The Ron Clark Story

In The Ron Clark Story, students are considered to be the bottom of the barrel. Most of the students do not have a wonderful home life and it is reflected onto their school work. For an example, a young boy named Tayshawn has a very disturbing and abusing home life and is not afraid to use violence on others. Badriyah ,even though she shows her eagerness to learn; she still manages to get bullied over her love for reading by her family and friends. Most of the teachers look at these children as “worthless” and “trash”. In the beginning one student is actually standing in the trashcan because his teacher told him he was “trash” and was not able to learn like the other students were capable of learning.

The adults in the beginning come across as untrustworthy and quitters. The students are used to having new teachers come in and out of their lives. For example, when Mr. Clark first appears as the new teacher the students are willing to do all that they can to get him to leave. Adults are portrayed also as not caring because they simply haven’t even given the children the time of day, they don’t truly get to know the students and understand why they have problems.

The student voice is initially engaged when Mr. Clark bring up his “rules”. He has students learn his rules and understands why he has them. He wants them to become a family inside the classroom, he wants their attention, and most importantly, he wants them to get excited about learning and about school. Late in the movie he plays a game with them involving chocolate milk. They initially were not working together, but they eventually came to a conclusion they could make him vomit. They of course did not like Mr. Clark so they realized if they worked together as a team, maybe he would get sick and vomit the chocolate milk everywhere. The biggest rule is that they are a Family. They all need to learn to respect each other and help support one another in the classroom.

Mr Clark stumbles upon the school as an outsider and his first impression is a teacher having it out with a student and that actually was considered to be normal. It took Mr. Clark a few tries to finally get his rules across to the class. The students seem to be calmer and actually show signs of learning and growing as a class. The other teachers initially are stunned by what they are witnessing in the transformation of Mr. Clark's class. The principal seems to be the hardest to convince. He thinks that Mr. Clark is childish and his “activities” in the classroom are not appropriate and he will eventually fail as the teacher. Towards the end of the movie he eventually starts to come around and even helps Mr. Clark with one of his students.

Culture and Society is an important part of this move. Ron Clark is first introduced as a teacher from a very small town in North Carolina whose students' are exceedingly smart and talented. He then makes a decision to go to New York to teach in Harlem. It is understood that these are some of the lowest educated schools in the country and most of the students come from a very rough background. Most students are considered to be in the poverty level and have grown up with violence. Even though the students' are in New York, a huge culture shock is when Badriyah is speaking to Mr. Clark and her father interrupts her and tells her “the men are speaking”.

The student differences are the reason for most of the problems that the students face at school. Each student has a different culture, family background, and even one student comes from an abusive foster home. One of the students named Shameika comes from a single parent home and she is in charge of her brothers and sisters while her mother works two jobs. The result of her home life means she has no time for anything that is related to school. Tayshawn is a foster child who thinks that violence is always the answer. Badriyah's home life is dealing with a father who seems unsupportive and uninterested of her love for education so she is very shy when it comes to showing it.

Mr. Clark is the only teaching that has actually stuck around and showed any interest in the students'. He starts to receive potential from each student and eventually has them believing and helping each other. It takes one incident involving Shameika and her mother to actually understand that most of the students' parents also do not believe in their children. Mr. Clark offers to help Shameika outside of class and helps her with daily house chores while she is able to do her homework. Her mother comes home and immediately jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Clark thinks she is a bad mother. It is not until Mr. Clark tells her mother that she is “gifted” and has potential that the Mother finally sees and understand.

The Ron Clark Story is relevant to this class because it teaches us that all the students we will come across as teachers will come from different backgrounds and have differences. It teaches us to stand up for our students, not to let them get discouraged and down about their learning style. Each child is unique in their own way and it should be embraced not hidden. Being a teacher is not just “teaching by the book” it finding your own fun and exciting way to teach children to learn.

The movie is applicable to my life because it will help me remember that each student comes from different cultures and backgrounds and that they all have the ability to learn. It will also help me not to give up on my students and be someone that they are able to depend on and trust.