Blog #348: Top 10 Movies for Special Education History Classes (Part 2)

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Welcome back to Part 2 of this blog on movies for Special Education History Classes!! For this list, we will cover the top 5 choices that teachers can show their students and we will be covering events such as the Great Depression and World War II along with the Civil Rights movement. As always, if you have any suggestions for any future list, please let me know in the comments below. Let’s get started!!

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#5: Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

For #5, I wanted to talk about a film that covers a period in history during the turn of the century where it seems like our way of life is changing, but more focuses on what happens when there are alienated groups who are shunned out of their homes due to their own beliefs.

“Fiddler on the Roof” (1971) is the story of Tevye, a Russian Jewish Milkman at the turn of the century who struggles to keep his family, faith and traditions together when his three eldest daughters fall for suitors that don’t fit his beliefs. However, the more focus on this film is the fact that during the story, there is an overtone that Jewish people in the early 20th century were being ostracized due to their faith (this is demonstrated before the wedding scene where the Russian Official overseeing the Pogroms calls them “Christ-killers”) all culminating in the climax where the Jews are forced out of their homes because of their background.

The fact of the matter is that “Fiddler on the Roof” can also be a family friendly showing to any class that is teaching about sensitive topics such as the Holocaust during World War II as to why Jewish people were targeted and treated so poorly. But it’s also a film that can easy connect with anyone, regardless of background in politics, religion, etc. on account that anyone who is alienated does not deserve to be so.

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#4: “Mulan” (1998)

Now, I understand fully that studying Oriental culture is a topic that is frequently covered in both Middle and High School, however the only kind of Oriental culture that most special education students know is Japanese on account of the huge amounts of anime that come out of Japan.

But studying Chinese history and culture is just as important and for special education students, “Mulan” (1998) is a window into the life of Chinese Culture as seen through the eyes of Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) who takes her father’s place in the Chinese Army. By watching this film, students can look at how the Chinese lived their life and what their customs and way of life were such as eating on their knees, why do they honor their ancestors so importantly, how can we take what they experience and bring it into our own lives?

I also personally feel that this is a topic that should be covered deeply on account that my father frequently traveled to Asia while he was a vice president for 35 years.

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#3: An American Tail (1986)

When I was in Middle School, I do remember deeply covering immigration and how it was a struggle for immigrants seeking a better life in America in more ways than one. It also taught me that just because we are seeking a better life in a place we can only dream of, that doesn’t mean that said place is what we imagined it would be.

“An American Tail” (1986) demonstrates this as seen through the eyes of Fievel Mousekowitz, a Russian Jewish mouse who is separated from his family while crossing the Atlantic to America and ends up in New York City alone, seeing firsthand that it isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. Through his eyes, we see how New York life was in the 1880’s and the hardships that most immigrants had to go through. I also like how this film also gives us a look at multi-cultural backgrounds such as Russian, Italian and Irish mice.

Now, there are three additional sequels that can also be shown to special education history classes: “Fievel Goes West” (1991) “Treasure of Manhattan Island” (1998) and “Mystery of the Night Monster” (1999) that also can give students a far more deeper understanding of American life in the late 19th century.

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#2: “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971)

I mentioned at the end of Part 1 that I would be covering movies that take place during World War II and the one movie that comes to mind that is set during World War II while also maintaining a family friendly feel is “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971).

I bring this up because “Bedknobs” talks about one important, yet overlooked factor of World War II in Europe: the evacuation of children from London. Three of these children are placed in the care of an aspiring witch named Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury), who is hoping to use magic to contribute to the war effort.

But it is also about teaching that being sent into the countryside was never easy for any child during that time and while the Nazi’s in this film are merely taking part in a training exercise, it goes onto demonstrate that the threat was still there that children would die during the war. In fact, the children Miss Price takes in are in fact, orphans. Mostly though, you might say that the entire film is an overtone of the Second World War and it gives special education and sensory friendly students the option of learning without being at risk of overstimulation or sensory overloading.

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#1: “1776” (1972)

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Have you ever tried to come up with a way to teach special education history students about the signing of the Declaration of Independence that is engaging yet informative? Well, look no further!

“1776” (1972) is a very informative and very engaging story about the Declaration of Independence as seen through the eyes of three men: John Adams (William Daniels), Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva) and Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard). Through this musical, you can feel the pressures that are going on for John Adams as he tries to get congress to be on the same page when it comes to gaining independence from Great Britain. But there is also several highly important lessons that come out of this film that special education students can benefit from:

A. Being pushy and impatient can only get you so far as demonstrated by John Adams. Adams further demonstrates that accepting criticism is never easy, but needs to be during the scenes when the Declaration is being edited.

B. No matter how wise you are, no one is always going to listen to you as demonstrated by Benjamin Franklin when John Adams shuts him up several times when trying to give him sage advice.

C. We all gotta do things we don’t want to do as demonstrated by Thomas Jefferson who would much rather go back home to be with his wife than writing the Declaration of Independence.

In fact, the whole movie is about how each member of congress viewed the independence movement ranging from rather staying under British Rule as demonstrated by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania (Donald Madden); maintaining a wealthy and luxurious way of life as demonstrated by Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (John Cullum); or deciding whether to act on the judgement of others or on your own judgment as demonstrated by Dr. Lyman Hall of Georgia (Jonathan Moore).

Students can watch and picture themslves in the shoes of the congressional members and figure out which side they want to be on: do they want to be on the safe side or be on the side that can change something? It goes to show you that there is more to the signing of the declaration than meets the eye and this film can open a student’s eyes about it.

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So, that is my list of 10 movies to show special education history classes. Once again, if you know of any movies that should be on a future list, let me know!!

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Catch you all later!!

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