“The Ron Clark Story” was an inspirational film that highlighted many of the key elements to being a great teacher. In Competency 4 we learned about how learning occurs. It is vitally important for a teacher to understand how each student learns and how learning occurs in a classroom in a group setting. In the movie there is a scene when Mr. Clark is grading the President’s test and realizes that all his students failed. While he’s grading these tests he hears rap music from his neighbor’s apartment and gets the idea to teach the kids the order of the Presidents through a rap. The kids respond well to this method of teaching and learn the needed material. They have fun with their teacher and learn at the same time, developing trust and communication with him and also increasing their self-confidence. This is a great example of understanding how learning occurs.
We talk about assessment in Competency 10. Assessment is a tricky thing for teachers because there are so many different kinds of valid assessment. In the movie, however, the biggest kind of assessment is formal, in the form of a standardized test. Mr. Clark prepares his students for this standardized test through the year and goes above and beyond to teach his class the materials they are expected to learn. His hard work and the hard work of his students pay off, as they test higher than even the honors class, and have one student who scores perfect scores in two areas. Throughout the movie you also see Mr. Clark asking his students informal questions about the material, and this assessment is an effective way to know what your classes strengths and weaknesses are.
Competency 8 discusses student motivation and engagement. Mr. Clark showed an uncanny ability to engage his children in the classroom. In one particular scene he challenges the students to stay quiet during his lesson by promising them that he would drink a container of chocolate milk for every 15 seconds that pass without disruption. After he’s finished with the lesson and there is no chocolate milk left he asks if anyone can tell him the answer to his question. One student answers his questions correctly and that creates an environment of confidence and learning that all the students can benefit from. Mr. Clark engaged his students through stories, games, and positive reinforcement. He motivated them with praise words and actions as well as exciting and active lessons. When you create a fun environment to learn in, your students will feel more comfortable to expand their learning horizons.
Managing student behavior is what we discuss in Competency 6 and is a huge component of this film as well as many classrooms around the country. Something that Mr. Clark did to help manage his classroom was to create rules that were stated positively and posted clearly for the entire class to see. It didn’t work immediately but it made a lasting effect on the function of his classroom. Mr. Clark also decorated his classroom in a positive and creative way that made the students feel like they were in a safer learning environment therefore decreasing behavioral problems. He modified poor behavior not by yelling or “calling out” the student but by simply acknowledging the bad behavior and modeling the correct behavior. He used the technique that ignores the undesirable behavior in hope that the new more positive and effective behavior will take its place. His efforts to create good behavior in his students were a daily struggle as we saw in the scene where he teaches them to walk in a line in and out of the classroom, but with determination and the correct technique of discipline as well as positive reinforcement and routine practice, his class soon learns how to act properly in a learning environment.
In Competency 3 we learn about designing effective planning. This entire story demonstrates effective planning. In almost every scene of this film we see Mr. Clark hard at work planning his lessons and executing them with his students. His preparation of the classroom and learning materials as well as his observations of how his students learn played a huge role in his success as their teacher. His planning started from when he went to the students homes to speak with the parents about their children. Mr. Clark had a plan to involve the parents in the student learning, which ended up playing in his favor because he learned about the background of this students and gained parental trust and support in a community where they weren’t used to teacher interaction. He effectively planned by teaching things in an ordered sequence of learning so that his students would be successful and gain confidence. Mr. Clark showed a great deal of effective planning in his classroom and it rewarded his students as well as him in many different ways.
“The Ron Clark Story” was an amazing movie to watch as a future educator. It motivated me to be the kind of teacher that always goes above and beyond for her students. Mr. Clark’s dedication to his class proved to be one of the biggest factors of his student’s success and that is quite possibly the most important lesson of all. When a teacher invests their talent, time, and heart in their students the students will have a better chance of success. So many students never get a supportive environment to flourish in. Mr. Clark created a safe, fun, motivational environment for his students and told them that each and every one of them could accomplish anything they wanted. He invested in his kids and they succeeded. I will always strive to be one of those teachers for my students. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and plan on telling my other teaching friends about it. There need to be more Ron Clark’s in the world. Our future generations deserve the best education we can give them, and with great teachers, anything is possible.