Some might think that it was waste of time. Well, maybe - but i've no regrets cuz i managed to catch a surprisingly good movie. It's entitle "The Triumph" - or "The Ron Clark Story" (it's on the Hallmark Channel).It was a sure winner for me. Why? It was a story of a teacher! And it starred Matthew Perry. And the teacher used music to teach his students! Rap music, to be exact!
In fact, as i was channel surfing, the first scene of the movie i caught was the one when Matthew Perry used a rap to teach the kids about the Presidents of the USA (see it here). It got me hooked. Hey, who doesn't like Matthew "Chandler Bing" Perry?
It's about this teacher who goes to New York from North Carolina to teach disadvantaged students and inspire them. To read more about Ron Clark, go here.
In some ways, it's a pretty clichéd storyline. Teacher comes, students makes life difficult for him, teacher perseveres, wins them over, inspires them and then helps them prepare for major exam. At the same time, he gets involved personally in their lives too.
But it's a winning formulae for me!!! I've always been a sucker for these kinda of inspiring-teachers movies. From the classics like "To Sir, with love" and "Stand and deliver" to more recent gems like "Dead Poet's Society", i have no doubt that these movies played a huge role in me ending up doing wat i'm doing now.
I'm always reminded of the brilliant lecturers i have had - and most of all, Mrs. Yong, my Form 6 teacher. Till today, she remains my role model as i try to follow in her footsteps and attempt to impact the lives of those i'm teaching.
So far, the journey has been challenging. There are times when i leave the class feeling like i wanna jump for joy and punch me fists in the air at wat i thought to be a brilliant session. Other times, i wished the ground would just open up and swallow me for the miserable effort that i made.
Anyways, i'm still a baby in this area and i guess i can only improve, can't i? Already, there has been many moments which just makes it all worthwhile, makes the staying up til 6 am in tears not seem a futile effort. There are little things - like how the students makes mention or reference in their blogs and facebook profiles to things thought or mentioned by me in class. There are the few occasions when i received personal messages from them about how they enjoyed a particular class. I still smile when students remind me of the things i told them in me very first class.
Many have asked me why i gave up practice for this. If i could, i would just point out to all me students - they are the reason!
Anyways, i'll end off with this clip made by someone regarding "The Ron Clark Story". I hope i can watch the movie in full some day.
*Released in 1967 as the theme song to the movie of the same name, it went on to be the no. 1 song of the year in the US!
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