This post contains spoilers from the Last Jedi movie, so if you haven’t seen it and want to, don’t read it. And some of the ‘quotes’ will be off, I will correct them when I see it again (or I can find the clips on youtube)
Last night I went to Star Wars – the Last Jedi. The movie as a whole was amazeballs (I am a star wars fan as a disclaimer) but there were a few moments that really stood out to tired end of year teacher brain. I am probably reading WAY too much into it, but there were a couple of ideas that really did stand out for me.
- The best teacher, failure is
Master Yoda rocks up when Luke Skywalker is feeling all down and out about being a failure (He did make a rather large cock up to be fair…) And in awesome Yoda style, he says some pretty profound things. My second favourite was about masters (teachers) and how you need to be lots of things to be a teacher, but failure is also a good teacher and learn from it you will. (I need to see the movie again to get the quotes right).
2. The burden of a Master is to watch people out grow you.
Again, this was Yoda at his best. But I don’t think it is something teachers acknowledge enough, and it is why I try really hard to push kids in front of me (either by dangling carrots, cracking ‘whips’ or lighting fires) rather than pulling them up. A subtle thing to think about, but if you pull people along, do you limit how far they can go, because they are following you, rather than treading their own path. How can I make sure kids are learning for them, not to please others?
3. Keeping the light alive is more important than being a hero.
In the movie Poe, the bolshy and impulsive pilot. He is pretty kick arse in a tight spot to be fair. But in this movie he fails to see a big picture and essentially is a right pain in the butt. On a whole other level, there is a moment where a kick arse woman named Haldo refuses to be mansplained to – I LOVED the woman in this movie, there were some really strong characters. And then, when the crunch comes, she acts and is awesome and Poe gets it – with help from Leia of course – that heroes come in all types, and being heroic doesn’t always save the day. And that sometimes you do have to cut your losses.
I guess this was another little wake up call for me about being ‘heroic’ and how the small little acts that no-one sees are just, if not more, important than the big bold strokes. How really kick arse people don’t need that recognition, they are just kick arse.
4. We will win by saving what we love, not destroying what we hate.
This was a really cheesey moment in the movie (There was so much awesome cheese in this film) but again, it was a wee reminder about staying focussed on what is important and that if we can protect what we love, really the rest doesn’t matter quite so much. So do we spend enough time focusing on what is awesome and what we love in education, or do we spend too much time focusing on what we ‘hate’??
So yeah, it was awesome, and I will go and see it again (and then buy it to go with all the other star wars movies on my shelf) but to this tired and slightly disillusioned teacher brain, it was an awesome reminder about remembering there is lots to love in education, that quiet heroics are just as important as loud ones, that failure is the best teacher and sometimes you do outgrow ideas, or people, or people and ideas outgrow you.
And that is ok
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