If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher

I had the thought to put this blog post together some time ago and I never really carved out the time to do so. I'm glad. Initially it was to highlight some really bad a$$ teachers that I'd observed having secret lives outside of their teaching occupations. People who seemed to be one thing, but were in fact something much more or something else all together. It seemed that I'd seen a string of movies where teachers by day were conjuring up all sorts of adventure with their questionable or curious decision making outside the classroom. Had I stumbled upon a new Hollywood theme superior to aliens attacking the world movies of the late 90s? or the trading places theme from movies like 'Big' in the late 80s? No matter, I was intrigued with what I was learning then, as well as what I'm learning now.

Walter White - Breaking Bad

Walter White plays a brilliant high school chemistry teacher that finds himself down on his luck. He discovers that he has lung cancer right after he and his wife discover they are pregnant. His love for his family lead him to consider the options he has to care for his them financially should he lose his battle with cancer. His knowledge of chemistry and arguably his colossal poor judgement, enables him to become the king pin of the crystal meth scene in all of the Southwest US. Yes, he earns the money that would take care of his family for several lifetimes, but in the process he loses his family and most everything else that he loves to the life of a power hungry drug lord, his own alter ego, Heisenberg.

Brendan Conlon - Warrior

Brendan is also a high school science teacher experiencing financial struggle. He applies himself after hours by revisiting a former lifestyle of MMA fighting in order to earn some extra cash. The twist of this story is the event that he meets his estranged marine brother in the world championship fight. Great show, amazing fighting sequences, awesome teacher. 

John Brennan - The Next 3 Days

Russell Crowe portrays this English teacher who is raising his son alone after his wife is sentenced to life in prison; convicted of a murder that she didn't commit. When he recognizes that living behind bars will drive his wife to take her own life, he decides he must act to break her out of prison. The movie chronicles his research and even criminal activity to accomplish his goal. The extreme change in character that he experiences is almost too much for his family to take as he drags them into a fugitive life.

Peter Venkman - Ghostbusters

Bill Murray plays a college professor forced to make ends meet by pursuing the paranormal in this 80s classic. While he doesn't balance the life of a teacher and ghostbuster at the same time he clearly maintains his professional status in the movie with lines like, "Back off man, I'm a scientist."

Dr. Jones - Indiana Jones

Who wouldn't want to take a class from a dashing, daring, nazi-fighting professor who uncovers all kinds of adventure while traveling the world in search of ancient artifacts? We don't see him balancing his adventures with his teaching schedule here, but somehow we just know that he's processing lesson plans in his mind whilst finding the shankara stones or drinking from the Holy Grail.

Honorable Mention: Doc Brown - Back to the Future

Forget the sequels, let's just enjoy the magic of the first installment of the Back to Future series. We first get to know Doc Brown through his plethora of clocks that he collects and his amazing contraption that opens up cans of dog food for his furry sidekick Einstien. Doc Brown is super bad when you consider he chose to illegally power his time machine with plutonium, and to power it a second time with a bolt of lightning. We don't really know if he was a teacher per se, but definitely see how he was able to mentor Marty McFly through the 80s, the 50s, 2000s, and the 1800s. 

The Master: Mr. Miyagi - The Karate Kid

I am amazed at how timeless Pat Morita's portrayal of a seemingly ordinary old Japanese handy man has become in pop culture. Who would have thought that 'Wax on, wax off' would be known through the ages and that Mr. Miyagi would be reference to the ultimate mentoring one could experience. His portrayal is genius, as it is telling about how people learn the greatest lessons in life. Daniel Larusso learns karate fundamentals without even knowing it under Miyagi's wing. At the same time he is a kind, loving, and generous man. He is a true friend to Daniel. Fix-it man by trade, and yet secret karate instructor make Mr. Miyagi numero uno on my list of teachers.

One more thought when it come to effective teachers appearing as one thing and yet also being something else. I find that I'm self taught in a number of ways; my biggest self-teaching teacher being my own journal. It is incredible what we can learn from our own writings, sketches or drawings. We take feelings that we've felt, combine that with experience that we've had, and add that to what we've learned in the meantime, and finally divide it amongst the current trials that we face and current questions that we're asking, and boom, the answer is right there waiting for us. What appears to be a small book collecting dust on the shelf, will at times be your greatest friend, mentor, and guide through your next adventure. And if not your mentor, a mentor for a son or daughter or grandson and so on.