Freedom Writers
2 hours, 3 min.
This movie is based on a true story about a teacher trying to get through
racial and socioeconomic barriers to connect with and teach her students. The
lessons taught in her classroom go beyond school and stay with her students
and with any audience watching the movie.
Starring Hilary Swank, Mario, and April Lee Hernández.
This is a story about a great teacher.
Coach Carter
2 hours, 16 min.
This is a movie about a real high school basketball coach who made sure that
his team didn't forget that they were students too.
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Rob Brown, and Channing Tatum.
This movie shows a coach that wants to push his team to their best in
every way.
Mona Lisa Smile
1 hour, 57 min.
This movie is about a professor in the 1950s at an all-girls college who pushes
her students to be independent thinkers when everything surrounding them
is traditional values and styles that leave no room for individuality.
This movie goes well with Dead Poets Society (listed below) because
both focus on different genders, and so both together should get through
to almost every student and teacher.
Starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, and Julia Stiles.
This is a story about a professor who inspires her students.
The Great Debaters
2 hours, 6 min.
This movie is based on a true story of a college professor who inspired
and worked with his students to battle racism in the 1930s South and form
a debate team that earns its way to the top of the competition.
Starring Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and Jurnee Smollett.
This professor became an inspirational coach who, with his students,
proved that what has yet to be done is possible.
Dead Poets Society
2 hours, 20 min.
This movie is about a high school teacher in the 1950s at an all-boys school
who pushes his students to be individuals and not simply conform to their
conservative world.
This movie goes well with Mona Lisa Smile (listed above) because
both focus on different genders, and so both together should get through
to almost every student and teacher.
Starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke.
This is a story about a teacher who inspires his students.
School of Rock
1 hour, 49 min.
This movie is about a musician who sees substitute teaching as a purely
financial opportunity and then accidentally discovers that he can really
teach his students a lot. The musician starts a band with the class, and the
students gain lessons that no other teacher could've given them.
Starring Jack Black, Joan Cusack, and Miranda Cosgrove.
This is a fun movie about a good teacher's music class.
McFarland, USA
2 hours, 9 min.
This movie is based on a true story a high school coach who saw talent in
some students and made sure those kids got the opportunity to succeed. The
coach struggles with family time and getting acclimated to a different culture in
his new neighborhood while dedicating all his energy to his new team.
Starring Kevin Costner, Carlos Pratts, and Ramiro Rodriguez.
This movie shows how important a coach is to the students on a team and how
that coach's lessons can impact those students long after they graduate.
Election
1 hour, 45 min.
This isn't one of those movies about an inspiring teacher, but it's a good
movie for showing funny mistakes that are easily avoidable.
This movie is about a high school teacher who gets too distracted by one
over-achieving student and tries to mess up that student's high school
political ambitions, but ends up making a mess of his own life.
Starring Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Klein.
This is a funny movie about why high school politics should stay between
the students.