Comments on: Unfit For The Grind /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/ less helpful Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:11:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: dy/dan » Blog Archive » How Teaching Movies Fail Me /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-198449 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:11:04 +0000 /?p=658#comment-198449 […] Mr. K My question, then, is whether there are any depictions of teaching you find worthwhile, or whether you’d relegate everything to the same trashheap as Kindergarden Cop? […]

]]> By: dy/dan » Blog Archive » dy/av : 003 : preview /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-124219 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:39:29 +0000 /?p=658#comment-124219 […] Unfit For The Grind, concerning Chalk, possibly the best teacher movie I have ever seen. Which, of course, is as faint as praise comes around here. […]

]]> By: A. Mercer /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-65075 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:16:55 +0000 /?p=658#comment-65075 I think ALL of us have had a Lowery moment of complete impotence in front of a class. I suspect anyone who says they haven’t is LYING.

But, you are giving me food for thought about Rendell, OTOH, she is NOT a teacher, but an administrator, and lots of teachers, like that character, cannot make that transition. I doubt I could. Anyway, I liked the movie, even if I didn’t like all the characters. You didn’t. I doubt we’ll get any further on this topic.

]]> By: dan /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-65036 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:41:34 +0000 /?p=658#comment-65036 Point of the movie? Nah. But the line’s inclusion as a culminating realization for Redell’s character indicates an underlying pedagogy I find thoroughly disappointing.

And FWIW at various times I’ve embodied the worst characteristics of both, Lowrey’s totally inadequate classroom management and Stroope’s centerstage preening.

]]> By: A. Mercer /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-65017 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:58:21 +0000 /?p=658#comment-65017 Judging by your new post, I think you over-generalized from one character (and one line) as to the point of the entire movie. The character of Mr. Lowery, and his failure to inspire or motivate his students and his realization that maybe he shouldn’t be a teacher because of that seemed to make the opposite point. You can’t just go up there and start talking and expect to earn the respect and attention of students.

Ken’s point, in the next post, that movies and tv rarely provide realistic portrayals of any profession is worth noting. Also, I don’t know if Chalk had one point to make about the profession.

As an afterthought, I have to admit that you came to mind when I saw Mr. Stroope, starting the year/class by greeting his students at the door.

]]> By: dan /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-65015 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:56:13 +0000 /?p=658#comment-65015 I can only knock Chalk so hard. The Hornet spelling bee was pretty awesome, as was the movie’s generally good ear for teacher dialogue.

I can’t, however, find any sympathetic interpretation for the quote above. Are we meant to believe that Mrs. Redell, upon stepping back into the classroom, will suddenly embrace the burden of giving kids a reason to care about school? Or will she continue to focus her efforts and affection on the kids whose parents buy them pencils and binders, who come to school with the engagement switch set to “on”?

It is my privilege to give kids a reason to care about remedial algebra who otherwise wouldn’t. It is my challenge. It is my joy. It isn’t some adjunct to my job description, which I can embrace or shrug off at my discretion.

]]> By: Tom /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-64975 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:50:02 +0000 /?p=658#comment-64975 I agree with A. Mercer. There were things about Chalk that I thought didn’t work but all around I thought it was a pretty great movie. I mean, for once it was a teacher movie that wasn’t a treacly piece of pap.

Oh and hey … don’t knock Major League. That’s a quality flick.

]]> By: A. Mercer /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-64347 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:25:55 +0000 /?p=658#comment-64347 I liked that portrayal, but it might have been personal because it was a similar “epiphany” that led to me to quit teaching at Community Day School. A co-worker who had done a lot of teaching at CYA and Community Day took me aside, and said, “Look, you want to teach, this is not about teaching subject matter, it’s about teaching behavior and helping kids, you need to find a job where you can teach.”

In certain AP positions, you deal only with behavior (and almost never with good ones in that position). If you want to see a variety of kids, with a variety of behaviors, you won’t get that. I like having a variety of kids, I’m more effective with the “problem” students, and I’m not burnt out. I get to teach the kids about content, and about behavior. It’s a nice mix. That’s why I get where she’s coming from.

We bring to the movie theatre our background, and we see the characters in different ways. You may think that movie and that character sucked, I don’t.

]]> By: Benjamin Baxter /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-64297 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:48:25 +0000 /?p=658#comment-64297 If only teaching were so easy.

Mr. K: I’d add Clueless to that list if I thought people would take it as a joke. Heh.

I always thought that Stand and Deliver was all right, though.

http://awaitingtenure.wordpress.com/

]]> By: Mr. Chase /2008/unfit-for-the-grind/#comment-64144 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:21:39 +0000 /?p=658#comment-64144 What’s missing from these films? What is it that’s slightly out of focus or just-a-bit off?

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