Inspirational crap does that to me

[dria]

I was watching Coach Carter tonight (because, surprise, surprise, I couldn't sleep). I can't help it. Movies about teachers and/or coaches who "go up against the odds" and succeed just get to me. I had a couple of reactions during the flick that got me thinking.

1. I remember my "success" story from coaching softball. Veronica. She was a D-/E student in my class, and she came out for the team. When she tried out, I was surprised by how good a player she had the potential to be. Mostly because one of her biggest issues in all of her life was simply the ability to FOCUS on anything other than her social life. I make my students maintain a C average (though the school only requires a D or above) to play. Veronica was told that she had to get that grade up to play. She did. She worked hard. She got that grade up to passing, and better - to an A-/B+ average. Then, as is typical when teachers know you're the coach, I received a couple of reports of negative behavior by her in other classes. I pulled her aside and told her that she owed those teachers no less than what she'd done for me. I was rewarded by reports of her surprising teachers with apologies, and working without disruption. I thought, surely, this would all end at the end of the softball season. However, she went on to be one of the best girls (academically) in her class that year. She worked hard, and she always told me about how well she was doing. I was so incredibly proud of her, it sticks with me even now, several years later.
   
2. Now I know where Richard got "his" brilliant idea to make the boys wear dress shirts & ties on game days. I always figured he got it from somewhere, but this was funny since the movie was so incredibly popular and I never saw it to make the connection.
   
3. I get so angry at the schools for not expecting much out of the students that sometimes I fail to see that the community is as much to blame for that discrepancy. I am always so heartbroken when I hear students who not only don't believe that there's a college education in their futures, but that they don't even aim for anything worth doing.
   
4. Every time I watch these movies, I am forced to wonder... how many kids really did slip through the cracks? How many walked away and said, "No, thanks." Because they don't focus on that in the movies (duh, why would they?) but it's an ever-present part of my life. When I come down hard on my students and I push at them to really do better, I see a lot of negative reactions and "why should I?" attitude. If I were to have "locked up" the field in softball, I know a majority of my students would have said, "Oh well. No softball." Where does that leave me with my "big stand"? With mathematics, how do I push them to achieve more like Jaime Escalante (a la Stand & Deliver, a personal fave) when the reaction to my pushing and prodding and challenging them is indifference, anger, and complaints (both from students, parents, and administration)?
   

I told you these movies get to me.

Man, does my head ever stop? Seriously. I feel like I can never get a break from the ever-processing things going on inside my skull. Always analyzing, annotating, and adjusting. I wish I had the physical energy to match my mental energy.

I really ought to get some sleep. Not that I have anything to do tomorrow. Just that, well, I should try to keep somewhat normal hours, I suppose.