Blind Side - What Are We Missing?

I was just watching a scene from the movie Blind Side (with Sandra Bullock) and one scene has just grabbed me by the gut and really made me think about what we do as educators. What I am responsible for myself. In the scene, a teacher reads out a discarded piece of writing from Big Mike to  other teachers in the staff room that are frustrated with the lack of effort and ability they see in Big Mike. Here is an excerpt from that essay...

"I look and I see white everywhere: white walls, white floors, and a lot of
white people…. The teachers are not aware that I have no idea of anything they
are talking about. I do not want to listen to anyone, especially the teachers.
They are giving homework and expecting me to do the problems on my own. I’ve
never done homework in my life. I go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, and
say, "This is not Mike Oher. I want to get out of this place."
–Evolution of a Game

Right after that, one of the more skeptical teachers in the room asks, "How's his spelling?"

We have this huge expectation of our students that they should be like little sponges sopping up all the knowledge we impart through lecturing, through getting them to read textbook passages, through worksheets, through reading books, you name it and you know what I am talking about because I have seen it countless times. I am not pointing fingers at anyone but myself because it is not my place to blame or shame anyone but myself. I spout these ideas and theories about what I think a classroom should be like. I have visions and dreams of students "getting it" and creating extraordinary pieces of work that magically appear. The amount of students that can live up to this expectation are far fewer than the norm of students that need more than us just pushing information at them hoping that they will get something out of it and be able to send it back to us in an acceptable fashion.

So I have to ask myself, What do I really believe? What can I really do? and How can I get there?. I start out with good intentions and they all seem to go by the wayside and I get lost in the chaos of my day. Sometimes it's not so great watching those inspiring movies about the difference that teachers make in students' lives. How do you ever live up to that?

What I have to remember is to not lose hope and believe in my ability that I can make a difference. Maybe I'm not going to change the world overnight, but I can make a difference one person and one day at a time.

These are my thought so far and I'm sure there is much more to come. What do you think?