“The Ron Clark Story” is a movie starring Matthew Perry which featured a teacher from the suburbs who tried to make a difference in an inner-city elementary school. The storyline is almost the same as other movie regarding a teacher trying to make sense of his or her students’ lives. The main character is Ron Clark and he believes that his students can go beyond the distance and be more than what was expected of them. At the beginning he established rules that the students must obey but failed initially. As time went on, he began to use other methods like giving out candy to motivate students to answer questions. This made me recalled what I’ve learned in methodology, extrinsic motivation. His persistence and understanding paid off and the students began to warm up to him.
One of the parts in the movie that I like was when Mr. Clark used rap music to help his students to memorize the presidents of the USA. This is another method where a teacher relates the students’ interest in music or any current trend to study or lesson. This is considered as a good way to engage the students’ interest in learning. Besides that, Mr. Clark showed a lot of dedication and patience in helping his students’ education by tutoring them, visiting their homes, and persuading the parents to understand their children’s capability.
Moreover, from the movie I’ve learned that some students’ family background can affect his or her behavior and self-esteem. For instance, Tayshawn created a tough image to cover up the pain and worthlessness he felt which was caused by his foster father. He did not have self-confidence and believed he was meant to the useless forever. Because of a teacher’s dedication and encouragement, he was able the discover himself and improved his studies and himself. This movie shows a teacher’s passion for his profession and never gives up on his students. Ron Clark did not discriminate his students or labeled them as ‘stupid’, instead encourage them to be more than what they thought they can be. This is something that any teacher should learn and try to instill themselves with the same dedication and confidence in his or her profession and that includes treating their students as human beings.
Indeed Clark has a strong passion in teaching or else he would not have taken the challenge to leave his lovely hometown and travels all the way to New York to teach in a public school there. Although Clark did not have a good start there with his students, he did not give up on them easily. The more the students wanted him to quit, the more he is determined to stay back. This is the spirit that Clark has in teaching and this is what I really admire of Clark too. Let us all take the pattern of this teacher before us that we may all be excellent just like him in future when we hit the school.
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