Reflection On The Movie 42

Introduction

I sat down today and watched the movie 42, which focuses on the life of Jackie Robinson and the start of his baseball career. Jackie Robinson was a starting first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 which openly broke major league baseball’s color line (Jackie Robinson, 2014). How does that relate to education today? As I watched the movie it was very clear how Jackie Robinson was an underdog. He was singled out for his race and bombarded with racial slurs and stereotypes. He did, however, have one important thing, mentors that supported and encouraged him in the form of Team Executive Branch Rickey and Team Manager Leo Durocher (Jackie Robinson, 2014). As a future teacher that’s what I strive to be, a mentor and supporter of all students regardless of their diverse needs, cultures and abilities. This paper will be a reflection of my own personal identity, today’s culture and the worldview as well as a discussion on how I will use my growing knowledge of cultural, ethnic, gender and learning differences to build stronger relationships, create relevant learning experiences for my students and to advance social justice.

Personal Identity

Looking back, I consider myself an average person who grew up in middle-class America. I grew up in central Pennsylvania and attended Catholic school from first through ninth grade. I attended what I consider to be the average white kid’s version of a Catholic school. In the city that I grew up in there were four Catholic schools. One could be considered the pre-dominantly African-American Catholic school, one was the pre-dominantly Hispanic Catholic school, one was the white, rich kid’s Catholic school and mine was the average middle-class white kid school. There ...

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