Sarah Wood Educational Psychology The Dead Poets Society ...

1 Sarah Wood Educational Psychology The Dead Poets Society Movie Review Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary is the main line of the movie, The Dead Poets Society . Mr. Keating, the new english teacher at a prestigious boys school, challenges his students in new and innovative ways that effect them tremendously. The boys are used to the traditional way of learning: memorization, reading, memorization, reading .. on and on. They are forced by their parents and older teachers to accept what is put before them and memorize it so that they can regurgitate it on an upcoming test. Mr. Keating very presence in the school challenges this norm. Making a good, authoritative first impression When the students get their first look at Mr. Keating, he is strolling into their classroom and whistling around them only to head out the other door and leave them looking astonished.

2 He returns quickly and asks them, being just as astonished as they were, why they did not follow him. He makes them get up out of their seats, and they walk into the hallway where he gives them the carpe diem speech in which he charges them to seize the day. He makes them move close to the pictures of the school s dead alumni and examine them. He continues to whisper carpe diem close in their ears. The boys walk away somewhat freaked out, but also inspired to make the most of their lives. I think that this is a great technique to use on the first day of teaching, because it shows the students your heart and what is important to you. On this day, Keating showed the boys one of his major passions: not letting life go by wasted. In order to get their attention, he made them move first from their desks, and then close to the picture showcase. Making students move physically is so important, because it engages them in the learning process and makes the experience more memorable.

3 Motivating and Encouraging Students One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Mr. Keating makes Todd Anderson come to the front of the room to make up a poem. He knows that Todd is terrified of getting up in front of people and writing, so he pushes him. He s strong and forceful, but he knows that Todd has the ability to perform, and without that extra push, he won t. Mr. Keating makes Todd spin around with his eyes closed and make up a poem orally. He starts out prompting him, until Todd gets so caught up in the rhythm that he completes the poem and the class is in awe, because it actually had a very deep meaning. This is such a great example, I think of a teacher s role in learning. We are to pull out those students that sink into mediocracy and show them that they can excel. Todd Anderson had abilities, but the lack of relationship with his parents and his brother s standard of excellence overshadowing him made him hesitant to try.

4 Mr. Keating made him uncomfortable, but did not throw him out to the wolves or humiliate him. He twirled around with him until Todd was able to do it on his own. Major Controversy/Problems Presented The underlying theme in this movie is teaching students to think for themselves. The tradition at the boys school was to not question, but to accept what the experts say. Mr. Keating challenged this, because he believed the boys should be free-thinkers. In a lesson on poetry, he instructs the boys to rip out the introduction that was an essay on how to read and understand poetry. because he thought the students should come to their own conclusions about poetry and its meaning. The very act of ripping the introduction out was a physical way of showing them to defy conformity to the normal, standard, expected way of thinking. In everything Keating did, he taught them to truly live, to see the meaning of life, to feel life so tangibly through poetry and literature that it would make them pursue their dreams, even if their dreams were contrary to what others thought they should pursue.

5 He makes sure they know that literature is not something to be belittled; he tells them: No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. This caused an uproar in the school, because the older teachers found his ideas threatening. They felt that the boys were too young to be free-thinkers and that to challenge the great masters was offensive and pointless. Mr. Keating also taught the boys that many times when viewing an issue, it is necessary to look at it from another point of view. To illustrate this, he stood on his desk. He told them that the room looked different from this perspective and he made them do the same. He showed them by example how to physically move to look at a standard from a different angle. He did not want them to conform to the popular ways of thinking just because everyone else was. He illustrated this in the courtyard, by letting them each walk around as they wished.

6 Mr. Keating did not stop the students when he knew that they were following in his footsteps with the Dead Poets Society , because he wanted them to use that club as a way to fuel critical thinking. He wanted them to suck the marrow out of life, but when the club started going too far and being defiant, he told them not to chock on the bone. Meaning that yes, live life fully and think for yourself, but don t let that cause an excess of pain and hurt. I think this is shown when one of the main characters in the movie, Neil, decides to kill himself after he realizes that his father will not let him pursue his dream of acting. Neil was once content to do what others expected of him, but the dead Poets Society revitalized him and he decided that if he could not pursue his personal dreams, there was no point in physically living, because he would not be truly alive. What I Think of the Problems Presented When I think of critical thinkers, I think of those masters of old that reshaped the way we, as a culture, view life and educations.

7 While I realize that it is important to engage their views and know what they thought, I also think that we should form our own opinions about those views. We shouldn t accept it for the sake of merely accepting it. I also think though that God has given us authorities, and that we are to obey them, except when they require us to do acts that are contrary to God s Word. I think that in some aspects, the boys violated the school s authority and their parents and that partially contributed to the horrific ending. I also thought it was interesting that Mr. Keating denied listening to certain experts, yet he continually quoted Walt Witman and other Poets . It seems somewhat contradictory, because the students were thinking on their own, yet taking every word a poet wrote as perfectly true. For example, when they are leaving the cave and all enthralled in the beat of the poem, it conveys a sense of emotion and that they were blindly following the poem.

8 To conclude, I think that critical thinking is excellent, so long as a person stays true to the Bible and critically examines everything, not just one section. What I Thought of This Assignment I had never watched the Dead Poets Society before, and I absolutely loved it. I thought that the story was excellent, the dialogue very well written, and the ideas presented fascinating and very helpful to someone studying to be an educator. I think that the movie selection was perfect for this assignment. I think that the paper requirement was reasonable; I did not feel overwhelmed by the length, because there was so much material to talk about from the movie. I do think though that the questions for the paper should be more specific than just problems presented in the movie and a response. Maybe questions like what a certain scene or a certain quote or action by Mr. Keating would be more effective in making the paper more concise.

9 Overall, I think that the project was a nice break from reading a passage in a book; with the movie, I was able to watch something happen and draw my own conclusions. The ability to do this is so very crucial to someone studying to be a teacher, because we do need to be critical thinkers, and we need to be able to show others how to do the same.