Guide about the movie ''beyond the blackboard''

1) Discuss Stacey’s first week at the school. How were The School with No Name and its students different from what she expected? What was her reaction to these differences?
  R/ Stacey was scared at the beginning. She thought she made a mistake with the address because for her it was not a school the place she went. She did not have any idea of what to do or how to start creating a good environment. Stacey’s first week was difficult; she expected to be the teacher in a normal or traditional school. But she got frustrated when she went to the school and discovered it was a weird place that it did not have all the requirements with almost no supplies and little support from school board officials and reluctant parents The placed did not have a good atmosphere; there were no things that the students made pasted on the wall, and there was too much noise. Even if the desks were old and almost useless, the arrangement was not the best option because it did not help the students to participate. Even though the students did not get along well, and they did not show respect one another, the arrangement could have worked creating a good atmosphere.

2) In the beginning of the film, Stacey said “school was a safe place with a glimpse of who I wanted to be.” How did her determination change the environment of the shelter school and her students?
  R/ “No one can change us; we change ourselves because of the things we are going through.” Stacey’s students went through difficult things; no one took care of them. That’s why; they did not have a good behavior because they felt that if the show weakness, they will be hurt. Her determination was the clue to succeed in creating a good environment because she showed interest in her students. They began to trust in someone, and to feel the school like a real home. Stacey needed to make the school a safe place.

3)  Stacey tried to relate to her new students by showing them a photo album of her family and talking about her life. The kids could not relate to her pictures and experiences. Why not?
  R/ They could not relate to her pictures and experiences because they had not lived in the same way as she has. Some of the students did not have a real home to live in; thus, they felt she has been living almost like a princess with car, house and a beautiful family. Students’ life is completely different from the pictures that Stacey showed them.

4)   Discuss some of the life circumstances of the students. What types of adversities did they face physically and emotionally? How did their poverty make learning more difficult?
  R/ Students’ life is difficult because they do not have a real, lovely and sweet home. Some of them have parents who smoke, drink alcohol or use drugs; consequently, they do not treat their children in a good way. In this society, poverty makes life harder; people suffer discrimination; mistreatment and oppression. Learning is even more difficult if students do not have the tools like internet access or library. In poor schools, it is difficult to make learning to happen not only for the problems they have at the school but also for the problems they have at home.

5)   The classroom initially came with almost no supplies and little support from school board officials and reluctant parents. Despite these challenges, Stacey Bess was able to create a warm, safe place for the children to learn. In addition, she was able to earn the support and respect of parents and administrators.
  R/ At the beginning, Stacey was worry because she did not have any idea of how to create a good rapport with her students. Moreover, the classroom was not a safe place, but she really wanted to be different from the others teachers that worked there before. Even though it was a difficult situation her determination helped her to earn the support and respect of students, parents and administrators.

6) Resourcefulness is the ability to find a way to solve problems in a difficult situation. What creative solutions did Stacey find to transform The School with No Name? How did she overcome the lack of supplies, environmental distractions and other issues?
  R/ Stacey knew that she needs to get the parent's confidence so that children continue studying with their parents support. She created the environment by painting the room, creating the adecuate atmosphere for children learning.

7)  Poverty impacts people of all ages, races and backgrounds. The reasons for people being at the shelter are as different as each individual. What are some of the reasons for characters in the film coming to the shelter?
R/ Most of people who stayed at the shelter were suffering poverty, and they lacked opportunities of working themselves out. Some of them with social problems, and witout any opportunitie of get out of that situation.

8)  The previous teacher placed “shame names” on the board and played movies all day to keep the kids occupied. The students and parents were initially wary of Stacey because they thought she would be the same as her predecessor. What actions did she take to earn their trust? How did trust play a role in the school’s success?

 R/ Stacey started to work hard with her students despite of poverty impact that there was in the school. Stacey made some important changes at the school; for example, Stacey talked to children’s parents to avoid that children were missing classes. She talked with her students and she made the students understand that school is a place to learn. They have to learn how to respect the school. The teacher shows always a respectful attitude also students began trusting on her.

9)  Stacey talked to the children about respect. They began to share their experiences of when they encountered a lack of respect – from police, from a parent or from another person. The classroom could only be a safe, calm and quiet place to learn if everyone showed respect for each other.

R/ When Stacey arrived to the school, she found a lack of respect in all her students and the students’ parents, so she began working in some moral values like tolerance, patience, and respect. She tried to commit every person with these kinds of important values.  

10)  Discuss how respect or a lack of respect was shown in the film. Why is respect important in a school setting?

R/ In the first class Stacey had to deal with the manner in which students dealt with it. She tried working with the students, but they do not really like to work with her, so she utilizes some activities they had never done before. There was a lack of respect from part of some parents who got in the classroom and just take the kind without any permission of the teacher.

Stacey talked to the children about how to be respectful and she emphasized the importance of showing respect to each other. She taught the pupils by doing the things by herself.

11)  Stacey encourages the students to think of words to put on the board to describe their feelings. By giving these feelings names, the children were able to express themselves more clearly. What vocabulary words were used? Why were these words so important to the children?

R/ She encourage their students to learn a few good adjectives such as kind, tolerant, sweet , punctual, hard-working, comfortable, sympathetic, helpful, friendly and some others. All these adjectives before mentioned were important when making children’s behaviors change so that they would be better persons.

12)  Describe Stacey Bess.

R/ Stacey Bess is a person who wants to work every well. She is funny, friendly and assertive, so the students pay her attention because she found the way to work with children’s parents and also the students. She is punctual, warm, brave, and tolerant. She could deal with various problems, but what was really outstanding is that she behaves as a humanistic teacher. 

13)  What struck you about the movie?

R/ One of things that stroked me about the movie was that Stacey was brave and smart to keep on giving the classes at school, in spite of physical and emotional adversities that she found there. Furthermore Stacey Bess knew how to create a warm and safe environment in order to every children learn. She searched different was to solve difficult situations that she had to face.

14)  COOL-SCHOOL MODEL: What’s in a name? Why do you think the school did not have a name? Would the school have had an easier transition to success if it did have a name? What would you name the school? Imagine if you could build your own school. Build a model of your school using colors or markers. Now name your school! Explain your reasons to do so!!

R/ I guess the school did not have a name because it was a new program which let helpless children without home continue studying in an informal way. I am sure that if the school had had a name, it might have had success, because the name is something important for everything. I think that when something does not have a name means that it does not matter. I would name the school ‘’Stacey Bess school.’’ Mrs. Trumble built a room which was not suitable to develop any class, but Stacey transformed that empty room to a real school.  

15)  A MENTOR IN MY LIFE: In the film, Danny is encouraged by Stacey to be the best person he can be. She helps him to be a leader. In addition, she plans to hold him accountable to continued learning, by giving him a booklist each year until he is eighteen. Stacey served as a mentor to Danny and he in turn mentored his classmates. Create the shape of the country you would like to visit in the future and describe someone who has been a mentor to you. You can use pictures from magazines, drawings and photos, and markers or Paints to add color and detail.

R/ I think everyone needs to take a living model. When I was a kid I wanted to be like my father because I believe my father was a great person, but with the pass of the time my father becomes into another person. He was not the person he used to be anymore. I felt frustrated, so I looked for another person as a model. The teacher from my school has some characteristic that I was looking for because she was a humanistic, intelligent, honest, kind, funny, happy and beautiful person. All these characteristics named were not enough for me.