Assignment #3 June 14, 2009: School of Rock

The students in Mr. S’s classroom ‘pre-Mr. S’ were high achieving, well-mannered and well-diciplined students who likely had bright academic futures ahead of them. They were not the dysfunctional students in need of saving that has often been depicted in many modern movies about teaching and schools. However, what these students did lack were original ideas and personalities of their own. This is where popular music stepped in to “save the day”. Through their rock band the found their own strengths and their own personalities were allowed to shine through. They found confidence within themselves about who they are. And perhaps most importantly, they found passion. They discovered what it is that they are passionate about and they were able to depict this passion in their roles that they played in their rock band.

The way that rock music was initially introduced to the classroom made it seem as though the students were not going to receive quality education, but were instead going to simply goof off throughout the duration of the quarter. However, they actually learned quite a bit about classic rock history and its influence on society; they gained an appreciation for this influence of music; they learned about hard work and dedication, working as a unit, and they learned how to fight for something that they believed in.

The film showed the incredible power that bringing something of interest to the students in the classroom can have on the outcome of one’s teaching. Currently my child care center is going through the accreditation process and one of the themes that we have to consistently show that we are doing is incorporating the children’s interests and ideas into our lesson plans. This is vital to the teaching process. Again I teach infants and toddlers so I can only speak to these age groups, but I would guess that its importance definitely carries over into K-12 as well. When students feel like they can relate to the information being presented they are much more likely to see its value and to retain the information than if they do not feel as though the information has any relevance to their own lives. Further, they may be more likely to apply the information they learn or the values acquired through learning this information to their daily lives and to the contribution of the greater society.

I do not think that this movie in particular was meant to display an accurate account of teaching by any means as much as it was meant to be funny and a little touching. Therefore, by stating that it was completely unrealistic and mystified teaching in general would probably be obvious. However, I must say that I have fallen prey to internalizing some messages that some movies about teaching display in terms of the overwhelming commitment the field requires. I have always wanted to be a teacher (I think I am the only one in the class not going through a program to become a teacher at this point), but the thought of not having a life outside of teaching has frightened me. This fear has been more due to the way teachers are depicted in popular media. ‘Good teachers work long hours at the school and spend sleepless nights grading papers and figuring out ways to better the lives of their students.’ Most of the good teachers are not parents themselves or if they are they are not attentive to their own children because they are so busy worrying about the children in their class. ‘Good teachers’ have definitely been robbed of having their own personal lives as they have been depicted in popular media. For myself personally, I really need to talk with more educators to grasp the extent to which this is true or false.

An aspect of the School of Rock movie that I did not enjoy was the way that it brought to life the stereotype that “those who cannot do, teach”. Not only was this explicitly stated in the film, but the entire plot was surrounded by this notion. Dewey was a failure when it came to running his own rock band, but an utter success when it came to teaching others how to ‘rock’. The Education World article discussed movies about teaching inspiring others to teach, and I would hate for an entire population of potential teachers basing their decision to become a teacher on the basis of their failure to be able to do anything else. In my opinion, some of the best teachers are those who can do and chose to teach, and I think that this describes most teachers. Also, this phrase carries the assumption that teaching is not “doing something”, as though it is not an important task that contributes to society. I would argue that it is the task that contributes to society. So, while this movie is entertaining and as much as it was enjoyable to watch Dewey and his students grow throughout the movie, I would not recommend it for its inspirational message as much as for its entertainment value.