Some thoughts on "Chalk"

"Chalk" has been a very interesting movie thus far. The teachers are definitely all unique in their own ways! Mr. Lowery is a new teacher. He teaches history, and he is struggling to get the students engaged in learning. He does not do any interactive activities. Instead, most of his lessons are basically just reading word-for-word from a book. He also had a very difficult time keeping order in his classroom. However, I think he is slowly becoming a better teacher. He began realizing that if you bring humor into the classroom, the students will be able to relate better to what is being taught. He is getting better at teaching, but I think he still needs to find a better way to discipline his students.

Mr. Stroope is the social studies teacher. He has a sense of humor, and does a good job of engaging the students. He started out one class period by discussing what all the students did over the summer. He lets the students know that he cares about them. There is one scene when he confronts a student about her book bag being too heavy. It was a funny scene, while also showing how much Mr. Stroope cared for his students. I had mixed thoughts about him, because there is also a scene where he is telling two of his students to basically "dumb down" during class because they knew more about history than he did. I am still not quite sure what I think of Mr. Stroope.

I think the gym teacher, Coach Webb, is my favorite. She is really energetic, and does lots of fun activities with her students. She also mentioned how important it is to believe in ALL students, despite their physical capabilities. I wish my gym teachers would have been like that. I did not have much physical talent in grade school, and it would have been nice if the teachers would have treated me the way Coach Webb treated all of her students.

After seeing this movie, there is no question why 50 % of teachers quit in the first three years they teach. This is kind of sad to think about, because I think that teaching is probably one of THE most rewarding careers out there. You just have to find your own method of teaching that allows you to provide structure in your classroom, while also making it a fun, friendly environment.