Precious

Something happened at the end of this movie that I was not expecting at all.  But I think that it incorporates what I think about teaching.  What I think about students and human beings in general is that we are not just our behaviors.  Unfortunately, our behaviors are the only thing that can be seen by others so we are judged for who we are based on our behaviors.  Precious' mother was horribly abusive the entire movie, so much that I cried a few times with the things she told Precious.  But, I saw beyond those actions in her final monologue about what actually happened with regards to the sexual molestations of her daughter.  I saw that she was a human who had a lot of hurt, granted, I will not say that she had more hurt than her daughter.  But I was able to see the character as more than just her actions, I saw hurt behind them.

I think that this ability to see the mother as a human being, though deeply flawed, and not as a devil is why I am going into the field of EBD.  Students with EBD have behaviors that are very visible and obvious and are usually very negative.  So, they are looked at as negative kids.  Students with EBD are flawed individuals who have suffered greatly, just like all of us.

Now, the teacher in this movie was very much like the teacher who I want to be.  I want to be the teacher who does not believe in separation between students and teacher, I mean look at many of the scenes that she is in and she is sitting with her students in a desk among them.  When Precious mother almost kills her, she lets the students lead the class.  I could not see the difference between the teacher and the student.  And I think that that is what I will create in my classroom.  Now, granted, many other people looking in would probably go hogwild because they are so angry that I do not demand respect and other things.  But I think that that is clearly what those students needed; they needed a teacher who was not going to exert her authority like they have experienced teachers before.  They needed teachers who were willing to break down the barrier in order to provide students with the Least Restrictive Environment.

Hah, I am kind of amazed that I was able to connect my philosophy of education to a special education term (That is true irony, seeing that this is the Future Special Ed Teacher blog).  I just feel that for many students, they need a teacher who breaks the barrier between students and teachers.  And if they are in a classroom where there is a giant barrier, then they will not want to come and it will be very restrictive and not comforting for them.

Personally, this movie really makes me want to teach in an alternative school.  This semester, I began wanting to teach in the Juvenile Justice System, but I feel that teaching in an alternative school to begin with would be something that I am very interested in.  In the article that I read for the presentation on Special Education in the Juvenile Justice System, I found out that the retention rate for teachers who start teaching in the Juvenile Justice System is dangerously low.  I just think that it would be so much fun to work in an alternative school.  I have a very warped sense of fun, don't I?