Teachers in Film: Always in Process

Authors

  • Claire Ahn University of British Columbia
  • Carl Leggo University of British Columbia

Abstract

Teachers are often portrayed in Hollywood films as superhuman. While these types of films may perpetuate certain stereotypes of teachers, they can also have a great influence. Based on their own teaching experiences, and having viewed and re-viewed the films Dangerous Minds (Bruckheimer, Simpson, & Smith, 1995) and The English Teacher (Despres, LeClair, Salerno, & Zisk, 2013), the authors reflect on the importance of offering pre-service teachers the chance to consider how Hollywood-teacher films can affect their emerging teacher identities. This article is the result of a research project that included an extensive review of 25 Hollywood-teacher films, and through the processes of narrative inquiry provides a self-reflexive discussion on how certain films have shaped the authors’ teaching and teacher identities.

Author Biographies

Claire Ahn, University of British Columbia

Faculty of Education, Queen's University

Carl Leggo, University of British Columbia

Department of Language and Literacy Education

Professor

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Published

2019-03-29

How to Cite

Ahn, C., & Leggo, C. (2019). Teachers in Film: Always in Process. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue Canadienne De l’éducation, 42(1), 117–137. Retrieved from https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/3410