Bad Teacher: The Trunchbull, Matilda
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61iIYwcpN_w The Trunchbull is an example of a terrible teacher for the following reasons, she is impatient with the children, she abuses her power and uses intimidation to make the students fearful. I chose this clip because I just recently saw the musical version of Matilda in Toronto and thought her character would be a perfect fit for this assignment. The Trunchbull embodies every trait of a horrible teacher and is obviously extremely unfit to be working with young children. I used this clip to show the contrast of teaching styles between Ms. Gruwell in Freedom Writers and The Trunchbull. The Trunchbull’s teaching methods are centred around gaining power over the students. It is unclear whether the Trunchbull’s ultimate goal is to teach the students or to punish them for her entertainment. If she is indeed wanting to teach the students she is not reacting well to serve the students needs best. Her unawareness for the student’s basic needs is interrupting them from learning. Such is seen when Miss Honey instructs her kids to not react to anything the Trunchbull says. With this in mind, during the trunchbull’s visit she taunts the kids and critiques how they look. In this moment, the students are powerless because they know if they act out they will be punished. She provides these students with no valuable information to teach them and instead uses this time to emphasize her power in the school. To the students, The Trunchbull has become a distraction in the school to avoid. The Trunchbull tries to promote her sense of power and self-worth over the students through physical and verbal abuse. She runs her school like a prison and coincidently shares many stereotypical military traits, which in this circumstance can be very harmful to her audience. The Trunchbull uses her position of influence to remove any sense of power from the student’s and in doing so, she teaches the students to fear her - one of her goals. Unfortunately for the students the Trunchbull’s goals and the students needs do not coincide. The Trunchbull is obtaining her goal by providing her students with terrible conditions. This is the sign of a truly terrible teacher. If the teacher’s goals do not result in positive growth from the students I believe the teacher should reconsider their style of teaching. Good Teacher: Erin Gruwell, Freedom Writers Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYYf-mUmPqI The video that I used is called the Line Game. Erin Gruwell the teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School substitutes a class of teaching for a class of learning. Gruwell uses the Line Game as an opportunity for student’s to get to know each other. Erin identified that the students are divided into cliques; "self-segregated into racial groups within the classroom”. In the class, she posed questions that she thought many of the students could relate to. In answering these questions the students were effectively able to see how they have dealt with similar pain, loss and hardships. Through getting the students to participate in this activity the students were able to open up with one-another and received a more accurate idea of who they all are. Gruwell uses the line game as a way to unify her students and as a result successfully opens up a vessel for communication between the students. This class takes place at the start of the film, Gruwell believes that a unified classroom will result in more natural conversations and less tension between classmates. In addition, this provides the students with the opportunity to view Gruwell as a teacher that cares for their well-being. I think a noticeable difference in Erin’s style of teaching is that she expects the students to respect her with as much respect as she gives her students. If successfully accomplished this means that the students will be more willingly to learn and work with her because she took the time to develop a dignified relationship with her class. An example of this teaching style comes from a line in the scene. Gruwell asks, “Has anyone gone to prison or Juvenile Hall”. Eva, a student in the class responds with, “Does a refugee camp count?” And Gruwell answers with, “You decide”. Gruwell gave Eva a choice instead of forcing an answer upon her. She provided the student with the respect to form an answer for herself to decide what she believes is the truth. I think the largest difference between Gruwell and the Trunchbull is that Erin Gruwell empowers her students by placing respect, dignity and compassion at the centre of all of her lessons. The students are very responsive to this style of teaching and as a result treat her with the same traits.
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