Dangerous Minds
Movie Review by: Sarah Sherman, American University

Synopsis: A wannabe student- teacher is thrown into a full-time teaching position. She soon realizes that first time teaching jitters are the least of her problems. Unsupportive school staff and an insufficient school curriculum plague her classroom of minority, bussed in students, each of whom come to class with social problems that far exceed the confinements of school walls.

Reflection: 1. What opening images do you see in the beginning of the film? How do they immediately contrast with the images presented as the students arrive to the Pal Alto neighborhood school? What music is being played? How are the lyrics significant?

2. What do the demographics in Ms. Johnson?s class tell us about tracking? What stereotypes does the school administration place upon the class? How is this reflected by the class curriculum? If you are currently a teacher, do you see any of your students being portrayed by the characters? Do you see yourself in the classroom?

3. We know that the staff and school administration stereotypes the students. How does the movie stereotype Ms. Johnson? Do these stereotypes still resonate today?

4. What does Ms. Johnson learn form her students? What do they learn form her? How much of her own experiences does she share with her class or individual students? Does it make a negative or positive difference? Is the way in which she encourages her students realistic and/or appropriate? Why or why not? What conclusions can be drawn with regard to encouragement, individualizing student needs, and higher achievement?

Activity: A Poetry Lesson in Three Acts

Act I- Pick a classical poem with which you are comfortable and familiar. Teach the lesson to your class or a couple of friends (family members will do) with out asking any questions or encouraging discussion. At the end of the lesson, evaluate how much is learned and gauge the level of overall interest.

Act II- Using the same poem, teach the lesson by using a creative presentation via your own experience, music and/or images. Ask questions and encourage discussion. Evaluate by assessing the understanding of the piece and gauge the level of overall interest.

Act III- Compare your lessons! What worked well and what did not? Are you comfortable with teaching using your own experiences? Are you usually so encouraging? Was it hard to keep yourself from asking questions?

My own Reflection:

Creating a Reel to Real Activity was a challenge- but I enjoyed it. I really had to give the activity a theme (or at least I tried?). There were so many issues that I wanted to explore and so I attempted to bring them to light through my reflection questions. I was definitely able to integrate content from the book (socio-economic, race, gender issues, and teaching philosophies). I loved to initiate the refection questions and activities because it gave me a chance to take a holistic chunk of information and break it down so that people doing the assignment can get a better feel for the why?s and how?s. I struggled mostly with deciding on what to concentrate. If given the chance to do this again, I would probably see a better movie, but I think I made some good connections to what we have learned from the text and class.