"The Office" For Teachers!

The movie Chalk definitely does seem like The Office for teachers! It is an overview of a school year for a few teachers in a school. After watching the first half of this movie, I think it is very obvious that this is not 'reality tv' but instead a scripted movie about the flaws in our education system.

Most of the teachers in this movie do not have great teaching skills. Although the movie does only focus on the lives of the teachers and not much on how they are teaching, I think this fact enhances the thoughts that teachers are too concerned with their own issues. In real life I do not always believe that is true, but in this movie it is. There is a first year History teacher who has no skills with classroom management yet. His students are disrespectful and make fun of him all the time. As a potential teacher this is probably the biggest nightmare. How do you control a classroom? How does your appearance affect your students perception of you? How do you change their thoughts and actions? This history teacher is a great example of someone who is struggling to gain control in the classroom.

Another history teacher, a third year, has taken the opposite approach; he is very friendly with the kids, because he wants to become teacher of the year. I think this is also a good example of something to learn from as a new teacher. Being students friends is not a good way to make sure they are learning.

As I'm talking about focusing too much on the teachers, they are all I'm writing about. But throughout the movie so far I realize that the students in this school do not seem stupid. They do not lack the ability to learn and grow, they just simply are taking the easy road through school because their teachers are letting them. I think these students could be doing very well if they had the right instruction. These teachers are experts in their fields of knowledge, and should be trying to help the students learn and become excited about different parts of the world. I'm excited to see the conclusion of this movie, and how these teachers change.