Saturday, January 06, 2007

Freedom Writers

I won't see this movie until it comes out on DVD (as is the case with practically all movies), but I was curious enough to click on this review.

Here's the sentence that I found interesting: "Teachers, I know, need all the inspiring Hollywood can give them."

Really, folks, is that what we need? Inspiration from Hollywood? Maybe you're going to go see this movie for the teaching tips?

I don't know about you, but I don't get my inspiration for teaching from movies. I get it from other teachers, and from reading teacher books and teacher blogs. And from my students, even on the days when they are trying hardest not to learn anything.

Has anybody seen the movie? What did you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen the movie but I have read the reviews. Lukewarm, at best. I would watch it on DVD or cable, so I guess it's good that you can't see it in the theatre anyway. LOL.
That line about inspiration is pretty ludicrous. A review in one of the NY papers made an excellent point: If Erin Gruwell thought teaching inner-city kids was her calling, she would still be teaching, not lecturing around the country about teaching inner-city kids. (According to the review, she only taught for 5 years. Thats not nearly long enough to become a master teacher!)

Ruth said...

It's comical to me to think that all these great-teacher-changes-the-world movies are actually made to inspire us to teach better! Ha!

Good point about the author of this book. You know, it's a WHOLE lot easier to lecture about teaching than it is to teach.