The movie Stand and Deliver still ranks as one of my all time favorite teaching inspiration movies. Perhaps you have seen it. The movie is based on the true story of Jaime Escalante, a math teacher at Garfield High who convinces low income students to believe in themselves and their ability to be great at mathematics. The movie showcases his teaching methods in the classroom as well as those he took to teach math after school, too.
The students did so well on the 1982 Advanced Placement calculus test that they were accused of cheating, which was Escalante's first reward for being such a great teacher. The accusations were put to rest when the students passed the test a second time. It is also worth noting that the actor who played Escalante, Edward James Olmos, did so without pay! Olmos is among those who honored Escalante this past wekend.
If you have not seen Stand and Deliver, rent it from your local video store -- if it has not gone out of business yet -- and watch it. If after watching it you are not moved to tears and find yourself committed once again to being a more inventive or demanding teacher then perhaps you should go find another line of work. Perhaps if you have a colleague who just does not give a damn anymore -- or never did -- make a trip to his or her office and inspire them to do better in memory of Escalante. I'm doing my part with this blog post. Your turn to pay if forward.
To read the full story in LA Times, visit:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-escalante17-2010apr17,0,7196329.story
1 comment:
What a great post to follow the last pondering point! I feel this is a great aspect to have: "Escalante was the uncompromising teacher who made sure his students shared his priorities." Looking back on the past post "Double Down" and "Random thought," I can't help to think how to take this example and extend life long priorities to them (our students)?
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