Teachers and educators constantly struggle to fuse academic learning and fun together, wanting to engage students’ interests in the class content while also allowing them to exercise their creativity and imagination. A truly effective teacher also strives to demonstrate an interest in her students and offer quality instruction to all her students, regardless of their gender, ethnicity or preferred learning style. Teachers of excellence, be they fictional or actual personages, figure prominently in several books, movies, or television shows, inspiring current educators and aspiring teachers alike to implement some of the methods portrayed in the media in their own classrooms. Even children’s television shows, like The Magic School Bus and Arthur, offer fascinating portrayals of teaching qualities that real-life educators strive to emulate or work desperately to avoid. Though humorous, these shows illustrate helpful and counterproductive instructional methods.
In the popular Magic School Bus series, the multicultural students in Miss Frizzle’s third grade classroom love their eccentric, but creative, teacher. Miss Frizzle’s passion for science pervades everything she does and often, the students themselves catch her enthusiasm. Her flamboyant clothing matches the subject matter at hand and her stories connect to class material. Miss Frizzle understands her students’ diverse personalities, kindly encouraging paranoid Arnold to more fully engage in the learning activities and tactfully handling Carlos, the class clown. Of course, Miss Frizzle owns the Magic School Bus, a fantastical vehicle capable of time travel and of transforming itself into a plane, a bat, a raindrop and numerous other objects. With this bus, Miss Frizzle takes her class on a myriad of adventures, letting them literally live the day’s science lesson. Scientists have yet to invent a bus able to perform all of the Magic School Bus’s feats, of course, but real-life teachers can still learn a lot from “the Frizz.” In order to truly be effective, teachers need to love what they teach and allow this passion to carry over into their lessons and interactions with their students. They should learn to understand and value their students’ distinct personalities and strive to make the lessons applicable, interesting and relevant to all present.
The media also offers unfavorable portrayals of teachers, as is evidenced in PBS’s Arthur. Arthur, the beloved television show’s aardvark protagonist, and his friends strongly dislike their third grade teacher, Mr. Ratburn, and the heavy homework load he constantly doles out. They are convinced that no educational methodology could be worse than Mr. Ratburn’s dry teaching style and seeming disinterest in his students. In “Arthur’s Substitute Teacher Trouble,” however, Arthur and his friends are exposed to various types of teaching methods. One of their substitute teachers mumbles and takes no time to explain the concepts to the confused students, while another smacks her lips annoyingly while talking. The worst substitute of all, however, turns out to be the one they initially loved the most. Miss Ratburn, their strict, pedantic teacher’s sister, leads the class in singing and fun activities like coloring pictures. As the days wear on, however, it becomes clear that this is all she does. Arthur and his friends become desperate for Mr. Ratburn to get well and return to the class because they fear their brains will melt from such lengthy disuse. While such fears are, of course, unjustified, Miss Ratburn’s lax teaching style demonstrates that in the end, simple fun helps no one and should not take priority over learning in a classroom setting. Even though Arthur may portray teachers somewhat negatively, lessons can be learned and applied. Mr. Ratburn and Miss Ratburn obviously represent two extremes on the teaching style spectrum, but they ultimately do embody characteristics that real-life educators should embrace in moderation. Effective teachers need to find a balance between easy diversion and exacting educational tactics.
In the end, though often humorous, both current educators and aspiring teachers can laugh and learn from teacher portrayals in popular media.
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