Best. Teacher. Ever! The Nominations Are In

The Best. Teacher. Ever! contest winner will be announced next week.

Thank you all for the nominations for the teachers who changed your lives for the better. We’ve been moved and inspired by the stories of those special educators out there who accept long hours, not-so-great pay, and limited resources because they want to see young people thrive. They all deserve our prizes and then some!

But, we’ve got to narrow it down to five finalists and then let you — our viewers — decide the top winner. We’ll announce who they are next week, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, we hope all teachers out there have a relaxing summer break ahead of them.

Tags: Awards, best teacher ever, community classroom, contest, education

Look Who’s Tweeting Now…

ITVS Education Manager Annelise Wunderlich profiles one of our newest followers on Twitter: Teresa Ann Isaac, the former mayor of Lexington, Kentucky and a major advocate of women’s leadership.

We met Teresa Ann Isaac via Twitter, when she messaged about the live chat we co-hosted with PBS NewsHour last month on Bhutto and women’s leadership.

Turns out, Teresa Ann Isaac is a pretty amazing woman leader herself. She is the former mayor of Lexington, Kentucky and since 2005, the U.S. State Department has sent her to train women leaders in Chile, Argentina, Namibia, South Africa, Pakistan, and Uganda, as part of a democracy project.
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Tags: Kentucky, lexington, state department, teresa ann isaac, women and girls lead, women's leadership

Nominate the Teacher Who Influenced You Most

Teacher Appreciation Week may be over, but there is still time to nominate your favorite educator to win a chance at a Kindle, a DVD copy of the widely acclaimed film Pushing the Elephant, and other cool prizes. Send us your nomination no later than next Monday, May 23rd for consideration. We’ll announce the top five later that week, and let the world decide the top winner.

As we all know, teachers are often overworked, under-appreciated, and meagerly compensated. But all of us have had teachers who helped us grow up, make sense of the world, and to find our footing.

At ITVS, we want educators to get the props (and resources) they deserve. Community Classroom does that by giving teachers free stuff: standards-aligned lesson plans, fabulous independent film content (often using Independent Lens films), innovative games, discussion guides, and more.
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Tags: best teacher ever, classroom, contest, education, ITVS, school, teachers

Bay Area Teachers Unite at SF Film Fest

By Annelise Wunderlich

The documentary American Teacher screened before a crowd of educators Tuesday night at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Tuesday night was National Teacher Appreciation Day, and at the San Francisco Film Festival it was a teacher love fest. And rightly so.  After a tough year of budget cuts and political controversy, educators deserve a break. The San Francisco Film Society’s Schools at the Festival program celebrated its 20th anniversary by giving local teachers the VIP treatment.
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Tags: american teacher, dave eggers, education, San Francisco, San Francisco International Film Festival

New Contest: Best. Teacher. Ever!

Teachers — often overworked, frequently underappreciated, sometimes demonized, usually meagerly compensated. But all of us have had teachers who helped us grow up and make sense of the world, and to find our place in it.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week (but really all year long) we want educators to get the props (and resources) they deserve. Our friends at Community Classroom do that by giving teachers free stuff: standards-aligned lesson plans, fabulous independent film content (often using Independent Lens films), innovative games, discussion guides, and more.

Most of us have a teacher who stands out in our memory as the one who really sparked our passion for learning or for a specific subject, or encouraged us at a key point in our academic lives. Or perhaps you work with a teacher who inspires his or her students in an exceptional way.
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Tags: community classroom, contest, Free, inspire, student, teacher

New Lesson Plans Arrive for Pushing the Elephant

ITVS Community Classroom announces the launch of an exciting new resource for teachers, NGOs and youth serving organizations, based on Pushing the Elephant, which aired last week on Independent Lens.

This powerful family portrait is set against the wider drama of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

When civil war came to Rose Mapendo’s Congolese village, she was separated from her five-year-old daughter, Nangabire. Rose managed to escape with nine of her 10 children and was eventually resettled in Phoenix, AZ.

More than a decade later, mother and daughter are reunited in the U.S. where they must come to terms with the past and build a new future.

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Tags: classroom, college, congo, education, high school, lesson plans, teachers

Igniting the Classroom Through Film

This week, The San Francisco Film Society hosted an event that put filmmakers and educators in the same room.

ITVS has been in and out of the classroom all week. On Wednesday, we hosted a live chat with high school seniors and an Independent Lens filmmaker, and on Tuesday night we streamed video/live blogged from the San Francisco Film Society’s event: Igniting the Classroom. The event included a panel of filmmakers and educators, including ITVS’s Education Manager Annelise Wunderlich, who filed this report.

As Education Manager for ITVS, I often feel like a kid in a candy store. I am surrounded by incredibly rich content for the classroom — the work of all the independent filmmakers that receive funding from ITVS is truly an educator’s dream.

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Tags: community classroom, documentary, education, film arts forum, filmmakers, san francisco film society, students

Live Chat with Me Facing Life Filmmaker Dan Birman

Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story aired last night on Independent Lens and today, the filmmaker participates in a live chat with high-school students starting at 1PM PT.

This week, nearly 100 seniors at Impact Academy High School in Hayward, California screened the documentary Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story, which follows the case of Cyntoia Brown, who is serving a life sentence for a murder she committed at age of 16. The documentary, directed by Dan Birman, aired nationwide last night on Independent Lens.

At 1PM today, Dan Birman will field questions from the students in a live chat right here on Beyond the Box. Feel free to join the conversation today and discuss the film Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story.

Tags: high school, jail, justice system, juvenile, teachers

Film Arts Forum: Igniting the Classroom

San Francisco Film Society presents a panel discussion on educational media

The 2011 series of the San Francisco Film Society’s Film Arts Forum kicks off with a focus on educational media: the filmmakers that produce it and the teachers who use it. Experts in media education from ITVS’s Community Classroom, local production companies and schools will share their stories of and experiences with making films that are great educational resources, as well as the strategies and tactics they use to engage students through media. Tonight’s event will be streamed live on the Film Society’s website, starting at 7:30 PM PT.

Tags: documentary, eudcation, film funding, san francisco film society

The Egyptian Uprising in Context

ITVS FILMS AND RESOURCES HELP PLACE CURRENT EVENTS INTO HISTORICAL CONTEXT

ITVS has a history of working with international filmmakers as well as community organizers, educators, and activists to trace the evolution of democracy movements worldwide. Find useful content and resources that will bring the current situation in Egypt into historical context, on our new page Egypt & Democracy.

Tags: Alexandria, cario, democracy, discussion guides, Egypt, lesson plans, middle east, Mubarak, obama