EduPop! will explore various representations of teachers and educators as they appear in media: novels, movies, television shows, music, etc. Some representations are wonderful, some terrible but all are presented for fun!
Mr. Glenn Holland
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Polygram Pictures – 1995
Mr. Glenn Holland, played by Richard Dreyfus in an Oscar nominated performance, is the kind of teacher many of us had when we were in school, though we may never have known it. When the movie begins, Holland takes a high school teaching job to support his family and, he thinks, to support his passion – writing music and playing in a band. Teaching is something he is going to do for a while, just until his music career takes off and he can make a living at it.
Little does he know the job will become his vocation.
I have no doubt that many of the best teachers find their way into years and years of this work in just this fashion: they believe they will teach for a bit – it’s a back-up job – and they realize it’s a calling and a profession.
Thank you to all the Glenn Hollands out there!