Teacher Guide
Learning goals, teaching notes, and answer keys.
View Teacher NotesPaper & online answer keysAkeelah and the Bee Movie Guide
Choose the format that fits your classroom, then explore the film through focused questions and evidence.
About the Film
A talented student develops her spelling skills through practice, mentorship, and community support while navigating grief, pressure, and uncertainty about belonging.
Movie at a Glance
- Release year
- 2006
- Genre
- Coming-of-age drama
- U.S. rating
- PG
- Runtime
- Approx. 112 minutes
- Director
- Doug Atchison
- Screenplay
- Doug Atchison
- Based on
- Original fictional screenplay
- Music
- Aaron Zigman
- Featured cast
- Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett & Curtis Armstrong
- Story setting
- Contemporary South Los Angeles and spelling competitions
Check your edition when planning class periods; cuts and playback speeds can change runtime.
Content to Preview
- Bullying, some profanity, racial or class assumptions, and tense family arguments.
- Discussion of a deceased parent and grief; references to neighborhood crime.
- Competition anxiety and an adult mentor’s loss.
Preview your edition, follow school viewing and permission policies, and provide an appropriate alternative assignment. Suggested grades 5–12 are Teach Arcade’s classroom recommendation, separate from the film’s U.S. rating.
Classroom Connections
Use scene evidence to explore the topics above. Pair historical portrayals with reliable sources, literary adaptations with their texts, and animated metaphors with appropriate factual context.
Film details, advisories & classroom context: AFI film credits · Content advisory (spoilers)