Customer Reviews

The First Year

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The First Year is a wonderful documentary that shows the daily struggles of public school teachers in the face of apathetic administrations, parents, and students. As a teacher in the state of California this film strengthened my own resolve to be the best educator I can. At the same time the film also illustrates the break down of the public school system. The notes with this disc states that The First Year was "created to recruit and retain the next generation of teachers."In some ways I think this film will scare teachers off because of the way some of the teachers are treated by the school's administration.In any case I think this should be required viewing by any school board members, teachers, and civil servants in national and state goverments.

I don't own this product (yet), but it was shown in one of my teacher certification classes. I was really inspired by how much the teachers were willing to sacrifice to make sure their students had at least the opportunity to succeed. However, I was saddened that they HAD to give so much because often the district/administration wasn't doing its part. The documentary showed teaching in a very realistic light rather than the "oh, well they get weekends and summers off" light that many people think of it as. This video was shown in a class of 23 potential teachers and I really think it strengthened our resolve to become teachers.

I used this for my introduction to teaching class. Excellent view into the first year of a teacher.

Just rented this from Netflix and it moved me to tears. I see negative reviews on here and to me they've missed the point. Sure these first year teachers might not be equipped right from the start but you can tell those kids were impacted in a very good, significant way from having these instructors in their lives. I know I could never teach. It is an important job that our society doesn't value anywhere near as much as it should. I did a little facebook poking around and it looks like all but one of these teachers is still at it a dozen years later. I applaud them and their skills. And obviously this filmmaker has gone on to grander things as well!

Material is dated! Teachers do experience the same
frustrations. I guess when I purcahsed the product
I didn't realize that it was already ten years + old.

Not what I expected. The video runs very slow, which makes it difficult to watch for an extended period of time.

after reading the reviews from pbs i was excited to see the film. im so happy i rented it as opposed to getting it from here, which i would have done had i not found it somewhere else. while all the teachers had great intentions, it was obvious they were not equipped with the skills needed to engage the children in a community/learning environment. from observing body language and facial expressions in some of the classes, the children were not engaged (notice how they lit up when they were finally engaged through the photo project!). the answers to questions about behavior were the answers that the teachers wanted to hear and the teachers knew it. if they watched the video, i hope they would take not at how they talked to the students (a couple teachers in particular). getting angry, answering your own question, making students write why they wont misbehave anymore, etc. are old school ways of gaining compliance and they wont reach todays children.
this video would not make me want to be a teacher, if anything, it shows just how much preservice teachers need to be exposed to various cultures, they need to learn how to build a community in the classroom, and they need mentors who are aware of the needs of diverse learners. in order to attract students to a profession, make a video that highlights teachers who are able to make a difference despite the odds, schools that have made drastic turnarounds, and students who excel when they should be another negative statistic.
there are some positive things in the video, they are just overshadowed by the other stuff. and, yes, i agree with a previous writer. another video could have been used in the classroom to expose students to the lives of homosexuals.

This documentary is a real testimony to the problems in inner city schools. Though not its premise, it exposed a real problem. Teachers, specifically young ones, are not equipped to do their jobs. They have no idea of how to deal with the mental processes of their students.

Although well meaning, they were antagonistic, inflammatory, and often worsened the problems. The documentary highlighted that the teachers expected little, and they got exactly that. They had either no ability or no desire to engage their students. They did not use innovative methods, nor did they seem concerned with finding better methods to target their student's capacity to learn.

In one scenario a teacher attempted to relax his students prior to administering a test. What he actually did was cause distress. He seemed to have no idea that he was the source of the problem, when the students showed anxiety.

One of the saddest facts exposed in this documentary is that teachers are harsh, intolerant and lacks the ability to provide positive reinforcements/feedback. They approached their students as criminals, future gang members, and it was clear that those were the expectations. The overall approach to problems was confrontation, which created an Us versus Them environment. It was as if they prepared the children for failure, poverty, and prison.

The unintended message of this documentary is that teachers need more training. These skills must include their ability to engage, to handle conflict, and to reinforce positive behaviors.

I did not, at the end of this film find these teachers heroes. I don't understand how doing your job, and badly, makes you a hero. Is it simply showing up or not quitting?