14 inspiring movies about teachers that will uplift you

Released: 1962

Memorable quote: “The room is a wreck but she folded her napkin!”

The story of Annie Sullivan, the teacher who empowered Helen Keller and gave her a way to communicate with the world, is legendary. After Keller became deaf and blind as a result of scarlet fever, no one, not even her own parents, saw any hope for the child. But when she met Sullivan at the age of 7, despite being a violent and uncommunicative child, she eventually learned the alphabet and began to communicate.

In 1962’s The Miracle Worker, Anne Bancroft plays Sullivan, the teacher who was herself partially blind but taught and advocated for Keller (played by Patty Duke) throughout much of Keller’s life. Both women won Oscars for their work in the film, a classic movie that brings to life the true story of these two remarkable women who defied the odds to become brilliant academics, as well as inspirational speakers and champions for those with disabilities.

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Released: 2005

Memorable quote: “I came to coach basketball players, and you became students. l came to teach boys, and you became men.”

In 1999, a high school basketball coach named Ken Carter suspended the athletes on his team when they didn’t meet the academic standards he set for them. Though Coach Carter has a strict training program in place for his student athletes, he places a higher premium on their education, going so far as forcing them to sign an academic contract and locking them out of their school gym so they can study.

The 2005 film Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson, tells the story of the coach who wouldn’t compromise when it came to his players’ educations. Though many in the community didn’t appreciate his tactics, he earned the respect of his players, who stood by him when his job was threatened as he refused to let the team play until they got their grades up. The real-life Coach Carter, still true to his ethos, even opened up a boarding school in 2009 for student athletes who seek to excel in both sports and school.

Released: 1988

Memorable quote: “There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of those two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do.”

Stand and Deliver is yet another entry in the ‘inspiring inner-city teacher’ category, based on the real experiences of East Los Angeles math teacher Jaime Escalante, played by Edward James Olmos. Escalante is tough but not cruel, and he creates a curriculum for his below-average students so that they’ll eventually excel and be able to take his advanced placement calculus class.

A textbook underdog story, this classic ‘80s movie uses Escalante’s passion for his subject matter, math, and an unexpected health scare to prove how important he and his class were to the students he taught, all of whom succeeded in passing the AP test in both the film and in real life.

Released: 2016

Memorable quote: “You’re gonna go to college, and you’re gonna make somethin’, and then you can make nyah in his face.”

The Bad Kids is a documentary about Black Rock Continuation High School, located in the Mojave Desert, which teaches students who are on the verge of dropping out. These are the students who would be considered at-risk or hopeless in traditional school settings. But here, the students are empowered to break out of the cycles they find themselves in. In addition to traditional academics, the teachers and principal at the school try to reach each of their students on a personal level, providing guidance and empathy to prove there is no such thing as a lost cause. The film will give you hope and make you wish every student in need had the kind of support these students do.

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Released: 2012

Memorable quote: “Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”

There’s a reason we have PTOs and PTAs – parents and teachers have to work together if we want our children to succeed in school and in life. In 2012’s Won’t Back Down, Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as a mum named Jamie Fitzpatrick whose daughter is being failed by her local elementary school.

Jamie teams up with teacher Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) to fight the bureaucracy that’s failing their local school and rally the community so that changes can be made from within. Inspired by true events, this is a story of two mothers whose desire to reform their neighbourhood school is proof than anyone can make a difference in their community if they fight hard enough.

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Source: RD.com