Click here
to check out The Florida Times-Union's Feb. 26, 2006 article about this website!
Please be aware that the script posted on this website contains much strong adult language.
Testing
(A movie script to encourage bedraggled teachers)
(Site created on Thurs., Jan. 12, 2006)
"Welcome" message to teachers and other interested readers
Welcome to my website!
Are you a disgruntled employee of the American public school system? Have you seen hypocrisy all around, with administrators extolling the virtues of standardized testing when what they're really concerned with is covering their behinds? Are you tired of students being allowed to defy you, and then being told that it's your fault that the discipline in your classroom isn't better? Are you tired of getting second-guessed or micro-managed by officials who haven't spent more than five minutes in a classroom in years?
You are hardly alone. I endured all of the above and more for an entire decade before calling it quits. But even after leaving the system, I still hadn't gotten all of the angst out of my system. There was only one thing to do: Write a movie script about my teaching experiences.
My credentials
Why writing, you ask? Because it is my passion, and it is even somewhat of a profession (though not a highly paid one). I have written published reviews of movies and local plays for the past two decades, even winning some awards for my writing. I have also written, directed, and co-starred in a local play. So while I'm no Eugene O'Neill, I'd say I have proper credentials to represent a valid viewpoint on the seemingly toppling American educational system.
What is the script about?
Essentially, my script is a comedy about a week in the life of an unemployed teacher forced to take a job scoring standardized tests -- only to find that his teaching experience, which he thought would help him in the new job, only serves to further exasperate him when he finds out how far the tests' scoring systems are removed from reality.
Copyright? What's that??
Probably the first thing you will tell me is that I should be concerned about copyright issues and not post my script on the Internet. Well, I've submitted this script to screenwriting contests and have tried to drum up local interest in it for the past two years, all to no avail. So I'm posting it for free, hoping that any and all suffering teachers will read it and realize they're not alone in the cruel world of education. If you're an unscrupulous writer who wants to rip off the copyright, I guess you'll take your chances...though it'll be interesting to meet you in court and demonstrate how long I've had this script publicly posted.
Instructions for navigating the script/website
At the bottom of this page, you will find links to my script. Since the script was too long to print on a single "page" of website, I have broken it into nine parts for easier reading. Each page of the script has similar links at the bottom. If you go in the listed order -- from "Prologue" through the days of the week, followed by "Epilogue" -- you will be able to navigate the script perfectly from start to finish.
Feedback
I'd love to read any feedback you have about the script, good or bad. To E-mail your comments to me, please click here. If I receive an E-mail from you, I will automatically assume that I have your permission to post your E-mail message at this site unless you state otherwise. Even if I do so, however, I will use only your first name and last initial, or whatever name you deem fit (as long as it's in good taste). (The link to this site's "letters" page is posted below.)
In any case, dear teacher, please read my script to get a much-needed laugh at the expense of our underappreciated profession, and remember...you are not alone!