Take the Lead

So, at this moment, I am watching the movie "Take the Lead" with Antonio Banderas as a ballroom dance teacher who ends up in an urban city school.

Near the beginning of the movie, Banderas' character gives a perfect example of the time/place edge talked about in Milton Chen's Education Nation.  He continually opens the door for everyone going out of the principal's office.  There is a student next to him who keeps chiding him for doing this, saying "You ain't even gettin' their digits."  But, he just maintains that it is the right thing to do, and so he will keep doing it.  He holds the door open for three women and then sits back down and says "See, all three of them smiled at me as they were walking out."  This is a perfect example of every moment can be a teaching moment.

Also, it was interesting to see the principal's reaction to Banderas' character opening the door for everyone.  She just thinks that he is a freak and tells her secretary to get the security ready for her meeting with this guy.  As he is going into her office, the student whom he was sitting by opens the door for a woman and the principal yells at him to "sit down."  It is interesting because he was a much better teacher than she was at that present moment.  He taught this guy manners, but the guy was all "that's idiotic, man."  But, Banderas' character planted a seed in the student's brain to open a door for people.