Have you ever seen that movie? Hilary Swank plays a first year english teacher at an inner city school featuring students that are in gangs that are in an all-out gang war among races. Somehow she is able to overcome the troubles she is presented with at first, and turns the kids who could care less about anything educational into a highly successful group of professional young people. In the movie, she puts absolutely everything she has into these kids and they, in turn, give her their absolute all in her class. I was absoluely amazed at the fact that she took these kids who would rather beat the hell out of their rivals and showed them that anything is possible. Just because you come from a dead beat family that has been ripped apart from tragedy and gang activity doesn't mean that you can't surpass expectations and make the impossible possible.
This inspired me incredibly. I always thought that being an elementary teacher would limit the ways I could inspire children and push them to be their best... there are only so many things a child can do, right? I was proven wrong. If I put my all into my career and show each and every child that they are special and they matter to me, maybe I can prevent them from turning into the gang-bangers and "homies" (Haha! Had to say it once!) like in the movie. For goodness sakes! The teacher's husband in the movie told her he wanted a divorce because she spent so much time with her kids and not him! Sacrificing a marriage for children you believe in so strongly- THAT is dedication.
I have to say, even though I went into this movie in a bad mood, (it was required for one of my classes- who has time for that??) I was completely shaken by the events that happened. I never looked at teaching this way. You think you're going to be given a class eager to learn, eager to put their all into education, and eager to please the person giving them all this valuable information... but that's not always the case. Think about having a class where the students only go to school to escape the horrors at home, whose parents force them to sell drugs for extra money, who show you not a single ounce of respect because of the fact that they are never shown respect. I have no idea how I would handle a situation like this, but this movie has definitely opened my eyes and shown me that the world of teaching is not what you expect it to be. You have to roll with what you are given.
(This is the real life Freedom Writers, not the movie people)