Best Movies to Inspire Teachers
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- DirectorJake KasdanStarsCameron DiazJason SegelJustin TimberlakeA lazy, incompetent middle school teacher who hates her job, her students, and her co-workers is forced to return to teaching to make enough money for breast implants after her wealthy fiancé dumps her.
- DirectorLaurent CantetStarsFrançois BégaudeauAgame Malembo-EmeneAngélica SancioTeacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
- DirectorRichard LaGraveneseStarsHilary SwankImelda StauntonPatrick DempseyA young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school.
- DirectorJohn N. SmithStarsMichelle PfeifferGeorge DzundzaCourtney B. VanceLouAnne, a retired US marine, becomes a teacher in a Californian high school. But her mostly Latino and black students from an impoverished and racially segregated locality do not easily embrace her.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsJack BlackMike WhiteJoan CusackAfter being kicked out of his rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an uptight elementary private school, only to try and turn his class into a rock band.
- DirectorSteve CarrStarsEddie MurphyJeff GarlinAnjelica HustonTwo men named Charlie Hinton and Phil Ryerson get laid off and have to become stay-at-home fathers when they can't find jobs. This inspires them to open their own day care center.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRobin WilliamsRobert Sean LeonardEthan HawkeMaverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
- DirectorLiz FriedlanderStarsAntonio BanderasRob BrownYaya DaCostaA dance teacher offers to conduct detention for a group of misfit students by teaching them ballroom dancing. He overcomes their insecurities and prejudices, to enter them in a dance competition.
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonForest WhitakerKimberly EliseA drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsMeryl StreepCloris LeachmanHenry DinhoferAfter Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
- DirectorDavid OstryStarsTim DalyHayden PanettiereWilliam SadlerAn unpopular high school teacher turns his life around after a student is kidnapped.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsSean ConneryRob BrownF. Murray AbrahamForrester, the author of a famous book, decides to help Jamal, a 16-year-old student, discover his writing prowess by mentoring him and enrolling him into a prestigious private school.
- DirectorMichael HoffmanStarsKevin KlineEmile HirschJoel GretschAn idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigible student.
- DirectorStephen HerekStarsRichard DreyfussGlenne HeadlyJay ThomasA frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsNick NolteJoBeth WilliamsJudd HirschA well meaning but burned-out high school teacher tries to maintain order against the backdrop of a pending lawsuit against his school district when it comes to light they gave a diploma to an illiterate student.
- DirectorChristopher CainStarsJim BelushiLouis Gossett Jr.Rae Dawn ChongA teacher is assigned to be the principal of a violent, crime-ridden high school.
- DirectorRanda HainesStarsMatthew PerryJudith BuchanGriffin CorkA small-town teacher relocates to one of the country's toughest classrooms.
- DirectorJames ClavellStarsSidney PoitierJudy GeesonChristian RobertsIdealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.
- DirectorMike AkelStarsTroy SchremmerJanelle SchremmerShannon HaraganAn improvisational take on the high school experience, told from the educators' point-of-view.
- DirectorRamón MenéndezStarsEdward James OlmosEstelle HarrisMark PhelanThe story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout-prone students to learn calculus.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsMorgan FreemanBeverly ToddRobert GuillaumeThe dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school he is determined to improve by any and all means.
- DirectorCarl ReinerStarsMark HarmonKirstie AlleyRobin ThomasFreddy the gym teacher has to teach remedial English in summer (high) school, if he wants tenure. As he can only teach gym and his students want fun, emphasis is on "field trips" - until he's fired unless all his students pass the test.
- DirectorDoug AtchisonStarsAngela BassettLaurence FishburneKeke PalmerAkeelah, a young gifted girl, comes from a dysfunctional family and is on the verge of quitting school. She discovers that she has a high aptitude for spellings and enters a spelling bee contest.
- DirectorMike NewellStarsJulia RobertsKirsten DunstJulia StilesA free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorNoam MurroStarsDennis QuaidThomas Haden ChurchSarah Jessica ParkerInto the life of a widowed professor comes a new love and an unexpected visit from his adopted brother.
- DirectorMark BrokawStarsSarah Jessica ParkerMiranda RichardsonVictor RasukA hate crime on the campus of a New England college puts the school's dean in a position where she has to examine her own feelings about race and prejudice, while maintaining her administration's politically correct policies.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsRobin WilliamsMatt DamonBen AffleckWill Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsAnne BancroftPatty DukeVictor JoryThe story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
- DirectorRobert Downey Sr.StarsAlbert CullumIn an era when Dick, Jane, and discipline ruled America's schools, Albert Cullum allowed Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Shaw to reign in his fifth grade public school classroom. Through the use of poetry, drama and imaginative play, Cullum championed an unorthodox educational philosophy that spoke directly to his students' needs. Many of Cullum's projects were recorded on film by then novice filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr. Weaving stunning black and white footage and rare archival television broadcasts together with interviews of Cullum and his former students, this is a portrait of a maverick teacher who transformed a generation of young people by enabling them to discover their own inner greatness.
- DirectorJeffrey BlitzStarsAngela ArenivarUbaldo ArenivarJorge ArenivarSpellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
- DirectorNicolas PhilibertStarsGeorges LopezAlizéAxel ThouveninA documentary portrait of a one-room school in rural France, where the students (ranging in age from 4 to 11) are educated by a single dedicated teacher.
- DirectorElliot BerlinJoe FabStarsSandra RobertsDagmar Schroeder-HildebrandTom BosleyAs a part of their study of the Holocaust, the children of the Whitwell, TN Middle School try to collect 6 million paper clips representing the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, and grows to include millions of others killed.
- DirectorMel StuartStarsRafe EsquithIan McKellenMichael YorkRafe Esquith, 1992 American Teacher of the Year and National Medal of Arts recipient, teaches 5th-grade children whose parents don't speak English at a school in a dangerous, poor, drug-infested 100% Latino/Asian neighborhood in Los Angeles.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsCharles AdamsJonathan AlterRobert BalfanzAn examination of the current state of education in America today.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsGeorgene AcostaGeneviève DeBoseJoy Kraft-WattsFollows five inner city Los Angeles teachers during their first year of teaching.