Despite all of the changes Holland and his students have been through over the 30 years of time that the movie encapsulates, the board still eliminates his position along with all of the other art programs at school. Here is where the most real part of the movie happens. A despondent Holland is talking with his football coach teacher friend and he observes that it would be the end of Western civilization if a high school cut its sports budget. His buddy reassures Holland that "they'll miss [him]" when he's gone. Holland counters that he feels "expendable." That's a succinct summation of what teaching feels like. Some may remember you, or how you made them feel, but you are still a line item on the budget of an institution that cannot love you back, no matter what trinkets it provides you with. A triumphant exit with a supportive crowd at your back does not take away from the fact that teaching is more than just a deeply emotional labor. Recognizing and managing those emotions is necessary, but it is not enough. Beyond respect, teachers deserve much higher levels of the kind of compensation that goes into gas tanks, grocery tills, and mortgage accounts.

Another part of the movie that had me thinking "maybe this is going somewhere" was toward the end. It explored the tension between being "remembered" as a good teacher or person and the "expendable" nature of holding onto any kind of job.

thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/mr-h...

#edusky

One student in particular provides him with a learning opportunity that he eventually capitalizes on, though it's not clear whether he applies this learning in later years. Gertrude Lang, a clarinetist in the school's band, can't form notes with her instrument without squeaking. He tries to teach her directly with private lessons before school, but her frustration mounts. She is ready to quit the instrument when he tells her that music is more than notes on a page. He knows that she knows the music "in her head, her heart, and her fingers" but needs her to develop the self-trust to perform it fluently. She, of course, excels once he gives her the chance to mediate her thinking by reflecting on what she already knows about her skills. He's becoming aware that his students' emotional lives and their motivations matter as much as their "pure music" knowledge.

There's one moment of admirable pedagogy in Mr. Holland's Opus and it comes when Holland is able to correctly identify why a student of his is struggling.

#edusky

thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/mr-h...

This week's post at The Tall Rob Report has my thoughts on Mr. Holland's Opus, which I found dreadful.
It is a movie that feels like it was written by someone who never thought about education after they graduated. Pure nostalgia bait for people of a certain age.
But what does it say about teaching?

Wonderful news!

There’s a great April Fool’s paper in a medical journal about the folly of doing RCT with parachute testing. Anyway, more thoughts from and old thread on how ‘science’ is used rhetorically:

Could only read the article up until the paywall but agree with your critique of how ed research is wielded.

Good thing doers of “hard” science like Cyril Burt and Andrew Wakefield have never falsified research.

Good thing real-life learning contexts are amenable to randomized controlled trials.

Screaming Urge - Screaming Urge (1982) YouTube video by girlwantsboy's archive

SCREAMING URGE mentioned in an academic text!

Spread of pages from Stuart Schrader’s Blue Power Text relevant to the post: HOUSTON POLICE ASSOCIATION VERSUS PUNK ROCK As hardcore punk detonated across the cities and then the suburbs of the United States at the dawn of the Reagan regime, it became obligary for every set to include at least one ripper decrying cops: "Police Story" "Police Truck" "Teaching You the Fear" "Youngster on the Force" "Killa Poe Leese" "Pigs Run Wild" "Cops Are Out" "Violent Arrest" "On Whom They Beat"

Hahahaha I thought you were joking! Just flipped through the book this morning and saw this spread. Incredible stuff, especially that AK-47 track.

#thebadgemeansyousuck

Her ultimate fate is the result of her misplaced faith in her brood, which is a delightful consequence for such a flawed character. As a teacher, I want to see her survive to stick it to the board and the headmistress. She's going to go down fighting! That rules! But, what she's fighting for is based on her reputation in the community, which is in tatters. Although it's the implication of an affair that the board sees as uncouth, the final betrayal is from Sandy, one of her former pupils. Sandy is disgusted with Brodie because her desire to see her students "serve, suffer, and sacrifice" has led to one of their deaths in the war. Her rhetoric finally has real-world consequences. Even more humiliating for Brodie, she learns that this girl's brother, who she had assumed was fighting on the side of the Fascisti is actually a Republican. Meaning, this student of hers has died for nothing.

It’s never a good idea to root for a fascist. Maggie Smith does such a great job of making Brodie into a sympathetic ‘underdog’ in her fight against her board & admin that I had to check myself. Fascists fighting their bosses aren’t on our side at all.

thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...

Miss Jean Brodie is quite a character. A leader, if not just a teacher. She says as much when speaking with the headmistress at Marcia Blaine's School for Girls. where she teaches 12-year-olds. The headmistress is unhappy with Brodie for taking girls to the theater and the museum on weekends. Brodie defends herself by saying that the root of educate is the Latin educere, meaning "to lead out." As in, she is leading the girls out of the darkness and into the light. Her headmistress counters that surely there should be some "putting in" happening as well. Brodie has read well, knows her etymology, and replies that that would be an intrusion, from the Latin "to thrust into," which she does not capture how she sees her role as a teacher. It's these word games that give Miss Jean Brodie a sheen of unassailability. She seems a to float through the school, dispensing pithy observations about culture and the proper way to live. She is "in [her] prime, " don't you see? That teaching girls is "[her] vocation" must mean that her pedagogical methods are beyond reproach. She just wants her kids to prize "goodness, truth, and beauty" in artwork and poetry. Sounds pretty good to me. Parents would love for their children to have a teacher who is so dedicated to her calling.

