Hong Kong Baptist University EDUC 1080 “To Sir, with Love”

1. Hong Kong Baptist UniversityEDUC 1080“To Sir, with Love” Group 2 Keyman Ada Daisy Sandy Carlos Ben Issac

2. Agenda Role play (introduction of the main characters) Brief introduction of the movie Highlights in the movie Scenario and underlying philosophy discussion Related education issue discussion Messages from the film Limitations Feelings and conclusion

3. Role Play (1)Character-Mark Thackeray comes from British Guiana holds a degree in Communication Engineering no prior teaching experience

4. Role Play (2)Character-Bert Denham student of Thackeray’s class troublemaker against Thackeray

5. Role Play (3)Character - Pamela Dare Student of Thackeray’s class has a crush on Thackeray

6. Role Play (4)Character - Theo Weston looks down on the students in North Quay doesn’t care about students at all discourages Thackeray from being a teacher at North Quay

7. Role Play (5)Character-Gillian Blanchard is scared by the students supports Thackeray on outings

8. Brief Introduction of the Movie It’s about… Mark Thackeray’s teaching experience Classifying teacher as a temporary job Using different teaching methods to teach his students Building trust-relationship between his students Abandoning his engineer offer and deciding to be a teacher

9. Highlights – Minority under Education • Racially discriminated teacher • Racial discrimination was still existing in UK during 1960s • A student racially discriminated against Mr. Thackeray unintentionally • Unprivileged background students • Came from unprivileged family • Rejected from other schools • Bad discipline and making troubles • Ignoring rules and instructions • Challenging teachers’ authority • Not mature or ripe • Should they get more support from the society?

10. Highlights – Teaching Methods Which one is better?

11. Highlights – Curriculum Every student was studying under the same curriculum in the movie. They all experienced the same despite their different interests and abilities. The curriculum was not suitable to all students!(e.g. A fat student was forced to do some exercise which was unachievable for him! Finally he was injured because of it!) Both Pragmatism and Post-modernism reject all students studying under same curriculum!

12. Highlights – Learning Experiences What can students get from their educational experiences? (Aren’t they similar to pragmatist ideas?)

13. Highlights – Comparison among Different Teachers

14. Scenario and underlying philosophy discussion Let’s watch some video clips and discuss!! You will have one minute for each question to discuss and we will pick one student to share his/her group’s opinion within 30 seconds

15. Scenario 1 Which Teacher do you agree with? Why?

16. Theo Weston V.S. Mark Thackeray Idealists: • Mark Thackeray had high expectations and set high standards of achievement for their students. • Theo Weston just regarded them as incorrigible. “They’ll happily be part of the great London unwashed.” Realists: • Mark Thackeray believed all students participant in a general human nature. He just thought they were naughty and not good at study. • Theo Weston showed his bias on those students by using the word “bastard”.

17. Theo Weston V.S. Mark Thackeray Pragmatics: • Mark Thackeray did not give up teaching the students and solved the problem positively. • Theo Weston just complained about the education’s disadvantage but did not really think about the solution. Post-modernists: • Mark Thackeray avoided to use the contumelious words to refer to the students. • Theo Weston held the prejudice on students and held the old canons on these disadvantaged students.

18. Scenario 2 Do you support this teaching approach? Why?

19. Yes or No?

20. Reasons Idealists: • Mr. Thackeray asked his students to perform as adults by tell them the perfect example of addressing girls and coming into the classroom. Realists: • They believe that subject matter knowledge and liberal education are for all people regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, or socioeconomics class. But Mr. Thackeray taught them things totally different from the subject matter knowledge.

21. Reasons Pragmatics: • Mr. Thackeray started not to just present and change the mode of class into interaction. Pragmatics believed that human intelligence comes through a process of interaction. Post-modernists: • Mr. Thackeray had the courage to break the norm and used a brand-new method to teaching students. And tried to give them equal opportunities to speak themselves out.

22. Scenario 3- Student – oriented or teacher oriented? What was/ were the reasons for the teacher forcing the student to do the exercise which beyond his ability? Was the teacher justified?

23. Scenario 3 Should the teacher force the student to do the exercise which is beyond his ability?

24. Scenario 4Creating new curriculum What do you think about the lesson? Do you agree with the importance of life skills teaching?

25. Scenario 4 What do you think about the lesson?

26. Scenario 5The moral development How do you assess Mr. Thackeray by watching the video?

27. Scenario 5 How would you assess Mr. Thackeray after watching the video?

28. Issue-based Discussion Let’s discuss some relevant education issue implied by the movie!! You will have one minute for each question to discuss and we will pick one student to share his/her group’s opinion within 30 seconds

29. Issue-based Discussion (1) • If education is not for achieving high grades and going on to University, what is it for then? • Attitude? Skills? Knowledge? Any others? • What do you think?

30. Different Answers Provided by Philosophy If education is not for achieving high grades and going on to University, what is it for then?

