top inspirational teacher movies
Top 10 Inspirational Teacher Movies
Teachers not only help kids with their studies, but also groom them into good human beings. The student-teacher relationship has played the perfect setting for so many movies, which are nothing short of being inspirational. We take the opportunity to pay ode to all teachers in the world with a compilation of the top 10 inspirational teacher movies that are a must-see for all.
"Education... is painful, continual and difficult work to be done in kindness, by watching, by warning,... by praise, but above all ― by example."
In this increasingly competitive world, we find a dire need for better role models for the children. With their busy schedule and a never-ending race to better themselves, we can only look up to our teachers to teach them right from wrong.
Teaching is an art where you not just have to inculcate what is being taught, but also more than the words itself. A good teacher knows that textbook teaching is only 10% of the actual teaching, and the rest comes from the technique used in teaching and life experiences. It is important to teach the children at a level lower than the child's age so that those students who are less than average in studies can also understand what is being taught. And when all else fails, come up a new method of teaching.
Teachers are silent heroes who not only teach their students to read and write, but also instill some lessons that would last them a lifetime. Their hard work and dedication have inspired a long list of movies. Following is a list of inspirational teacher movies that each student should browse through for a lesson or two.
― John Ruskin
Dead Poets Society
| Director: | Peter Weir |
| Producer: | Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, Steven Haft |
| Actors: | Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke. |
| Released: | 1989 |
| Duration: | 128 min. |
Professor Keating is the new English teacher in an elite prep school. Keating uses unorthodox methods of studying, and teaches the students more than the regular curriculum. He also introduces a handful of those students to a secret society called the Dead Poets Society, where they are encouraged to avidly read poetry beyond the standard school books. The professor encourages them to believe in themselves and speak for themselves. He teaches them to look at the world from a different angle and perspective. He teaches the students to be self-reliant and free thinkers, and in the face opposition asks his students to stand up and say what they feel is right. In the end, each in their own way changes for good.
No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.
― John Keating
The Miracle Worker
| Director: | Arthur Penn |
| Producer: | Fred Coe |
| Actors: | Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory. |
| Released: | 1962 |
| Duration: | 107 min. |
Helen Keller was a remarkable woman. She was deaf, mute, and blind since infancy. This movie is based on her autobiography, 'The Story of My Life'. As a child, she struggles to communicate, and that in turn turned her violent, out of sheer frustration. A ray of hope entered her life in the form of Annie Sullivan. Anne taught her to talk and read in sign language, like the deaf do. This movie is about her struggles with herself and the world, replete with a lot of love, help, support, and unorthodox and unique methods of teaching. A must watch for all students and teachers who share an amazing relationship.
It's less trouble to feel sorry for her than it is to teach her anything better.
― Annie Sullivan
To Sir, with Love
| Director: | James Clavell |
| Producer: | James Clavell, Sidney Poitier |
| Actors: | Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts. |
| Released: | 1967 |
| Duration: | 105 min. |
Mark Thackeray is an engineer-turned teacher who ends up teaching in a class of rowdy and incorrigible students, in an East End London school. This is obviously not welcomed by the students. He decides to teach the children about life rather than what is taught in the books. He eventually wins their respect and trust. Mark is the ideal role model for such children, and thus, they refer to him as 'Sir'. The film deals with discrimination on economics and race.
I believe one should fight for what one believes. Provided one is absolutely sure one is absolutely right.
― Mark Thackeray
Freedom Writers
| Director: | Richard LaGravenese |
| Producer: | Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher |
| Actors: | Hilary Swank, Erin Gruwell, Patrick Dempsey. |
| Released: | 2007 |
| Duration: | 123 min. |
Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, requires a teacher for their freshman English class, and Erin Gruwell steps up to the plate. She finds herself amidst a racially diverse batch of students, who are rigidly sticking to their own ethnicity. Gruwell dedicates her time and efforts into reaching out and helping these troubled teens.
You know what's gonna happen when you die? You're gonna rot in the ground, and people are going to go on living, and they're going to forget all about you. And when you ROT, do you think it's gonna matter whether you were an original gangsta? You're dead, and nobody, NOBODY, is gonna want to remember you, because all you left in the world is this.
― Erin Gruwell
Lean on Me
| Director: | John G. Avildsen |
| Producer: | Norman Twain |
| Actors: | Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume. |
| Released: | 1989 |
| Duration: | 108 min. |
Joe Clark returns to Eastside High School after 20 years. He finds himself in a hoodlum school, where the students have no respect for the school or each other. Their unruly attitude leads to the school being known as the worst school in the state. With tough discipline choices, a bull horn, and a baseball bat, he whips the school into shape. His decisions and actions win him respect from both the teachers and students alike. He motivates the teachers to improve the students' scores, leading them to victory.
