison, NH State Director of Adult Education
Unearthing Seeds of Fire (1988)
"The Idea of Highlander tells the story of the legendary adult education center in New Market, Tennessee that over the years has been the gathering place for civil rights workers, union organizers and community leaders from throughout the southern United States. It tells the stories of Miles Horton, the founder of Highlander, and the thousands of adults who have been connected with Highlander’s work." Art Ellison, NH State Director of Adult Education
Take the Lead (2006)
"With Antonio Bandaras...the story of a dance teacher who goes in to an inner city public school and teaches the students about the discipline of competitive dance. The students teach him about [how to] put one's own spin on whatever one does. It's wonderful for students and teachers." Marsha Connet, PT instructor, Milwaukee Area Technical College-Wisconsin
Yesterday (2004)
"...written and directed by South African filmmaker Daryl James Roodt, is about a poor, young HIV-positive mother struggling to raise her daughter alone in a desolate landscape, while coming to terms with her imminent death from AIDS." http://www.yesterdaythemovie.co.za/review_1.asp
The Great Debaters (2007)
Professor Mel Tolson of Wiley College, in 1936-37, developed a debating team that succeeded to win intercollegiate debates right through to a grand finale challenge with the Harvard debate team. Denzel Washington is Tolson." Margaret King Van DuyneMusic of the Heart (1999)
"Violin teacher Roberta Guasparin moves to Harlem to teach and. against societal pressures, develops school children into violinists." Margaret King Van Duyne
