Last Thursday during the tutorial we were asked to watch a movie called “Mona Lisa Smiles”. I’ve had seen this movie before, so, I know how the storyline progressed. Even though that was my second time watching it, it did not change the fact that I still love that movie. From a scale of 1-10, I would have rated it as an 8. The reason being is that it is a touching yet entertaining story about a teacher’s will to change the conservative society during the 1950s. I didn’t give it a ten since it is somewhat like “Dead Poets’ Society” where a new teacher trying to help his students to think outside the box. But, it did gave me a glimpse of how women it that era were treated and what a mundane role they were expected to play in society. They were somewhat brainwashed into thinking that they were just born to be house makers and nothing else. So, the women of the modern generation have more freedom to achieve career success and personal success.
The value that I see in the movie from the perspective of education is that students should be thought to think and not be too conformed by textbooks. The students in the classrooms would just vomit everything that they have memorized from the book and that is not meaningful learning. As teachers to be, I feel that we should teach them to appreciate education by enjoying it as well. Teachers should use other kinds of material that can attract students’ attention and interests like bringing materials that are not from the textbook. This has inspired me to be a teacher that would consider the students’ needs and be creative to make the lessons more interesting for the students. The only problem is time since teachers are expected to multi task and they are pressured to complete the syllabus. So, as a teacher-to-be I need to know how to manage my time. This movie also shows that students are actually wants to learn if teachers be more willing to let go of control of the classroom sparingly and not be a dictator of knowledge.
Katherine is an outstanding woman and teacher who does not agree to her students conforming to the female stereotype of the society at that time. She thinks that females should not just take up the role as a wife and mother but instead they should pursue a career of their own as well. This is where Katherine introduces and teaches modern arts instead of the prescribed syllabus of traditional arts. Aware of losing her job if she continues teaching modern arts, she is not even a bit affected by that. In fact, she continues speaking about feminism in her speeches. From this movie, I see that Katherine is one good example of a teacher who does not just teach the students but also educate the students.
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