Brad Cohen's Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me The Teacher I Never Had

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Brad

Let me introduce to you Helen Ingebritsen. Helen plays the role of Susan Scott in Front of the Class. Susan was my mentor when I first started teaching at Mountain View Elementary. Susan and I had a similar philosophy of education. We partnered up on a lot of projects to help make our lessons better for the kids. We took her experience and expertise with curriculum and my creativity and youth and put them together for a winning combination. She was a great mentor for me and we continue to keep in touch today.

Helen plays this role well. She was a delight to meet and I had a chance to see her act in just a few scenes. She had the look of a teacher and was very energetic about playing this role. I'm excited to see how things turn out. You'll see in the movie that her support helps push me through my first year of teaching. Every first year teacher needs someone like Susan. I think you will enjoy her role in the film. Cheers

In every good movie you must have a bad guy. Ric plays the father of a student who is in my class. Ric's character decides he wants to take his daughter, Amanda, out of my classroom because he wanted his daughter to have a "normal" teacher. Amanda is very upset by this but must listen to her father when he confronts Hilarie the Assistant Principal about it.

In real life, the father didn't want to give his daughter a chance at being in my class. The one thing that the film doesn't show is that 3 weeks later, the father came back up to school and told the administration that he had made a mistake. But by that time, it was too late, administration was not putting her back in my classroom.

This was just one of the many stories I had in how some parents had issues with the fact that I was a teacher with Tourette Syndrome. But many of the parents nerves turned into support as they quickly realized if their child didn't have an issue with my tics then why should they. I think a lot of us grew that year........including the adults! Ric does a great job in the scene where he think he knows what's best for his daughter. But does he really?

Cheers

Meet Dianne Butler, playing the role of assistant principal to Brad Cohen in Front of the Class. Hilaie Straka is the AP who finally hired me on my 25th interview. Dianne was a very nice lady and did a good job acting as Hilarie. Of course, more make-up, more jewelry, a better wardrobe and a younger actress would have pleased Hilarie more, but life goes on.

Take a look at the first promotional piece from the movie Front of the Class starring Patricia Heaton, Treat Williams and Jimmy Wolk on CBS.

It is an honor to introduce Jimmy Wolk, who will be playing the older Brad Cohen in the movie Front of the Class. Jimmy is a great actor. The reason I know this is because the last 25 year of my life I have been ticcing since I have Tourette Syndrome. I thought I had perfected my noises. But when I first arrived on the set and walked into the building, people thought I was Jimmy because they said we looked alike, then they said we made our noises the same. Then they realized that I was the "Real" Brad Cohen and the crew and staff on the set were amazed at how well Jimmy had my noises, tics, and mannerisms down. He had me down pat.


Not only was he a great actor, but Jimmy and I truly have a lot in common. It didn't take us long to bond as we got to know each other. (Actually he knew me pretty well since he has studied me for the past month) This is Jimmy's first real movie as a main character. His resume may be short, but as you walk around the set you hear people saying how this kids' got it. He's going places once the real world sees him. Not only is he a great actor but he also has a super duper personality.


At one point we were all eating lunch on set and one of the little children that was in my class started crying. She was homesick as she missed her little sister. Jimmy sprang out of his seat to give her a hug and then the little girl felt better. It reminded me a lot of me in the way Jimmy sprang into action and did what was best for the kids.


Jimmy and I discussed how Front of the Class is about how the underdog prevails when few believed in me. Like my story, Jimmy was the underdog for the part. They wanted some big names to play my part. But Jimmy beat them out and in some weird kind of way, it mirrors my story in that the directors gave Jimmy a chance and hopefully this will be his big break. He deserves it.


So enough about Jimmy, I mean me.......I'll be sharing more but in the meantime, know that I truly feel good about Jimmy playing me as an adult. He has studied his role very well and has practiced to perfect the tics. I see how difficult it is and he makes it look easy. I know America will love him and my friends and family will approve once they see the movie. Cheers

I had a chance to be the opening keynote speaker for the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Senior Conference at Lenoir-Rhyne College. Other speakers included Ron Clark, 2000-2001 Disney Teacher Award Winner, and Michael Geisen, 2008-2009 National Teacher of the Year.

The audience of 500 students and faculty members were great. It was an honor to be able to speak to this group of future teachers. Thanks for the opportunity. Trust me, I'm in the picture, it just came out a little dark. Thanks to my buddy Shelly for taking the picture and traveling with me for 4 hours each way. Cheers