Mr. Holland's Opus. Akeelah and the Bee. Lean on Me. Remember The Titans. To Sir, With Love. These are some of my favorite movies because they always leave me feeling good at the end of them. Teachers standing up for their students. Teachers doing the right thing. Teachers going that extra mile because they care that much.
Every time I watch these I feel great on one had and crappy on the other. I had thought when I was younger that I wanted to be a teacher. There was something so admirable about the profession. Imparting knowledge to others? Noble, in my view. The teachers I knew and admired made such a huge impact on my life. They each instilled in me something different. A love of school, a love of books, a love of writing, a love of theater, and a love of music. Along with the love, they imparted upon me an appreciation of each of those things as well. How huge is that??? So the crappy part comes from me not following that instinct to become a teacher.
Who's to say that teaching isn't in my future still? Perhaps it can be my second-life career. I just know that watching those movies inspires me in a way nothing else does. To think of myself having that impact on others--the way teachers did for me--makes me want to do more in my life. I want to be a better person after watching those movies.
Mary!!!
ReplyDeleteI love this post! In my haste to get an A-Z Challenge reflection post thrown together and up where I acknowledged my newfound friends, I left off so many blogs/friends, yours/you included!!!! I am so glad to see this post and look forward to linking this post to an upcoming one of mine about teaching (I am one) :).
I offer encouragement that it is NEVER to late to pursue what has been written upon your heart, and if it is teaching for you, I say 'go for it'. I also offer a....caution? I am not sure the right word here.....Teaching isn't for the faint of heart. Not that I am suggesting that you aren't up for it, because I really don't know that at all. I can only speak from having been there in the trenches: it is one of the HARDEST professions out there, outside of some manual labor jobs. I have a book idea in mind about the profession with a 'tongue in cheek' but halfway serious title about trying to talk one out of the profession of teaching (because only the best/strongest should remain there.)
Love this post. I'd like to suggest another movie if you haven't seen it - The Ron Clark Story starring Matthew Perry. It is a true story (of course) about a teacher that now has a school in Atlanta. I heard him speak last week at a conference I attended. A-MAZING. You'd love it. Critics took apart Freedom Writers, but I loved that one too.