Video: Remember The Normal, Everyday Teachers

One of the most powerful moments for me in the soon-to-be-released feature film "Detached" (select theaters 3/16, available on demand now) is the opening, which features black and white images of real veteran New York City teachers talking about how and why they became teachers or decided to stay in the profession:

It's a vivid reminder that teachers are just normal people, not all of whom "always knew" they wanted to teach, and who decided to join the profession for a variety of different reasons.  Which is fine.  Let's not forget that making schools better at scale is going to have to involve reaching "regular old" teachers like them.  Not all the TFAers, value-added scores, charters, or or school turnarounds you can imagine will get us there without engaging and supporting the profession in a much broader way.  Early reviews here.