A Good Teacher looks something like...
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) is a film about a composer, Glenn Holland, who takes a job as a high school music teacher, only to realize the struggles of teaching an art in a way that engages all students, as well as to acquire the needed respect from administration to receive proper funding and be treated with dignity and equality to other subjects. This clip is a compilation of Mr. Holland’s growth as a teacher, and his student’s growth as a musician. In the first scene, Mr. Holland asks a student to play her part on her own in front of the class. Although Mr. Holland was being mindful of the overall sound of the band and trying to perfect that as much as he could, singling-out a struggling student was not the best approach to fixing the issue. When speaking with her after practice, his tone of voice sounds slightly disappointed that this girl hasn’t learned the needed skills quicker in her 3 years playing experience, however, Holland does offer his personal time to practice with her one-on one, a clear sign that he cares about his students and goes above and beyond what his contract says he is required to do. Later on, Holland’s choice of wording, saying: ‘give it up’ at the end of their individual practice, was not the greatest use of the phrase, sounding more like ‘just quit already’ then ‘good work today; we’ll continue tomorrow.’ Holland quickly realizes his mistake, however, and explains to his student what he actually meant, making a mental note to be more thoughtful with his choice of words. He then listens to the girl’s personal story to understand her better and the psychological barriers she has made for herself. This act shows humbleness on Holland’s part, recognizing that he does not know everything there is to know about teaching, that he can learn a lot from his students, and thus that he will become a better teacher when he knows how to cater to their needs. When his student is prepared to quit, Mr. Holland asks a pivotal question to her: “Is it any fun?” At this moment, Holland realizes that he has spent so much of his time focusing on the ‘notes on the page’ in class, that his students are not finding true enjoyment in their playing. To them, it is more of a task needed to complete than a mere pleasing hobby. The connection between their leisurely music-listening outside of class and their by-the-book music-learning within class was not being made. This point is an excellent example of the very issues that Rose and Countryman discuss in their article about the elements of music. Holland says to his student: “playing music is about heart, it’s about feelings, and moving people, and something beautiful in being alive, and it’s not about notes on a page. I can teach you notes on a page, I can’t teach you that other stuff.” In actuality, Holland was teaching her a value lesson, about the perspective in which she would carry on to view her practice time and performing. He makes her play without music, knowing that she can do it, she just needs to trust herself. Once she has discovered this, he asks her to play using imagery of something personal and beautiful to her. This takes away the scariness and vulnerability of having to be creative musically, just as Dawe mentions in her article. It can be scary for a student to be asked to play with a style that they think they’re not capable of, but as Holland demonstrates with his teaching, that if one makes it personal for the student, it becomes familiar as well as enjoyable, and they then feel that nothing is too difficult for them to conquer. In summary, Glenn Holland is an exemplar model of a good teacher, because he offers his own time to give a student extra help, going above and beyond his job requirements; he learns from his students, by being patient and listening to what they have to say; and he makes music-learning fun, by demonstrating that there are many possible ways one can interpret music and be musical, and by giving students the extra boost they need to be successful. |
A Bad Teacher looks something like...
3rd Rock from the Sun is a 1990’s comedic sitcom about a ‘family’ of aliens, sent to earth in human form to blend in, observe, and report back to their home planet all information that they’ve collected from people in the hopes of better understanding the human race. Dick Solomon, the ‘father’ of the family, has the role of a university physics professor, however he struggles with communicating to his students, as he is far ahead of them in terms of academics and terminology, and they are (obviously) much more familiar than he is with feelings and other human qualities or expressions of emotion. This clip begins in Solomon’s classroom, where he is giving a lecture, frantically writing equations on the board. Right from the beginning, it is obvious that Solomon is going far too fast for any of his students to follow what he is doing. When none of the students can solve his equation, he poses another simpler question to them: “How far away is Cleveland?” to which he is looking for several different answers. Eventually, a student, Leon, raises his hand, but before giving a response he withdraws his attempt, saying that he knows that his idea will be wrong. A good teacher would then discourage a student for thinking in such a negative way about their own ideas, or say something encouraging like “there are no wrong answers to this question, so go ahead.” Quite the contrary, Solomon agrees with Leon, saying: “of course it’s wrong, Leon, it’s you. The odds of you being right are staggering.” This situation shows that Solomon has no faith in his students, and in addition to that, he addresses them in a very degrading way. Leon then offers his opinion, saying that “Cleveland is an eternity away, if your heart is there.” Solomon finds Leon’s answer to be quite fascinating, and proceeds making an attempt at solving his own initial question mathematically using his own method to arrive at Leon’s conclusion. When Solomon’s method does not fit with Leon’s idea, he automatically deems Leon as being indefinitely wrong, showing that Solomon cannot accept any other method of thinking than that of his own. This is a very poor quality in anyone, especially in that of a teacher, as they can be extremely prominent figures in the lives of students and act as role models to impressionable young adults, whether that modelling source be good or bad. Another student attempts at explaining what Leon meant by his answer, bringing the topic of feelings into the discussion. Solomon’s attitude then immediately turns sour, and he begins denoting the importance of feelings, forcing his personal opinions on the entire class. This clip cuts off before the scene is over, however after Solomon proclaims “I think we could all do without feelings, who’s with me?” and no one raises their hand, Solomon states “your grade depends on it!” and the hands of everyone in his class immediately shoot up. This is a direct threat to his students, stating that if they do not agree with his views, they will all fail his class – clearly, Solomon is an extremely close-minded teacher. In summary, Dick Solomon is a bad teacher because he has no patience, moving too fast for his students to understand concepts and showing no faith in their abilities; he is derogatory, in that he constantly singles-out particular students and addresses them in a degrading manner; and he is close-minded, in that he cannot accept methods of learning or perspectives other than his own, and threatens his students with bad grades if they should choose to disagree with him. |