"The First Year"

We recently watched a documentary called "The First Year" in one of my education classes. The documentary follows 5 teachers in their first year of teaching. The 5 teachers all begin teaching in a high poverty area of Los Angeles. It follows each teacher and their documents their failures and successes.

I was really really touched by this documentary. I have always wanted to work with children in low income areas, those are the kids I want to reach, the ones that maybe no one believes in. The teachers in the documentary went above and beyond what is required as a teacher. When things didn't work out right no one gave up. It was amazing to see their effort. Each one cared so much about their student and attributed each student's failure to their own doing.

We did not get to finish the documentary but our teacher told us that not all of them return to the teaching profession and some succeed with their problem students while some do not. I would love to see the end of the film. I recommend it to anyone inspired by a story like this