Teacher Identity- Mr. Feeny from "Boy Meets World"

When I was thinking about a clip to choose that portrayed a teacher in media, my mind jumped to the show “Boy Meets World”. This show was a staple of my upbringing, and one of the central characters was Mr. Feeny, the wise-yet-tough high school teacher of Cory, Topanga and Shawn. In the clip I chose, Mr. Feeny is chastising his students for not taking advantage of all of the technology at their fingertips. Instead of using the internet to learn, the students use it to play computer games. Because this clip is about 10-15 years old, it is interesting to think about how much has changed in our classrooms since then. Although not all schools have the same resources, many have smartboards, and teachers are encouraged to integrate technology into their classrooms. Mr. Feeny’s character illustrates the dichotomy between “old” and “new”. Although I think that technology can have some negative implications for our students, the attitude that it is something insidious that is detracting from our students’ learning is dying out. At the end of the clip, Mr. Feeny walks out on his class. He does this to show his students that he is disappointed in them. Mr. Feeny is depicting the stereotype of the paternal, and somewhat gruff, older male teacher.