Teachers who watch the documentary online and participate in Wednesday's webinar can receive continuing education credits. Mink said the webinar is timely since teachers are preparing for the start of the new school year in August.
The documentary will play in September at the Rendezvous Film Festival in Amelia Island, Fla.; the Louisville International Festival of Film in Louisville, Ky.; and the Asheville Film Festival.
Phillips and Jay Korreck, who used to teach at Leesville, were out to create a film that challenged how Hollywood portrays veteran teachers as hacks and good teachers as outsiders.
The co-directors focused on Scioli, a teacher since 1993 whose awards include being a Teacher of the Year at Leesville. Soon after filming, Scioli became an activist to speak out against some state legislative changes, such as awarding vouchers for students to attend private schools, removing job protections for new teachers and ending extra pay for new teachers who receive master's degrees.
The film follows Scioli during the 2013-14 school year and shows her grading papers while on a family trip and being shocked when learning that student test scores used to evaluate her performance were so poor. Yet a year later, she said, her scores sharply improved even though she made no changes.
Scioli has remained active in education matters. She recently wrote an op-ed about teachers not having enough resources to support their students.
The documentary has been helped by the coverage it's gotten in national media outlets, including the Atlantic Monthly and the Huffington Post.