I finally watched The King’s Speech today in a full movie theater in Korea. I was glad that the movie finally came out on the big screen, even though it’s a bit late. As I sat through the movie, I felt so moved by the relationship between the King and his speech therapist. There were 3 lessons that I took away.
1) You have incredible power through your words. King George the sixth says in one part how he doesn’t have power because he couldn’t make a government or pass laws, but the people of England still looked up to him. He had power through the words that he spoke as a leader for England. His successful speeches ended up having great impact.
As teachers, we have great power through the words that we speak to our students that are in our classroom every day. We need to use this power wisely and be aware of it.
2) The fear of failure can cripple us. The King struggles with this fear of failure inside of him that rooted from a number of different causes. This fear was manifested in one way through his speech impediment.
Some of the students we teach come to us with different fears. Maybe someone told them they were bad writers, or maybe that they’ll never be good at math. Whatever fears they carry with them to our classrooms, as teachers we need to help them overcome their fears by creating a safe environment of trust and mutual respect. We need to help them to have freedom from these fears.
3) We need people that have faith in us, around us.The King didn’t have a single friend, until he met Lionel. This relationship changed his life and helped him get to the root of his speech impediment. Lionel had faith in Bertie and Bertie was able to recognize that in time. It wasn’t always easy at times, and at times they fought and didn’t see eye to eye. Yet, through patience, perseverance and love, Lionel was able to breakthrough Bertie.
As a teacher, we need to have the faith in all of our students, no matter their troubled background, learning difficulties or attitude they have. Our impact might not be as dramatic as the relationship between Lionel and Bertie, but as teacher’s we can plant seeds of hope and life into our students’ lives. We might not always see the results while we teach them, but maybe later on they’ll remember a kind word you said about them, or how you treated them differently than other teachers.
What did you think of the movie? What lessons did you learn from the movie?How do you help create a classroom of trust and mutual respect?
teach to inspire 
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I will. This movie has reached you as a teacher. From what you have told me, this movie can reach me as a parent of grown children. Thank you for your thoughts.
I hope I didn’t give away too much of the movie for you….I’m glad that you will see the movie!
I have not been able to get out and see this movie yet. Your reflection of it and the lessons you learned are very powerful and so very true. I’ve heard only great things about the movie and now feel the need to see it even more.
Thank you! Yes, I definitely recommend you watch it soon! 🙂
It is a great movie, & wonderful that you made such a connection to it. I agree with all of your points, but I would add, although it’s similar to the final point you made, that the lesson I took from the movie is that we are all in this together–teachers & students–trying to do the best we can. Lionel & Bertie both had their personal struggles, but respect seemed to carry the day. Keeping faith in each other helps the relationship cement itself so that growth can take place. You made such good points for us to ponder!
Thanks for your thoughtful comment Linda. I totally agree that we are all in it together with our students.
I LOVED this movie! And I loved reading your lessons and I think it’s quite funny that my slice today was about the power of words too. I hadn’t read your post yet, but saw the movie title and had to read your post!
Your points made me realize how much I loved the movie and brought new view points!
Glad you enjoyed the post and the movie!!