We take our inspiration to achieve wherever we can and films can be powerful motivators.The following films are recommended for if you feel the need to spur yourself on and feel empowered to make the most of your learning experience.Some English inspiration - Dead Poets SocietyWritten by Tom Schulman and starring Robin Williams as an English teacher in an all boy’s school, Dead Poets Society tells the story of John Keating. The inspirational English teacher uses unconventional teaching methods and his unique schooling in poetry to encourage his students to seize the day, be an individual and to see the world from a different perspective.Some maths inspiration – Good Will HuntingIs fear of failure holding you back? Written by and starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, Good Will Hunting tells the touching story of Will Hunting. Will is a twenty year old self-taught maths genius. He is also a very troubled young man who, carrying the scars of past traumas, sabotages any chances that he has for success. Whilst working as a janitor, Will solves a complex maths problem left on a blackboard for graduates and is taken under the wing of a maths professor who recognises his genius and keeps him out of prison.Some ‘against all odds’ inspiration – PreciousPrecious (Claireece Precious Jones played by Gabourey Sidibe is sixteen years old, illiterate and a victim of abuse that has left her with one child with downs syndrome and a second on the way. She lives with her abusive, unemployed mother. Claireece disappears into a happier world in her imagination in order to cope with her life, until she meets teacher Blu Rain, who teaches her how to read and write and helps her to escape her home life.; both heart-breaking and inspirational.Some ‘it only takes one person to believe in you’ inspiration – Freedom WritersMarcus, Eva, Sindy and Grant are all high school students who have been ‘written off’ as ‘at-risk’. When new teacher Erin Gruwell (played by Hilary Swank) arrives she is faced with racial tension and self-imposed segregation in the classroom and opposition from her seniors who don’t want to ‘waste’ resources on the students outside of it. Gruwell encourages the students to write down their experiences in diaries and teaches them the importance of tolerance but also the power of having someone believe in you.
