Spotlight: American Teacher

  • Q & A with Vanessa Roth

    1. You have directed many documentaries in the past. How do you go about choosing which topic to analyze in your projects?
    I am attracted to topics with people whose stories inspire me and have the power to bring audiences new perspectives about important issues.

    2. What inspired you to focus on the teaching profession in America?
    The debate about education seemed to represent every angle other than the person standing in the front of the classroom. Daniel Moulthrop, Nínive Calegari and Dave Eggers wrote a best-selling book called Teachers Have It Easy; The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers, that told the stories of teachers. They interviewed hundreds of teachers around the country about their successes and challenges. Nínive had the idea to make a documentary. She and Dave contacted me to produce and direct it and so here we are!

    3. How did you get into directing and producing documentaries as opposed to feature films?
    I love telling stories about real people and I love the unscripted nature of life that brings me places I could never imagine.

    4. Can we expect another project from you in the near future?
    I am working on a few new films now – yes!

    5. How did you choose the teachers you focused on?
    We wanted to be sure we had teachers who were great educators, were comfortable having us follow them with a camera and most importantly that they represented common circumstances that teachers across the country find themselves in; like having to work multiple jobs to pay the bills, starting families and wanting to be treated and valued as professionals. We also wanted very dedicated and good teachers so that people would witness their passion and their impact on their students.

    6. There is one teacher who films herself the whole time, creating a video diary without your crew or direction. What was your purpose for using this footage as opposed to filming her yourself?
    We actually received a collection of home videos from teachers across the country and had at one point imagined the project including many of their stories. Amanda’s story is the only beginning teacher in the film and this was a very important experience to include. We chose to include her video because we felt it was raw and real and made us feel what her life as a new teacher was like from her own lens, without putting us, as filmmakers, in the mix.

    7. How did you get Matt Damon on board to narrate this documentary?
    Matt’s mom is a teacher and he is very passionate about the need to value the work teachers do, so he was very generous with his time and support of the film when we presented it to him. We are very grateful to him because his participation adds a sizzle that is really important to getting the movie out to audiences beyond teachers.

    8. What was the most challenging/ rewarding part of creating this documentary?
    Getting the funding we needed to make the film was the biggest challenge and made the film take much longer to make than we had hoped. Ironically though, we feel that the film has been released at exactly the time that it is able to have the biggest impact on inspiring change across the country in how we retain our best teachers and attract great teachers into the field.

    9. There is clearly an obvious message in this film regarding teachers’ salary and the perceived importance of a teacher in America. With this message, what do you want your audience to specifically take away from this documentary?
    Great teachers are key to our democracy and the future of our economy. It is urgent that we put teachers front and center in any discussion or policy changes in education. It’s also urgent that everyday Americans gain a deeper respect for great teachers’ work so we can work together to make this profession more desirable, prestigious and sustainable.

    10. What goals do you have for this project in terms of Governmental action or awareness?
    We are hoping people invite their local legislators to watch the movie and then demand that education budgets be held immune from cuts. Teaching is very deeply connected to our country’s ability to inspire and take care of future generations and so we think that if people are able to make this connection it will allow them to make the right choices at the ballot box. We know that successful countries value teachers deeply. They pay them similar to other professions with the same amount of training and expertise required. This is a critical component to raising the value of the profession and to attracting the next couple of generations to this work.

    We think that when people in our country have a deeper appreciation for how sophisticated the work of teaching is, and how much teachers sacrifice to stay in the profession; we will see an increased perception of the profession. We need to raise salaries for teachers not because good teachers need money to motivate them, but because we need teachers to be able to stay in the profession to solve some of the major challenges our kids and schools face. We also need teachers to be able to quit their second jobs – 62 percent of teachers work outside of the classroom! – so they can focus on their students, their pedagogy and their own families. When you ask college students if they want to teach, many do, but many opt out of teaching because they don’t want to take a job with a perceived vow of poverty.

    In terms of paying teachers more, we can look to several exciting models to inspire us. Whether it’s Helena, Montana that created the early retirement program, or Denver that passed a citywide bond for teachers, or a number of other states working to put teachers front and center.


    January 1st, 2012 | jwilka |

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