School of Rock
A 30-year old, unsuccessful musician, Dewey Finn decides to take up a teacher’s job. Primarily a math teacher for fifth graders he discovers that the kids are talented. He decides to form a rock band and registers his group in the Battle of the Bands. All is not hunky-dory and Finn gets the axe but thanks to Battle of the Bands he has some great ideas to help kids after school hours.
Half Nelson
A Junior High school history teacher, Dan Dunne does not necessarily live by his principles. Leaving out his personal life, Dan Dunne is a teacher you would like to see in your classroom. A history teacher at a Brooklyn Junior High Shool, Dan doesn’t want his students reciting dates and times in history. He wants them to know the reasons, consequences and outcomes. As a history teacher or a basketball coach, Dan can inspire even the laziest students into attention.
Karate Kid
Mr. Han does not teach reading, writing or math. He teaches karate. To begin with Mr. Han, teaches discipline. And while this may seem trivial, it isn’t, as his student, Dre Parker finds out. Even something as simple as hanging a coat is an essential move when it comes to karate. A touching student-teacher movie, where the teacher too learns from his student, it is this relationship, that helps them find healing and discover their inner confidence.
Harry Potter Series
A Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House, Minerva McGonagall comes across as a disciplinarian. She is not one you would want to mess around with. But, on occasion she does bend the rules. Like, the time she catches Harry flying around on his broom without supervision, instead of expelling him — which is the stipulated punishment — she takes him to Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, to comment on his prodigious skill with the broom. Other such incidents make you realise that McGonagall is a teacher in another league.
Music of the Heart
The story of a real life violinist Roberta Guaspari, the films explores the life of a music teacher who starts a programme as she feels any child can learn to play the violin. Music, for her, is a form of expression for children growing up in a tough neighbourhood. She fights the board of education to teach underprivileged kids.
