Benjamin recently had the idea to set up a movie series on great teaching movies at our university. Specifically it was, when we watched “Seymour. An introduction”, which features Seymour Bernstein, a brilliant piano teacher, who is warm, knowledgable, encouraging, and just a simply endearing character.

The other movie, that we came across last weekend, was “Whiplash” and it was a brilliant movie, which completely captures you. The teacher portrayed in this movie is the opposite of Seymour Bernstein (and of course, it is fiction, not a documentary), and probably not exactly a role model in teaching, which makes it so interesting to watch both movies and reflect on the different teaching styles. Plus, I could not agree more on the Oscar for J.K. Simmons that he was awarded for this role.

There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good job”.

Funny, that the two first movies on inspiring teachers that we came across feature music teachers. Do you know any other examples, preferably on academic teaching?

Both movies are featured in the HSG movie series on excellent teaching and excellent learning, which starts May 26 (Thursday8pm.ch).

Image: Teaching  by Nathan Russel , CC BY 2.0