Top 10 Kickass Teachers In Movies

Top 10 Kickass Teachers In Movies

5. Stand and Deliver: Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos)


Year: 1988

Director: Ramón Menéndez

The role of Escalante, played by Edward James Olmos, was very well done. Adolescents are often known for being more apt for disobedience and that’s what most of the students he was given to teach were doing. However, Escalante started to work with them on more personal levels:
He provided tough encouragement in class (“Come on! You can do this, it’s simple”; points out how math is capable of getting them over the stereotype they get)
He established a form of punishment (Sit in front of the class for everyone to look at)
Out of class interaction (Prevents Angel from getting involved in fight, visits the restaurant of Ana’s father to convince him to let her go back to school, opens his own door for them to study and prepare for the test with him, convinces Pancho to turn down a job offer, talking to Claudia about her parental and relationship issues, etc.)
Basically, Escalante plays a role that most adolescents want in their life: Someone who understands and is willing to encourage them. Sometimes even parents can’t accomplish that task.



4. Mr. Holland s Opus: Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss)


Year: 1995

Director: Stephen Herek


Glenn Holland is a professional musician who would like to spend more time composing so in 1965 he takes up teaching at a local high school. Little does he realize how little free time there will be as a teacher. Initially, he is frustrated at his inability to get through to his students but over time, he becomes quite competent at his profession and in fact has a number of successes. At home, he is devastated to learn that his infant son is deaf and struggles over the years to develop a relationship with him. When, after 30 years of teaching, the music program at his school is canceled he wonders what, if anything, he has really accomplished in his life. Friends and students, past and present, show him just what he has meant to them.



3. Half Nelson: Dan Dunne(Ryan Gosling)


Year: 2006

Director: Ryan Fleck

Most movies about teachers are inspirational tales about the positive impact they have on their students’ lives. This movie isn’t one of those. It stars Ryan Gosling as a crack-smoking junior high school teacher who connects with one of his students as his own life spirals out of control. It’s a sad but tender movie that eschews the usual conventions of movies about teachers.



2. Dead Poet s Society: John Keating (Robin Williams)


Year: 1989

Director: Peter Weir

Painfully shy Todd Anderson has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian. His room-mate, Neil, although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father. The two, along with their other friends, meet Professor Keating, their new English teacher, who tells them of the Dead Poets Society, and encourages them to go against the status quo. Each, in their own way, does this, and are changed for life.



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