Promise

Thinking about the movie, I felt that the word "promise" fits really well with every boy in the movie. I think a lot of people would have entered that public school and felt defeated. I know that seeing the rowdiness of all the boys and how they seemed unruly, i felt overwhelmed. It was amazing to me that over the time of being in Kenya, each boy was growing and experiencing new things. It was also so moving how they finally began to see themselves as smart and "worth" something. I think it reminds me of how every child has "promise" or is capable of doing anything in the classroom, we as teachers just need to make sure we try to reach and connect with them.

In another sense of the word, we as teachers can make the promise to our students that we will make things accessible and try to push them out of their comfort zone into the ZPD and leave them curious about learning more. I think teachers make a promise to recognize a student's promise in the classroom.

In connection with Delpit, she writes, "All teachers must revel in the diversity of their students and that of the world outside the classroom community" (pg. 67). Although this isn't exactly related to the movie, in a different way, I think of it as very similar. It has to do with acknowledging that no child is unreachable, all have promise, all can succeed, and we have to take their experiences and help them through. We can't just give up on them or be fearful if a child has a different background than us.