What Does It Mean to Be An American Teacher?
American Teacher, the new documentary from the Teacher Salary Project, opens with several people telling the camera what they love about being teachers, and a quote from Arne Duncan that puts these testimonials under the macro-scope:
"Without effective teachers, we don't have a democracy," says Duncan.
Given the huge demand for talented teachers and passionate testimonials from practitioners--what could go wrong? Through storytelling and sobering statistics, American Teacher explores the mismatch between the value of effective teachers and the United States' history of disinvestment in teacher salary, support, and status.
On average, teachers work longer hours (the film cites 50-65 hour work weeks), for less pay (14 percent less than people in other professions that require similar levels of education), and with little on site support (examples of chaotic working conditions, teachers spending planning periods cleaning their classrooms, and spending thousands of dollars on basic
