The best teacher movies motivate us with moving portrayals of educators who make a difference in the lives of their students
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.Learn more.
14 Most Inspiring Teacher Movies of All Time
Updated on Jun. 25, 2025
Dead Poets Society
Released: 1989
Rated: PG
Memorable quote: “Carpe Diem! Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
Dead Poets Society was one of Robin Williams’s first drama movies, and what a role it was! Williams was nominated for an Oscar for his role as English teacher John Keating, an instructor at a stuffy New England prep school. Keating’s unorthodox teaching style becomes an inspiration to his students, who take his advice to live their lives on their own terms.
After Keating is blamed for the death of a student, who struggled with his identity and with his family’s rejection, he loses his job. But in one of the most emotional scenes from any of the teacher movies on this list, his students rally behind him, reciting Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” in support.
Lean on Me
Released: 1989
Rated: PG-13
Memorable quote: “Self-respect permeates every aspect of your existence. If you don’t have respect for yourself, you’re not gonna get it from anyone else.”
Morgan Freeman’s resume is packed with everything from action movies and cult faves to sci-fi and thrillers, but in 1989, he starred in the inspiring drama Lean on Me. It’s based on the true story of high school principal Joe Clark, the head of the deteriorating Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey.
Clark’s mission was simple: raise the school’s standardized test scores, or the school would be turned over to the state. To meet the goal, Clark employed extreme and controversial tactics. He expelled some students, and used tough love and threats to intimidate others. After implementing rigorous academic standards and enforcing a strict code of conduct, test scores improved and Clark became an inspirational figure for his students.
Critical Thinking
Released: 2020
Rated: TV-MA
Memorable quote: “We start by showing up.”
Teacher movies often tell the story of kids overcoming incredible odds, and 2020’s Critical Thinking fits the bill. It’s a movie based on the true story of Florida’s Miami Jackson High School chess team, the first inner-city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship. The film was directed by John Leguizamo, who also plays Mario Martinez, the teacher who coached the team.
When Martinez, known as Mr. T, begins coaching the high school chess team, no one, including the school’s principal, sees value in it. But Mr. T sees chess as a way out for his students, so he throws all his money and support behind them. It’s an underdog story that will make you stand up and cheer.
Dangerous Minds
Released: 1995
Rated: R
Memorable quote: “I believe one should fight for what one believes. Provided one is absolutely sure one is absolutely right.”
Dangerous Minds was one of the most popular ’90s movies about teachers, spawning a spinoff TV series of the same name. It also had an incredible hip hop and R&B soundtrack, featuring Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which won a Grammy. The film was based on the autobiography of retired Marine LouAnne Johnson, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, a teacher at a California school known for its criminal and drug activity.
LouAnne, who is White, begins teaching a class of at-risk Black and Hispanic students who dismiss her. But eventually, she motivates and inspires them, winning their trust. Though the film can feel dated due to its portrayal of a white savior figure, it’s one of the classic teacher movies that celebrates an unconventional but life-altering mentor who helps students overcome adversity through education.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Released: 1939
Rated: Unrated
Memorable quote: “I thought I heard you saying it was a pity … Pity I never had any children. But you’re wrong. I have. Thousands of them. Thousands of them. And all boys.”
Goodbye, Mr. Chips stars Robert Donat as the title character, a teacher at an all-male prep school where he served for more than 55 years. After the death of his wife and child during childbirth, Mr. Chipping (lovingly referred to by his students as Mr. Chips) threw himself into his work, guiding generations of young boys on a path to adulthood.
The film is shown in flashbacks as Mr. Chops nears the end of his life, reflecting on his life’s work and the students he inspired along the way. Donat won Best Actor at the 1940 Academy Awards for his portrayal of Mr. Chips, who ages in the film from his mid-20s through his 80s.
Freedom Writers
Released: 2007
Rated: PG-13
Memorable quote: “You can’t make someone want education.”
Another movie inspired by a true story, Freedom Writers stars Hilary Swank as teacher Erin Gruwell. She taught at a Long Beach, California, high school in the early ’90s, a time when racial tensions were high and many of her students were at risk. Gruwell immersed herself in her work, teaching her students about racial injustice and oppression throughout history.
Inspiring them to write about their own experiences on the subject, the real Gruwell compiled her students’ stories into a nonfiction book called The Freedom Writers Diary, which she published in 1999. The film’s name is an allusion to Civil Rights Era activists known as the Freedom Riders, which you can learn more about in one of the best documentaries about race: Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.
Mona Lisa Smile
Released: 2003
Rated: PG-13
Memorable quote: “I thought that I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow’s leaders, not their wives.”
In 2003’s Mona Lisa Smile, Julia Roberts stars as Katherine Ann Watson, a first-year art history professor at the all-female Wellesley College in 1953. Progressive in her views and unmarried, Watson encourages her students to think outside the box and consider professions after they graduate.
Playing Watson’s students are a who’s who of talented young actresses who went on to fame, including Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ginnifer Goodwin, and each of their characters is influenced and inspired by Watson. Dunst’s character, Betty, has a particular epiphany: Despite being initially resistant to Watson for her unorthodox lifestyle, she eventually realizes Watson is the only adult she’s ever received unconditional support from.
