A must have movie(s)

I recently just purchased four movies that reflect on great teachers and how one person can make a difference in the classroom. They include Freedom Writers, The Ron Clark Story, Lean on Me, and Stand and Deliver. This weekend I watched Freedom Writers and I can't help but be so motivated and touched by this movie. I'm also a huge fan of Lean on Me. I absolutely love Morgan Freeman's character in this. He is so powerful and stern with a purpose. This movie brings tears of joy to my eyes!
Last semester I was observing a freshman English class and the teacher actually showed the movie Freedom Writers in class. I wasn't sure where she was going to go with this in a lesson because I wasn't observing her class for the first half of the movie the previous day. She actually incorporated an activity that was done in the movie where Mrs. G (Hiliary Swank) puts a line on the floor in her classroom and asks a series of questions. If the question applies to the student, he or she must step onto the line. Mrs. G asks things such as--Step on the line if: you own the new Snoop Dog CD, you know where to get drugs, you know anyone in a gang, etc. The teacher I observed actually changed up the questions a bit, of course, and students had a lot of fun with it. They wrote a little self-reflection about it to state a purpose to the activity. This activity definitely shows that even though there is a diverse classroom, people still share the same interests and hobbies. Mrs. G in Freedom Writers was trying to prove this point because of the hard feelings each race had on each other. I think that acknowledging diversity in the classroom is SO SO SO important!
In my Sociolinguistics in the Classroom class, we have talked a lot about acknowledging diversity in the classroom. We've talked about how students may have different dialects and ways of learning based on their cultural backgrounds and how it is important as a teacher to work with them to the best of your ability. Rather than assuming they lack intellect in your content area (mine being integrated language arts), you should take into consideration their cultural identity and work around it. I think that language is power and students have what is called "language capital" in the classroom. If they are expected to take on a language role that is unfamiliar to them between their school life and home life, this "language capital" is destroyed. I think students with cultural differences in the classroom should always feel powerful because what a useful tool they are to the students and teacher!! I've known teachers that always ask interesting questions to students with cultural backgrounds to compare it to what other students are used to. I remember having a student from India explain in a psychology class I took in high school how things are so different in the United States schools. The one thing I vividly remember is how this student explained the toilet situation. Apparently, in his culture, toilet paper was not an option, in fact they had those toilets that sprayed water upwards, a bidet. I remember being so fascinated by this fact and a whole lot of other things he had to become accustomed to in this new culture. I think this kind of thing definitely keeps the classroom exciting and engaging!! I not only want diversity, I need diversity in my classroom!!