Stories about teachers

I am looking for authentic stories about teachers - biographical, autobiographical, fiction, semi-fiction, historical fiction. Anything that captures the experience of being a teacher. Please send in your recommendations via the comments.

I can think of two movies that I've seen recently.

1.
Hobart Shakespeareans: A documentary about Rafe Esquith, a 5th grade teacher in inner-city Los Angeles who among other things uses Shakespeare to engage his students. I really enjoyed this movie, even though I was not even thinking about becoming a teacher at the time. Even then I could not help thinking that this sort of approach to teaching was no 9-5 gig.

2.
Knights of the South Bronx: Loosely inspired by the work that David MacEnulty did to bring scholastic chess to the city of New York's public school system.

3.
I saw To Sir, with Love so long ago, I don't remember anything of it. Coincidentally Sidney Poitier was interviewed on NPR this morning. "I always wanted to be someone better the next day than I was the day before. ... Today [at 83] that is my drive, still my drive."

4.
Until today I had not heard of Dangerous Minds ( Michelle Pfeiffer).

5.
I wonder if Dead Poets Society counts?


Books.

1.
I am currently reading Ms Hempel Chronicles. This book is less about a teacher than about a young woman at a specific point in her life. Part of that life is teaching English to 7th grade as her first job. It is not a great book, but there are a few gems scattered through it. Like this one that grabbed my attention.

p. 40 Ms. Hempel Chronicles.

Dear Parents,


You recently have received an anecdotal about your child. Although it might not have been immediately apparent, this anecdotal was written BY your child, from the perspective of one of his or her teachers. In response to the students' entreaties, I did not include a note of explanation. They wanted to explain the exercise to you themselves, and I hope you have had a chance to talk with your children about the letters they wrote. At this point, though, I would like to offer my own thoughts about the assignment and provide a context in which to understand these "anecdotals."


The assignment was inspired by a passage from the memoir we currently are reading, This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff. When this passage occurs, Toby is longing to escape his abusive stepfather and the dead-end town he lives in. When his older brother suggests that Toby apply to boarding school, he becomes excited about the idea, but then discouraged when he realizes that with his poor grades, he will never be accepted. Help arrives in the form of his best friend, who volunteers in the school office and supplies Toby with all the official stationery he needs to create his own letters of recommendation.


"I felt full of things that had to be said, full of stifled truth. That was what I thought I was writing—the truth. It was truth known only to me, but I believed in it more than I believed in the facts arrayed against it. I believed that in some sense not factually verifiable I was a straight-A student. In the same way, I believed that I was an Eagle Scout, and a powerful swimmer, and a boy of integrity. These were ideas about myself that I had held on to for dear life. Now I gave them voice....


"I wrote without heat or hyperbole, in the words my teachers would have used if they had known me as I knew myself These were their letters. And in the boy who lived in their letters, the splendid phantom who carried all my hopes, it seemed to met saw, at last, my own face."


I had hoped that through this exercise students could give voice to their own visions of themselves, visions that might differ from those held by teachers, parents, or friends. I wanted to give them a chance to identify and celebrate what they see as their greatest strengths. During this crucial stage of their development, kids need, I think, to articulate what they believe themselves capable of.

The students approached the assignment with an enthusiasm that overwhelmed me. In their efforts to sound like their teachers, they wrote at greater length, in sharper detail, with more sophisticated phrasing and vocabulary, than they ever have before. Spelling and grammatical errors instantly disappeared; drafts were exhaustively revised. They felt it important that their anecdotals appear convincing.

The decision to mail these anecdotals home was fueled by my desire to share with you these very personal and often revealing self-portraits. When I read them, I found them by turns funny, poignant, and, as Tobias Wolff writes, full of truth. I thought that you, as parents, would value this opportunity to see your children as they see themselves. The intention was not, as I think a few students have mistaken, to play a joke.


I hope that this assignment has offered some meaningful insights into your child, and I deeply regret if it has been the cause of any misunderstanding or distress. Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions or concerns.

The Internet. Searching came upon the following.

1.
A collection of user-submitted 'Inspirational Teacher Stories' The ones I looked at are pretty short, and thus do not give you the opportunity to get into the Teacher's character.

2.
Google Book Search throws up a pretty long list.

Mentors, masters, and Mrs. MacGregor: stories of teachers making a difference‎ caught me attention. Scattered throughout it are quotes from children. "A really great teacher is someone who...." (Unfortunately my local library does not have a copy.)

There are other books too (e.g. Apples and Chalkdust), but in all of them the stories are short. Not book or movie length, which is what I am looking for.

Reinventing ourselves as teachers: beyond nostalgia, By Claudia Mitchell, Sandra Weber seems a bit heavy (read scholarly), but quite intriguing. Ch. 5 is entitled "Reel to Real: Popular Culture and Teacher Identity"

In Box 5.4 The authors assert that "most popular teacher texts are 'romantic' ..."

1. Teacher heroes are usually outsiders who are teaching through circumstances rather than choice.
2. Teaching is natural, you do not need training if you've got 'the right stuff'.
3. Teacher heroes are rare and stand out in contrast to anti-hero teachers.
4. Teacher heroes liberate students by defying the official school rules and curriculum.
5. Real learning occurs outside of school.
6. Teachers become heroic through a turning point of sudden enlightenment, divine intervention or the 'a-ha' experience.
7. Teaching is a heroic and solitary act. Teachers do not work collectively for reform.
8. Teacher heroes are devoted to their students and are rewarded with their undying love and gratitude in a dramatic scene.
   

Reading the above reminded me of Whoopi Goldberg's 'Sister Act'. But I can't help thinking that some of those 8 points have elements of truth.