Movie review: Early recess required for 'Bad Teacher'
In an era when schools are scandal zones, it's disappointing how timid a movie called Bad Teacher turns out to be. Maybe Billy Bob Thornton spoiled us with his unrepentant Santa who truly earned the adjective "bad." This movie needs more crassness in the classroom.
Cameron Diaz stars as Elizabeth Halsey, a gold digger who rightfully gets dumped by her fiance. That means she's stuck teaching middle school classes, if showing faculty flicks like Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me qualifies as teaching. Elizabeth uses the time to sleep off her previous night's binge and wonder how to finance breast augmentation to trap her next meal ticket.
She's certainly a bad teacher, just not a bad one. Jake Kasdan's movie has no intention of shocking viewers even though the potential is there. There are no Debra LaFave shenanigans with a student, although Justin Timberlake's role as a timid but rich dork Elizabeth chases could be written younger and recklessly funny. Child abuse is limited to profane wisecracks and dodgeball assault.
Certainly such actions by teachers are deplorable in real life. But in the movies where anything is possible and nobody gets hurt, working off nervous laughter about a serious situation is an opportunity Kasdan misses. Elizabeth isn't contributing to anyone's delinquency but her own, and whatever comedic edge Bad Teacher might have had is ignored.
This is a comedy never proceeding beyond its idea pitch and attractive casting. Diaz looks like a teacher anyone would be hot for, yet doesn't exude much sexuality beyond getting wet and wild at a fundraising carwash. There's no evidence that she's a terrible influence on students, so that angle of last-reel redemption is lost.
It may be an ego issue; Thornton didn't mind making Santa Claus reprehensible, and we felt guilty and giddy rooting him on. Diaz wants above all else to remain cute and perky, with only faint roughness around the edges. She's amusing at times but not enough. Blame the screenplay by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, whose previous credit for the Jack Black flop Year One is all you need to know in order to understand.
Diaz's male co-stars don't fare any better. Timberlake enjoys playing the nerd he isn't in real life but that's a one-note joke better suited for a Saturday Night Live sketch. Jason Segel is criminally underused as a PE coach with eyes for Elizabeth, who would never stoop to date a teacher, so you know she eventually will.
Recess In Middle School - News
middle school, said he's proud of his staff and students for all the work they've done to make the school a healthier place to be, including building a 1/4-mile paved path around the school yard. "We really felt we could do better with our recess.
That means she's stuck teaching middle school classes, if showing faculty flicks like Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me qualifies as teaching. Elizabeth uses the time to sleep off her previous night's binge and wonder how to finance breast augmentation
As much as any high school, the two rivals felt the effects of cyber bullying when students created dueling anti-Lincoln/anti-St. Mary's Facebook pages. High schools are not the sole province of the scourge of the electronic world. Middle school
That's right, recess. Now women of all ages can get together and play classic recess games at a space they rent out at Chapman Middle School in northwest. There's nothing like the sound of a ball pounding on blacktop or the smell of a wooden gym for
Things look a bit different now, with a small army of college-age counselors managing a few hundred kids at the middle school in everything from organized sports camps to the flavor of the day, whether wiffle ball or floor hockey or dodgeball.
Mrs. Lemke's Blog: Recess in Middle School
Five years ago, our middle school decided to do away with recess. The main reason was there wasn't time to include it on the schedule. Many students question why there isn't recess as they might tell you they need that social time. They argue that they would behave better if they had recess to burn off some of that pent up energy.
Recess or break or whatever label we give it is a great benefit for students. It provides opportunities during the day to step out out of the "grind" and recharge drained batteries. The workplace has "recess" and the resulting benefits to productivitiy are well documented. We have a lot to accomplish during a school day so lets include the edge that a break in the day provides.
Giving middle school students a break in the middle of the day (in addition to the 20-25 minutes they may have to get through the long lunch line and then wolf down their lunch) would benefit so many kids. To be up and moving rather than sitting in the classroom gets them re-energized and ready for the second part of the day. I have noticed that once that lunch starts to digest, they go into a fog of sorts. Unfortunately I don't think we get our kids up and moving enough throughout the room (I'm guilty, too). My afternoon classes are not as focused on the task at hand when I give collaboration time compared to my morning classes. Educational leaders are so focused on the number of instructional minutes and test scores, that they often forget that we need to keep what is best for kids on the other front burner when making decisions.
RT : Everybody was on nates lawn like it was recess in middle school lol
Everybody was on nates lawn like it was recess in middle school lol
When you're in middle school but still have recess. 
I dislike that my little sisters in middle school and still has recess. . -_-Recess In Middle School - Bookshelf
School recess and playground behavior, educational and developmental roles
Sports, such as basketball and football, are often played outdoors at recess by middle school boys (Pellegrini, 1991). Further, this preference should not ...Recess, its role in education and development
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Chapter 13 Recess in a Middle School: What Do the Students Do? Olga S. Jarrett and Michelle Duckett-Hedgebeth The extreme rarity of recess in middle school ...Generation Extra Large, Rescuing Our Children from the Epidemic of Obesity
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In the hopes of boosting test scores, Rutland Middle School has just announced a dubious schedule change. If school administrators really want their kids to achieve ...