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“...no policy can do what
Guggenheim has done;
illuminate the deeply
emotional bonds the best
teachers form with their students.”
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America's Real Heroes As our politicians and the press argue the merits of countless school reforms, it is our teachers who enter the classroom every day and fight the real fight: educating our children, one child at a time. The First Year shows the human side of this story: the determination and commitment of five novice teachers as they struggle to survive their first year in America's toughest schools. George teaches recent immigrants learning English as a second language. After the school board plans to cut funding for her high school class, she rallies her students to fight city hall and wins. Geneviève “wanted to teach the kids no one else wanted to teach.” She spends hours of extra time reaching out to a middle-school student only to lose him in the end. Joy struggles with the difficulties of trying to reach her high school students. She must also overcome the obstacle of teaching without a classroom. Nate goes beyond the classroom into the lives, homes and families of his most challenging 5th grade students in East Los Angeles. Maurice fights to get special help for a little boy in his class with severe speech problems. Struggling against an unresponsive system, Maurice refuses to give up, ultimately spending his free time after school to give the child the extra attention he so desperately needs. The First Year unflinchingly sheds light on the issues facing public schools in Los Angeles - and the nation as a whole. We see what happens when the system fails to serve, when families fail to support, and what the teachers must do when their idealism isn't enough. Intense and emotional, The First Year cuts through the rhetoric of the national debate about education to remind us what is real: the powerful relationship between a teacher and a student. (return to top) |
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OUR TEACHERS 56k 220k George Acosta 56k 220k Geneviève DeBose 56k 220k Joy Kraft-Watts 56k 220k Nate Monley 56k 220k Maurice Rabb |
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© 2001 Teachers Documentary Project, Inc. |
