Chalk

TeachersCount is pleased to announce a partnership with Chalk, a new film about teachers. Chalk will be donating a portion of its proceeds to TeachersCount, so if you go see it, you will not only get to enjoy a great movie that will make you laugh—you will also be helping teachers and TeachersCount. The film opens in Los Angeles on May 11 and will open in select theaters across the nation throughout May and June. For specific information about release dates, locations, and how to buy tickets, click here. To read a review of Chalk, click here.

About Chalk

In the comedic style of The Office and the films of Christopher Guest, Chalk is a spirited portrait of life in the trenches of that most honorable and frustrating profession...teaching.

It’s the start of a memorable new year at Harrison High. The self-conscious Mr. Stroope is convinced that his time has come--this year he will be furnished with the golden title of “Teacher of the Year”, if only his smarter students would stop using words that he can’t understand.

Peek into Mr. Lowrey’s History class and you’ll see that he’s struggling to even call himself a teacher. Woefully inept due to a complete lack of experience and social skills, he earnestly stutters his way through class. The only interaction his students offer him is when they steal his chalk.

Men aren’t much interested in the spunky and officious Coach Webb, but “not all P.E. teachers are gay” and she pines for some romantic company. Her once best friend, the newly appointed assistant principal, Mrs. Reddell, doesn’t seem to have time for her either, as her new power post is all-consuming--battling egos, enduring teacher conferences and her lighthouse-obsessed boss. Coach Webb wonders if her former confidante has forgotten just how hard teaching really is.

Director Mike Akel provides a rare and realistic teacher's perspective into the absurd, provocative, and occasionally volatile world of public education. In a country where 50% of teachers quit within the first three years, Chalk delivers an enormous dose of heart, hilarity, and hope for America's most important institution.

Chalk—A Breakthrough in Teacher Films

Movies about teachers generally adhere to a certain formula. A beleaguered new teacher is overwhelmed by appalling student behavior. The teacher comes to the brink of giving up but finally has a small but meaningful breakthrough with one or more students. The teacher decides to succeed at all costs, even if it means giving up a personal life. The renewed effort works—a frenzy of bonding and learning ensues. The teacher is a hero! The students will go on to great things! Music swells. The End.

Chalk breaks this pattern. While the aforementioned formula has certainly had its cinematic successes—I know I was not the only one to shed a tear or two at Freedom Writers—it was time for someone to make a film that treats teachers like real people, that shows the foundering without the mega-inspirational turn of events, that isn’t afraid to find the comedy in the whole situation.

Chalk is a mockumentary that follows a school-year-in-the-life of three young teachers and a teacher-turned-administrator. In terms of style, it borrows a lot from The Office and the films of Christopher Guest (e.g. This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman). However, the idea of applying this treatment to teachers is so original that Chalk doesn’t end up feeling derivative. Instead it is quite funny and a little voyeuristic.

In Chalk, teachers are not a near-mythical breed of heroes who magically materialize in the classroom and cease to exist outside of it. The teachers of Chalk get up and go to work in the morning just like the rest of us. They are people who sometimes stumble over their words, people who have crushes on their colleagues, people who may in a moment of stress sneak away for a cigarette.

But make no mistake—Chalk is not making fun of teachers. What it’s really doing—albeit, in a very comical way—is demonstrating how tough it is to be a good teacher. The character who makes this the most heartbreakingly clear is Mr. Lowrey, the endearingly awkward first-year teacher who struggles to craft his classroom persona. Despite making great strides over the course of the film, there is no music-swelling hero moment that makes his prior difficulties seem moot in retrospect. It comes as no surprise that Mr. Lowrey is uncertain whether he wants to continue in his profession.

All in all, Chalk is well-acted, well-written, and well-edited. It will make you both laugh and cringe—and rush to write, call, or visit every teacher you had who managed to do the job well and thank them profusely.