How Is teaching portrayed to the public?
Due to the media, film makers, and stereotypes the population of people that are not teachers have a picture of what teaching is that is false. Movies provide a false image of teaching such as in "Bad Teacher" the beginning of the movie starts out with a woman who would not care less about her job and was waiting to marry a rich man to then retire from teaching. This movie at least in the beginning showed viewers that teachers do not care and are just trying to survive the days of teaching. "Bad Teacher" portrayed teachers as people who are crazy and have an easy job. This could not be further than the truth but because tons of people watched it may have influenced their opinion on teachers. Then we have movies that portray teachers as super heroes. In a movie i watched recently called "Stand and Deliver" the teacher in this movie was portrayed as a super hero. The teacher took seniors in high school who could only do second grade math and turned them into students who passed the AP calculus exam. In the movie this teacher gave up time, his family life, and risked his own health to help these senior pass the exam. I loved the movie, it did inspire me as a future teacher but showed the public the wrong image of teaching. "Stand and Deliver" showed the public that teaching is the only life that teachers are allowed to have and that they have to dedicate their entire life to their students. Teachers are people too, they have their own life. I do believe teachers should enjoy their job but for mental health reasons they need to be able to step away from their job when needed. movies are great but people need to understand that they are just movies not reality!
Hi Chesney, I love your perspective of how teaching is portrayed, and I agree that there is a lot of unrealistic portrayals of actual teachers in Hollywood movies. I watched "Dead Poets Society" and Mr. Keating (played by Robin Williams) was also the super hero, and on a mission like the teacher in "Stand in Deliver" and wanted to show their students a different side to education. I wonder how educators can spread awareness of what it really looks like to be a teacher to the public eye so more individuals would be able to relate to us, rather than resent us because of negative representation seen in movies. In another bloggers post, she mentioned movies that had a positive depiction of educators in her opinion like "School of Rock" and "Stand and Deliver," so maybe there are a few hidden gems that show a teachers true intentions. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteHey Madison! Just wanted to say thank you for commenting on my post! I love the movie "Dead Poets Society" but like you said it does show the image of a super hero teacher. I am not sure how educators could spread awareness because every teacher is different and we can not all group them together. The truth is some teachers in reality are super hero teachers but i do believe that the public takes it to the next level in films and media! I love watching movies about the educator field and loved this weeks activity because i feel that it inspires me for when i become a teacher. Yet i do not want the negative side of this being parents do not think i am doing my best with their children because of films. As long as the public can understand the difference between movies and real life i think that will help teachers in the educator field.
DeleteHi Chesney! I loved this post and how you mentioned the many different portrayals that teachers receive throughout movies. I also agree that many of the movies are great and often looked at as "feel good" stories but the truth is that they just are not very accurate. In the movie Stand and Deliver the teacher is amazing and what he does in order to achieve his students success is very admirable but it is just not reality. Teachers should have lives, it is so wrong for us to assume that they should be giving up their free time as well as their personal lives just to be successful. I really liked how you mentioned mental health, this is so important especially in education. You can have your own life and a great classroom, being a great teacher is all about finding a balance for that. I agree with all of the things that you stated in your post, great job on this topic!
ReplyDeleteHey Catarina! Thank you for taking time to comment on my blog post and provide your input. I personally love those "feel good" movies you mentioned but just as they can make people feel good they can also cause problems. For example watching some of these movies can have the public thinking that their children's teacher is not doing enough when in reality they are doing amazing. I totally agree that most movies assume that teachers eat, sleep and breath teaching but in reality it displays a life style that is not mentally or physically healthy for teachers. Teachers can be great teachers without crossing personal lines! Yet most movies display teachers having no personal lines and giving up any life outside of school.
DeleteHi Chesney!
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some really great points. Movies often portray teachers in many incorrect lights. The fact that the movie “Bad Teacher” insinuates that teaching is an easy job is so far from the truth. It gives people the wrong idea about what teachers actually do everyday. On the other hand, a lot of movies do portray teachers as “heroes” like you mentioned. I agree that this gives a very unrealistic expectation of the things that teachers do. For this module I watched the movie “Dead Poets Society” and this movie depicted the teacher as someone with a very little social life who devotes all his time to teaching. There is a scene in the movie where he talks about how his girlfriend lives across the world, but he still wants to stay at the school he currently works at simply because he “loves teaching”. This again is an unrealistic portrayal of teachers in the media that we often see.
-Lauren
Hey Lauren! Thank you commenting on my post and providing your thoughts on the subject of how teaching is portrayed to the public. Sadly most movies are one extreme or the other they either show "bad" teachers that have an "easy" job or super hero teachers that have no personal boundaries. Because of these movies stereotypes about teaching exist and also put so much pressure on teachers in the field today. I love the movie "dead Poets Society" But this is an example of a super hero teacher that has no boundaries with his job and personal life. While i do find these movies inspiring since i am going into the educational field society needs to understand they are movies not reality! Its hard for film makers to understand this as i am assuming they have not been in the education field or they would have their movies portray teachers differently.
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