Inspired by so-called inspirational movie star teachers who no longer teach, one of my colleagues suggested we have a Dangerous Minds party at her house where we take a shot every time Michelle Pfeiffer does something unrealistic. It’s a party none of us will remember, so I thought I’d start the conversation more permanently with this quiz.
–
ARE YOU A DREAMY MOVIE STAR TEACHER?
A quick and easy rubric quiz to help you determine if you are a good teacher. Give yourself four points for each activity completed your first year teaching.
You…
- break up in-class fight on first day
- learn karate, hip-hop dance and/or double-dutch
- speak street language, slang or otherwise (+2 for otherwise)
- visit student homes for impromptu parent-teacher conferences
- harbor abused children in apartment (+2 for each additional sibling)
- work part-time on weekends to pay for special set of SSR books
- abandon confused fiancé (+2 for self-righteous break-up fit)
- teach from video while bedridden with pneumonia
You take students to…
- a buffet (+2 for formal dinner w/ etiquette lesson)
- Charlotte Hornets game (+2 for overnight stay in hotel)
- Other activities that beg the question, ”How will we get them there?”
- Other activities that beg, ”How does this relate to my content area?”
You get students to…
- stand on chairs, walk like ducks, keep journals
- incite rebellion against instructional rules other than your own
If you watch movies, you know the average score for good teachers is 50.
My score was 49. What does that mean? Great post!
love this….
Clever and insightful post. I have been using Hollywood film clips in my PD presentations with an audience response system. I invite the teachers in the audience to “rate” the film teachers. It’s great fun, but more importantly it gets participants talking about instruction, reflecting on their practice and perhaps seeing it in new ways.
My challenge is finding “teacher” movies have any actual teaching going on in them. I invite your readers to post any teaching films they might recommend.
Also your readers might like my related blog post “Good Teachers Don’t Have To Be Cool” http://bit.ly/2Ipk6i
Wow. I suck. I got only 4 points for journal-keeping.
The most poignant part of your post is the line “inspirational movie star teachers who no longer teach“… Makes it hard to take them seriously, eh? At least someone like Rafe Esquith has been teaching for over 20 years and has replicated his results with many groups of students. (Though I’ve heard he may get to hand-pick his class.)