THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509020407
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
At a time when Hollywood-bashing has become fashionable, teachers at urban Northside Middle School on Friday raved over a film about the hope of making a difference in children's lives.
Principal Timothy M. Sweeney said he almost cried the first time he saw Michelle Pfeiffer's new movie ``Dangerous Minds.'' It is based on the true story of a rookie teacher in an inner-city Los Angeles high school who gets tossed into a classroom of underachieving students with bad attitudes.
So moved was the first-year principal that he sent his 70-member teaching staff to see it this week for back-to-school training.
Teachers will get credit for one of the 12 hours of ``in-service'' professional training required by the city School Board. The movie fired up Sweeney's staff, who talked Friday about the power of caring and the importance of making education relevant to today's youth.
``Our children come to us with many obstacles and it's important to touch their hearts first,'' said Sharon Holt, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at the school. Holt said students need to know they are ``valuable, responsible and accountable'' for the choices they make.
A central message of the movie is that the students do have a choice over the direction of their lives, despite easy-to-blame social factors.
``The bottom line is that I think she (Pfeiffer's character) gave them hope that they could control their lives through learning and education, and that's a powerful message,'' said Sweeney, who told teachers he was the son of poor Irish immigrants and the first in his family to attend college.
Another theme: Teachers must help students want to learn.
``Every kid wants to be successful. I think they're looking for adults and teachers to be there to help them,'' Sweeney said.
Pfeiffer portrays LouAnne Johnson, an ex-Marine who signs on to teach at a school where a friend teaches. Unbeknownst to her, she is assigned a class of ``alternative'' students, mostly poor blacks and Latinos, later described by her friend as ``kids with little or no educational skills and what we politely call social problems.''
``I can't teach them,'' a frustrated Pfeiffer says after her first day, during which students swear at her, threaten her and show her no respect.
``Yes, you can!'' her friend says. ``All you do is get their attention.''
So she does - with a few karate moves learned in the Marines. She tells them they are like military inductees ``with a clean record.'' Then she startles them: She will give them an A to start. It's theirs to keep - or lose.
``I never got an A before,'' one boy says as he perks up.
A turning point comes when Pfeiffer visits the home of two boys suspended for fighting. She tells the parents of one of the Latino boys that he is bright, funny and a pleasure to have in class. The parents look as if they can't believe what they're hearing.
``It was the first thing positive that they'd probably ever heard about their son,'' Sweeney said. ``I'm not ashamed to tell you that brought tears to my eyes.''
Sweeney encouraged teachers to call parents when a disruptive student does something good.
Several Northside teachers said they have made home visits and that it is a way to build trust with parents and communities.
``It lets them see me as a caring individual, a concerned teacher and that I'm also human and don't mind going into their habitat,'' said Lynndell McNair, an eighth-grade science teacher.
``You get a whole new outlook - we have a better understanding of where they're coming from,'' said Pamela Slobe, a teacher of learning-disabled kids. ``We need to stop complaining about the lack of parental involvement and the ills of society and try new and innovative things.''
In the movie, the school's principal, a stickler for school board policy, chastises Pfeiffer's character for showing the kids karate - against the rules - and for deviating from an assigned lesson plan. A student is found shot to death three blocks from the school after the principal refuses to talk to him because he failed to knock on the office door.
``Sometimes you have to throw the rules out to get to the root of the problem,'' Sweeney said. ``You have to listen to the children. You have to hear them.'' MEMO: REACHING STUDENTS
Here are a few ways the teacher in the movie ``Dangerous Minds''
reached her unmotivated students.
Get their attention: She started by showing them karate, then tried
to motivate them by giving them an A to start the class.
Reward them for trying: She tossed out candy bars when teaching her
kids how to conjugate verbs, using the sentence ``Never shoot a
homeboy.'' Later, she gave a certificate of achievement to students who
won a contest comparing the poetry of songwriter Bob Dylan to the poet
Dylan Thomas.
Show them you care: She went into their neighborhoods and visited
them and their parents at their homes. She told parents about the good
things their children were doing.
Teach them the value of learning: When one student wanted to know why
she stopped giving out candy bars, she said, ``Learning is the prize.''
They had nothing to lose by learning to think, she said, but only could
become stronger and smarter and ``harder to knock down.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON, Staff
Norfolk middle school teachers discuss ``Dangerous Minds'': from
right, Brian Fountain, Lynndel McNair, Amanda Evans, Beverly Powell
and Caitlin Broach.
by CNB