The Story of TEACHER OF THE YEAR
|
TEACHER OF THE YEAR is a documentary film that reveals the complex reality of teaching in the 21st century and explores the forces that influence a teacher's performance for the competing needs of audiences made up of students, parents, administrators, other teachers, politicians, and the public at large.
The film emphasizes Angie Scioli's work as a performer for these varied audiences, and we document her struggles and triumphs to be a successful teacher, activist, mother, and wife. We also contend with the view of teachers shaped by seductive media experiences, which reduce teachers to the simplistic dichotomy of good or bad. Our film demonstrates that teacher performance is difficult to quantify and dispels myths about teaching that may present a barrier to meaningful educational reform. |
Ben Stein, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, and Hilary Swank, FREEDOM WRITERS
|
|
|
In the spring of 2013 we meet Angie Scioli, a passionate, animated professional educator, facilitating a workshop for teachers, explaining how after twenty years of teaching she’s revolutionized her practice by uploading her US History lectures to YouTube. During that summer the Republican-dominated NC General Assembly enacts sweeping legislation that directly impacts education and Angie founds and leads a protest movement that takes over her life and spills into her classroom.
However, once school begins in the fall, Angie seeks to balance her protest work in a movement that is gaining statewide influence with her teaching and personal life. As fall becomes winter, we see Angie engaging in other projects, like Pridefest, an event that she coordinates to promote connections in the school community. |
|
To maintain this active schedule we see her rising three hours before school starts, balancing her teaching life with her husband’s late night work as a Raleigh police officer. By the time we reach Pridefest, Angie is unraveling. The toll of teaching, of striving for the best in all aspects of her life, has become too great. Will she be able to move forward?
Fortunately, spring break is just around the corner, and Angie finds renewal, only to to be shaken again when she learns that her work as a teacher has been determined ineffective by state measures of teacher performance. Despite these setbacks, Angie soldiers on as an educator, protestor, mother, and wife. But will she stay in teaching? Is this sort of professional lifestyle sustainable? |
Angie during an interview following Pridefest, March 2013
|
Angie getting ready for work
|
In an effort to help reveal and contextualize the complexity of this year in Angie’s life, we also weave in archival and media footage supplemented by commentary from experts in media, sociology, education, and teacher evaluations, including but not limited to Robert Bulman at St. Mary’s College of California, Mary Dalton at Wake Forest University, Laura Linder at Marist College, Jim Trier at UNC Chapel Hill, Helen Ladd at Duke University, and Wetonah Rice Parker at Meredith College, along with commentary from Angie's students, family, and colleagues.
|