31. Issue-based Discussion (2) • Which is the most important role that teachers should play in education? • A constructor? A trainer? Knowledge deliverer? A mentor? • Or any other role? • What do you think?

32. Different Answers Provided by Philosophy Which is the most important role that teachers should play in education?

33. Issue-based Discussion (3) • What are reasons accounting for the misbehavior of students? • We may take reference from “To Sir, with Love”! • What do you think?

34. Different Answers Provided by Philosophy What are reasons accounting for the misbehavior of students?

35. Issue-based Discussion (4) • Should every student study under the same curriculum? • We may take reference from “To sir with love”! • What do you think?

36. Different Answers Provided by Philosophy Should every student study under the same curriculum?

37. Issue based discussion (5)(The most open-ended one!) • Which one do you think is more important in education? Equity or Equality? • We may think about the situation in Hong Kong nowadays! • What do you think?

38. Messages from the Movie (1)Introduction of Holistic education! • Aim of education is Holistic Education! • Holistic education/ Whole person education • The suggestion of “To Sir, with Love” on the aim of education is similar to that of HKBU!!

39. Holistic Education • Finding identity, meaning, and purpose in life (as Mr. Thackeray explained the meaning of studying in school to his students) • Emphasizing experiential learning(field trip to museum) • Direct engagement with the environment (society) • Using real-life experiences • Teacher is not a person of authority, but a friend, a mentor, a facilitator(Mr. Thackeray as a good example) • Cooperative learning instead of competitive • Do you support holistic education?

40. Holistic Education Not about teaching academic knowledge only Learn to be a whole person with body, mind, emotions and spirit(e.g. Adult approach by Mr. Thackeray) Includes a wide range of students of different learning abilities(e.g. cooking skills) Avariety of learning approaches to meet their diverse learning needs(e.g. Q&A and discussion)

41. Messages from the Movie (2)Should Meritocracy and Tracking be used? The movie reveals the poor situation of the minorities (both teachers and students) under meritocracy and tracking It is unfair and unjustified that the students with poor academic performance receive less resources and opportunities in learning compared with the students who perform better (Such as the students in the movie could only study in a school with poor environment) Do you agree with the movie producers?

42. Messages from the Movie (3)Teaching should be student-oriented! Teachers should choose suitable and different teaching approaches according to the abilities and characteristics of their students “Adult approach” by Mr. Thackeray He used student-oriented approach instead of the traditional teacher-oriented approach (chalk-and-talk approach) (It is similar to both Pragmatism and Post-Modernism!) Do you accept these views?

43. Messages from the Movie (4)Discovering students’ potentials rather than instilling knowledge! Teachers are responsible for excavating students’ innate abilities rather than instilling skills and knowledge only “The majority of our children could be generally classified as difficult” Mr. Thackeray (It is similar to Post – Modernism!) Do you agree with the above messages?

44. Limitations of the Movie Although “To Sir, with Love” can reveal the beliefs of idealism, realism, pragmatism and post-modernism to a certain extent, it only covers the western philosophy of education. Other important philosophies of education are absent. Traditional Chinese philosophy of education is not mentioned. The Confucian educational theories are important philosophical theories that we should not neglect in teaching.

45. Our feelings(1) “ To Sir, with Love is classical and legendary! It includes plenty of educational issues which worth our deep discussions and reflections. Although it was produced in the 1960s, we can still learn much from the story. I wish to be a teacher as successful as Mr. Thackeray some day! ” Keyman

46. Our feelings(2) “A teacher should know the students’ situation, what students really want to know or really want to learn as well as what is really useful to their future. Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude practically is important. In this movie, the teacher Mark Thackeray let the students learn more practical skills rather than the traditional knowledge taught in school, which really reminds me of the original aim of education. In my point of view, the aim is to let students equip with ability to survive and live a better life.” Daisy

47. Our feelings(3) “To Sir, with Love is quite interesting and instructive.Isuggest people who want to be a good teacher should watch this movie. I hope all of us can learn from Mr. Thackeray.” Isaac

48. Our feelings(4) “To Sir, with Love demonstrates the importance of learning real-life skills apart from academic knowledge. It is also surprising how Mr. Thackeray could change the behavior of his students as someone without teaching experience and who initially took teaching only as a temporary job. I think he is a role model for we prospective teachers.”Ada

49. Our feelings(5) “As a teacher, we should be patient. We cannot lose our temper because it will put bad influence on students. Mark Thackeray is a good example. He shows that we can build trust-relationship between students if we put more effort on students with patient.’’ Carlos

50. Our feelings(6) “To sir with love” is really meaningful for us! As a teacher in future, I think we should learn from Mr. Thackeray, especially his attitude in education. Mr. Thackeray let the students ask him everything if they want. Students can be more interactive and interestedin the classroom. Therefore, I recommend this movie to all of us!” Sandy