A Bookish Life In AK

Our college starts class next week and the schools here start up In-Service next week. Mr. Bookish takes August and watches movies to prep for going back to school, he’s a Math and Auto Shop teacher, so I have compiled a list of his favorite movies.

Mr. Bookish’s movie list: Stand and Deliver (also one of the movies that inspired him to become a math teacher). October Sky, (one of my favorites because of my love of NASA), Here Comes the Boom (Kevin James, hello!), Spare Parts, ( under privilege teens and robotics ), Lean on Me (Morgan Freeman as the principal) and Dead Poets Society (Robin Williams, poetry and English class).

1. Stand and Deliver– Jaime Escalante is a teacher in a Hispanic neighborhood and starts to teach math to a high drop out rate class. He inspires them to go on to AP Calculus amid difficulties and hardships. This is based on a true story, which makes it great too.I love this movie as much as Mr.Bookish, I am not great at math, but several of the lines and practices in it have actually stuck with me and helped me in my math classes. Featured Lou Diamond Phillips and Edward James Olomos.
2. October Sky– In a small mining town in West Virginia, Homer Hickam and his friends get interested in rocketry. The town and his own dad think that they’re are crazy for wanting more than mining for a future. Their teach, Miss Riley, is the only teacher that reaches out and helps them get to the National Science Fair in hope of winning scholarships to colleges. Homer Hickam became an engineer for NASA. Based on a true story, the end credits have pictures and videos of all the people, and on the book “Rocket Boys” by Homer Hickam. Like I said above, I LOVE all things NASA and outer space and watching this leads me to wanting to watch “The Right Stuff” and “From the Earth to the Moon.” Features Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Dern and Chris Cooper
3. Here Comes the Boom – This is not a true story at all but, how can you not get inspired by a science teacher who is disillusioned by the everyday grind until his friend’s position as the music teacher is threatened by budget cuts. He comes up with a plan to win money by fighting in the MMA. While working out and helping both his students in the high school and teaching an American Government class to immigrants becoming American citizens, he becomes more engaged, more inspiring, and more determined to make a difference. I love Kevin James movies, I think he’s great.The story keeps it inspiring and the comedy keeps it light. It has a great cast, Henry Winkler, Salma Hyek, Bas Rutten ( who was an actual MMA fighter) and Joe Rogan.
4. Spare Parts– We came across this back when our kids were in middle school and did Lego Robotics and Mr. Bookish was a co-coach. Four Mexican high school students that have no robotics background decide to enter a robotics competition against the country’s top schools. They have no experience, $800 in parts, hope that they will do ok and 2 teachers that believe that they can do it. This is based on a true story from 2004. It is another great cast, George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marisa Tomei.
5. Lean On Me– Principal Joe Clark is up against an inner-city troubles in New Jersey. He is arrogant and unorthodox in his n=methods, but the students looked up to him because he fought against the drug dealers, bullies ( both in the school and the on school board). He got Eastside High turned around. The real Joe Clark was still the principal when the movie came out in 1989. There is no way teachers and principals would act the way he did get results. Joe Clark was played by Morgan Freeman, who spent time with him to learn his mannerisms. This movie is just inspiring to watch teachers and admin who care for their students and for the most part, their families.
6. Dead Poet Society– This is more my all time favorite back to school/Fall movie than Mr. Bookish but he does like it. Once student now teacher, John Keating returns to Welton Preparatory School for Boys to teach English. He is a unique teacher, he believes that the boys need to be taught to think for themselves, not to just repeat what they are told. His classes are unusual and he gets shy Todd to speak out in class. He explains to a few of his students what the Dead Poetry Society is and they take it up. The students learn how to fight against the average and standard traditions and become their own people. It stars Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke and Kurtwood Smith.

These are all movies we watch several times a year honestly, some of them are hilarious, some are very serious, but all of them are wonderful to watch. I recommend these for mostly 13 and up just because some of the subject matter in all but Here Comes the Boom deal with some pretty heavy subjects like deportation, drugs, violence and suicide.

BOOK REVIEW Breaking The Ice by Whitney Dineen: First in the #loveonthinice Series. It’s a great opener to the series. Ellie is an ice skating teacher and Zach is a billionaire who’s getting trashed n the media. Zach’s brother, Troy asks him to back his charity hockey tournament and stay in Maple Falls for the 6 weeks this happens. Can he and Ellie get along and see what happens? I loved this so much. I love small town, enemies to more tropes. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

Do you have any rituals you have before school starts? Let me know on the comments if you do. Also, if you watch any of the movies let me know what you think? If you have any recommendations drop those too!

Prayers and Blessings, Becky