Roberts had a solid streak of inspirational, feminist movies from this era, including Erin Brockovich, and this film cemented her status as the highest-paid actress in Hollywood at the time, too.
Good Will Hunting
Released: 1997
Rated: R
Memorable quote: “How do you like them apples?”
The funny thing about Good Will Hunting being on a list of great teacher movies is that the main character, Will Hunting (Matt Damon), doesn’t actually attend school. Hunting is a self-taught math genius who works as a janitor and has no further personal or professional aspirations.
When a Harvard math professor (Stellan Skarsgard) discovers Will’s abilities, he introduces him to a psychology professor named Sean Maguire. Played by Robin Williams, Maguire encourages Will to realize his true potential. The two men form a bond, as Sean helps Will realize he’s squandering his life and his talents.
Williams, who is beloved for his funny movies, gets serious once again and gives an incredibly heartfelt, empathetic performance. He won an Oscar for the role in 1998, and Damon and co-writer Ben Affleck also won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The Great Debaters
Released: 2007
Rated: PG-13
Memorable quote: “I and every professor on this campus are here to help you to find, take back and keep your righteous mind … because obviously you have lost it.”
Based on an astonishing and inspirational true story, The Great Debaters is a feel-good movie that takes place in the 1930s. It is set at a small, historically Black school called Wiley College. Debate team coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) wants his team to compete against predominantly white colleges at a time when racial segregation and Jim Crow laws permeated the country.
Through sheer will and determination, Tolson and his students eventually go on to beat the reigning debate champions from Harvard University. Also starring Forest Whitaker, it’s an underdog movie that will have you cheering—but the fact that it’s based on real events is what’s truly uplifting.
The Miracle Worker
Released: 1962
Rated: Unrated
Memorable quote: “The room is a wreck but she folded her napkin!”
This is the story of Annie Sullivan, the teacher who empowered Helen Keller and gave her a way to communicate with the world. After Keller became deaf and blind as a result of scarlet fever, no one, not even her own parents, saw any hope for the child. She met Sullivan at the age of 7, and despite being a violent and uncommunicative child, she eventually learned the alphabet and began to communicate.
In 1962’s The Miracle Worker, Anne Bancroft plays Sullivan, who was herself partially blind but taught and advocated for Keller (played by Patty Duke) throughout much of Keller’s life. Both women won Oscars for their work in this classic movie about two remarkable people who defied the odds to become brilliant academics, inspirational speakers and champions for those with disabilities.
Coach Carter
Released: 2005
Rated: PG-13
Memorable quote: “I came to coach basketball players, and you became students. l came to teach boys, and you became men.”
In 1999, a real-life high school basketball coach named Ken Carter suspended the athletes on his team when they didn’t meet the academic standards he set for them. Though Coach Carter had a strict training program in place for his student athletes, he placed a higher premium on their education, going so far as forcing them to sign an academic contract and locking them out of their school gym so they could study.
The 2005 film Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson, tells the true story of the coach who wouldn’t compromise when it came to his players’ educations. Though many in the community didn’t appreciate his tactics, he earned the respect of his players, who stood by him when his job was threatened. The real-life Coach Carter, true to his ethos, even started a boarding school for student athletes who sought to excel in both sports and school.
Stand and Deliver
Released: 1988
Rated: PG
Memorable quote: “There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of those two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do.”
Stand and Deliver is yet another entry in the “inspiring inner-city teacher” category, based on the real experiences of East Los Angeles math teacher Jaime Escalante, played by Edward James Olmos. Escalante is tough but not cruel, and he creates a curriculum for his below-average students so that they’ll eventually excel and be able to take his advanced placement calculus class.
A textbook underdog story, this classic ’80s movie uses Escalante’s passion for his subject matter and an unexpected health scare to demonstrate how important he was to the students he taught—all of whom passed the AP test, in the film and in real life.
The Bad Kids
Released: 2016
Rated: TV-14
Memorable quote: “You’re gonna go to college, and you’re gonna make somethin’, and then you can make nyah in his face.”
The Bad Kids is a documentary about Black Rock Continuation High School, located in the Mojave Desert, which takes in at-risk students who are on the verge of dropping out. At Black Rock, students are empowered to break out of society’s defined boxes. In addition to traditional academics, the teachers and principal at the school try to reach their students on a personal level, providing guidance and empathy to prove there is no such thing as a lost cause. The film will give you hope and make you wish every student in need had teachers who love what they do.
Won’t Back Down
Released: 2012
Rated: PG
Memorable quote: “Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”
There’s a reason we have parent-teacher organizations and associations—parents and teachers have to work together if we want our children to succeed. In 2012’s Won’t Back Down, Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Jamie Fitzpatrick, a mother whose daughter is being failed by her local elementary school.
Jamie teams up with teacher Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) to fight the bureaucracy that’s failing their local school, and rally the community so that changes can be made from within. Inspired by true events, this is a story of two mothers whose passion for their children’s education and desire to reform their neighborhood school is proof that anyone can make a difference in their community if they fight hard enough.
Why trust us
At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
