I also found the video to be very inspirational. As a special education major, I was amazed by the progress made by the student with disabilities. It just goes to show that hard work, constant incouragement and stimulating educational activities, like debate, can produce amazing results with students that might have otherwise been left behind. The teacher, or in this case the police officer that lead the debate team, was a huge factor in the success or failure of his students. I do not think the bebate team in the movie would have been as successful without their coach. I believe the whole point of teaching is to motivate your students to achieve their goals of greatness by providing them with interesting educational opportunities.

What I found most interesting about the debate team was that their coach wasn't even a teacher at their school. He was a police officer and someone the students could turn to if they had a problem. He was a volunteer and someone that devoted much of his free time to the debate team.

I was glad to see that the debate helped these students that had no support at all. I do feel the factors of the drive by the students and the Police officer were major factors of why this achieved so much for them. Debate is a great way to get the students involved and this allows them to retain and understand the subject better than listening to a teacher talk. I truly want and believe i can challenge my students to higher level thinking and still have them past the EOGs but i am afraid that i will conform like the other teachers and teach to test. That is my biggest fear!

Ashley,

I agree with you about enjoying that the debate helped these students. Even though the students had no support from home, they were encouraged by someone from the community, a police officer who wanted to help them and change the future for the better. I'm also scared I'll end up conforming to the whole "teach to the test" thing that many teachers fall into. However, I want to believe that I'll encourage and challenge my students to be all that they can be and to understand that I'm there for them.

Ashley and Christina, I can definitely relate to your fears about "teaching to the test". It seems that many teachers do not want to, but they are forced to unless they want to lose their job. The video about the debate team gave me hope though, because even if I am forced to conform in some ways so that I can keep my job, I can still get students involved in extracurricular activities like the the debate team that will enhance their learning. And also, doing a debate in the classroom can be a great way to learn some of the main topics that are on the standardized tests. My point is that although teaching to the test may be what some administrators are pushing, but there are plenty of ways to get around that and teach so that students will be motivated and inspired by what they are learning while also doing well on their tests.

I also found the video inspirational. Like Chase I am a special education major as well so the part with the boy with a disability was really touching to me. I am glad that they put forth the effort to help him out and want him to succeed as well. I thought it was also great that the police officer took time out to do this with the kids. It really got the kids involved in school that normally may not have been.