Charisma is a quality Jean Brodie has in high amounts. That doesn’t mean she’s a good teacher, though. She is a master manipulator. Not a good trait for someone responsible for young adolescent’s social, emotional, moral, & cognitive development.

thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...

For the weekend morning crowd, here’s my review of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1969). In recent weeks on The Tall Rob Report, I’ve been looking at the ways teachers and teaching appear on film. They’re not always models of high-quality pedagogy or even personal character. Definitely true here!

Real stoked to read this one! Schrader’s first book is incredible. Just picked up my pre-order from my local bookstore because I couldn’t source one from HeartattaCk or DeadAlive for some weird reason…

Her ultimate fate is the result of her misplaced faith in her brood, which is a delightful consequence for such a flawed character. As a teacher, I want to see her survive to stick it to the board and the headmistress. She's going to go down fighting! That rules! But, what she's fighting for is based on her reputation in the community, which is in tatters. Although it's the implication of an affair that the board sees as uncouth, the final betrayal is from Sandy, one of her former pupils. Sandy is disgusted with Brodie because her desire to see her students "serve, suffer, and sacrifice" has led to one of their deaths in the war. Her rhetoric finally has real-world consequences. Even more humiliating for Brodie, she learns that this girl's brother, who she had assumed was fighting on the side of the Fascisti is actually a Republican. Meaning, this student of hers has died for nothing.

There’s more to teaching than content knowledge and snappy patter. She thinks she knows her students so well that none of them will ever turn on her. When one does, it’s a great moment of confrontation and consequence.

thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...

Miss Jean Brodie is quite a character. A leader, if not just a teacher. She says as much when speaking with the headmistress at Marcia Blaine's School for Girls. where she teaches 12-year-olds. The headmistress is unhappy with Brodie for taking girls to the theater and the museum on weekends. Brodie defends herself by saying that the root of educate is the Latin educere, meaning "to lead out." As in, she is leading the girls out of the darkness and into the light. Her headmistress counters that surely there should be some "putting in" happening as well. Brodie has read well, knows her etymology, and replies that that would be an intrusion, from the Latin "to thrust into," which she does not capture how she sees her role as a teacher. It's these word games that give Miss Jean Brodie a sheen of unassailability. She seems a to float through the school, dispensing pithy observations about culture and the proper way to live. She is "in [her] prime, " don't you see? That teaching girls is "[her] vocation" must mean that her pedagogical methods are beyond reproach. She just wants her kids to prize "goodness, truth, and beauty" in artwork and poetry. Sounds pretty good to me. Parents would love for their children to have a teacher who is so dedicated to her calling.

On this re-watch, I noticed more of how Smith’s Brodie so successfully manipulates (or is it educates?) her “brood.” She’s great at rhetorical moves that leave her students and administrators at a loss for words.

thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...

I didn’t really notice it at the time, but my colleague was not pleased. She said the interaction reminded her of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” and suggested I watch the movie. The main part that stuck with me at the time was that Miss Brodie’s influence on her class got one of her kids killed.

We gave our usual overview of the project to the students in the teacher’s class and then opened the floor for questions. I can’t remember the question this one student asked, but it was quite pointed. As soon as she finished asking it, she turned to her teacher and smiled for approval.

My supervisor and I traveled throughout the state to meet with HS English teachers who were implementing a project-based learning program. Usually, we’d go on our own to make the process more efficient, but she had heard that this one teacher at one site was being a little difficult.

We’re back to the known with this week’s post on The Tall Rob Report.

I take a look at Maggie Smith as a capital-F Fascist teacher in 1969’s “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” This one came onto my radar in about 2010 when I was working as an ELA consultant for the Ohio Dept. of Education.

🧵

to get shot with a gun!

NY Times Morning Briefing notification reading “The pope and the president… and the big rock star that made a lot of money…” the last few words are a hand-written edit.

They all got one thing in common…

to have gotten them in the door, so they should trust their intuition. Make the situation bend to them, etc.

I think I see what you’re getting at. The ‘value’ of using genAI to learn corporate-email speak just to survive in an office environment is an indictment of how that environment wields language. The guest on the episode seemed close to a realization that their ‘natural’ writing voice is good enough…

Aargh that’s so frustrating to hear. How are we supposed to learn to improve at anything without receiving feedback? Glad the emoji solution seems to be working at least.

Oh for sure! I think this conversation is a great document of how someone is using genAI for their work but also having some misgivings about it.

I’m glad this guest has a therapist. Related, you did a great job of questioning claims like their writing being “too emotional” by asking “for whom?” There is a lot of insecurity involved in writing and this guest seems so close to having the confidence and self-trust to write without chatbot help.

That moment never came and the guest later said using ChatGPT to banter with while drafting emails was taking *more* time than just writing the emails or pieces independently. To then hear that the guest is uploading medical info into a genAI chatbot was a bit unsettling.

>>

This was a profoundly sad listen. I understand why the guest said they’d use AI to “code switch” into corporate speak to make work emails and pieces more palatable to superiors, but I was waiting for the moment when they said something like “I learned how to do the skill and now don’t need AI.”

>>

Can’t be the only one who saw a large body of water and “Arkangelsk” and thought about Goldeneye for the N64.

Okay CTA. This is a good sign.