This is an institution of learning, ladies and gentlemen. If you can't control it, how can you teach? Discipline is not the enemy of enthusiasm!.
― Joe Clark
Music of the Heart
| Director: | Wes Craven |
| Producer: | Allan Miller, Susan Kaplan, Marianne Maddalena, Walter Scheuer |
| Actors: | Meryl Streep, Cloris Leachman, Henry Dinhofer. |
| Released: | 1999 |
| Duration: | 124 min. |
Roberta Guaspari finds herself a job at an East Harlem school as a music teacher, teaching violin. With a rough start and little to no encouragement or support from the students or the colleagues, Roberta finally has a breakthrough. Ten years into teaching in the school, the class is shut down due to lack of funding. Without adequate support, Roberta decides to fight back.
I want you all to take a second and just... breathe. Deep breaths. Now listen to me. I want you all to play from your heart. Forget about the audience, watch me, you'll do just fine. Just play from here.
― Roberta Guaspari
The Ron Clark Story (The Triumph)
| Director: | Randa Haines |
| Producer: | Tom Cox, Craig McNeil, Murray Ord, Jordy Randall |
| Actors: | Matthew Perry, Judith Buchan, Griffin Cork. |
| Released: | 2006 |
| Duration: | 90 min. |
This story takes us to upstate New York. Ron Clark shifts from a stable job to a school in Manhattan school. He reinstills hope and courage into the lives of many students, who have been considered to be good-for-nothings. He uses innovative rules and techniques to bring these morally lost children back on track. He goes to extreme highs and lows to get these children from attending school, and studying at home. He encourages their unique arts, and instills self-confidence and trust in their capabilities. This, in turn, is well-reciprocated by the students through their grades.
New York public schools are desperate for good teachers. Newspaper says they're begging for them. Dad, every year I tell my students to go for what they want in life - dream big, take risks. It's time I start living up to my own words.
― Ron Clark
Dangerous Minds
| Director: | John N. Smith |
| Producer: | Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson |
| Actors: | Michelle Pfeiffer, George Dzundza, Courtney B. Vance. |
| Released: | 1995 |
| Duration: | 99 min. |
Miss Louanne is a Marine Corps veteran with a degree in education, who begins her new job at an inner city school in California. She is given a class of students who have been labeled as 'rejects from Hell'. These kids have no interest in education and are very anti-social. With great persistence, she eventually gets them to learn literature. She uses unique methods of teaching including bribery with candy bars and intimidation. She is finally able to reach out to the students and help them through tough problems, viz., teenage-pregnancy and bullying that threatens the academic future of the students, shyness, etc., while introducing them to their true potential.
You asked me once how I was gonna save your life. This is it. This moment.
― Louanne
Stand and Deliver
| Director: | Ramón Menéndez (as Ramon Menendez) |
| Producer: | Tom Musca |
| Actors: | Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan. |
| Released: | 1988 |
| Duration: | 103 min. |
Jaime Escalante is a tough mathematics teacher in an East LA high school. He is handed a classroom full of students who have been labeled to be unteachable losers. However, he is determined to turn their lives around. He bonds with the students on the common basis of being a Hispanic student body. The students eventually realize that their only way out of poverty is through education. This epiphany drives the students to study harder, which pays off by them receiving the highest test scores in the Educational Testing Service.
Did you know that neither the Greeks nor the Romans were capable of using the concept of zero? It was your ancestors, the Mayans, who first contemplated the zero. The absence of value. True story. You *burros* have math in your blood... A negative times a negative equals a positive.
― Jaime Escalante
Front of the Class
| Director: | Peter Werner |
| Producer: | Andrew Gottlieb |
| Actors: | James Wolk, Treat Williams, Dominic Scott Kay. |
| Released: | 2008 |
| Duration: | 95 min. |
Brad Cohen is a gifted teacher with a twist. He is challenged by Tourette's syndrome at a very young age. His journey is difficult as he is unable to control his outbursts. He teaches his students to be respectful towards other people. His personal struggles teach his students life lessons beyond books. He tells his students that imperfections in a person aren't bad, but it is what makes them unique in their own way and to work beyond their shortcomings. He helps students read better and understand the world around them less superficially and in a more sympathetic manner.
Everyone, regardless of ability or disability, has strengths and weaknesses. Know what yours are. Build on your strengths and find a way around your weaknesses.
― Brad Cohen