REVIEW - Class of Her Own (Directed by Boaz Dvir)

Written, produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Boaz Dvir (Jessie's Dad, A Wing and a Prayer, How Special Ops Became Central to the War on Terror, El País de la Eterna Primavera), Class of Her Own is the critically acclaimed biographic feature documentary about Gloria Jean Merriex, an extraordinary maths teacher from Duval Elementary in East Gainesville, Florida (now Duval Early Learning Academy).

An associate professor at Penn State University, Dvir is specialist in journalism, and also a published author - and it shows here, with his painstaking attention to detail.

With expert narration from celebrated actress and voice artist Tamara Tunie (American Experience - Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory, Henry Hornbostel in Architecture and Legacy, Boss: The Black Experience in Business, Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union), and using archive footage, including interviews with Merriex herself, Dvir has pieced together a fascinating and inspiring story, which also includes the testimonies of Merriex's colleagues, peers, students and friends.

Spanning several decades, Merriex's career took a turn when she saw a need to take drastic action after dropping standards at her school brought funding cuts and the threat of closure; in the aftermath of this Merriex developed a clear mission - to help save her failing school. Taking a maverick approach to overcoming these challenges, Merriex soon became renowned for thinking outside the box, and for being creative enough not only to dream up new teaching methods which had never been attempted before, but also brave enough to put them into practice - with astounding results. In a short space of time her efforts single-handedly saved Duval Elementary, turning it from a sub-par school into an educational powerhouse. This documentary chronicles Merriex's story, and Dvir has done a wonderful job of conveying the incredible positive impact that she made on those around her, as well as the amazing role-model she became for so many, and the inspiration she would offer to her colleagues and peers around the world.

Merriex's story stands alone as a remarkable tale of success in the face of adversity, but Dvir has to take credit for bringing it to a global audience - even garnering the attention of Peter Greene at Forbes (and HuffPost), who, writing in Forbes, describes the documentary as an "inspiring tale of transformative teaching" based on the work of "one trailblazing teacher".

Greene explains: "Merriex saw teaching as a path out of the poverty of her neighborhood... she chose to teach at Duval Elementary, where for about twenty-five years she was a middle-of-the-road, competent-but-not-exceptional teacher."

Writing in the HuffPost, Greene adds: "The story really starts with Florida's reform efforts, Florida's Big Standardized Test (FCAT), and Florida's assignment of letter grades to schools, back in the days when No Child Left Behind was the hot, new thing.

Duval scored a big fat F, and Merriex was troubled. Couldn't-sleep-at-night troubled."

This was the turning point for Merriex, and would be the catalyst of major change, which would see her design and implement new groundbreaking teaching methods, but these methods were unconventional to say the least - and included using music and dance to help teach the subject of mathematics. The documentary's synopsis sums up the impact of her ideas in action: "In one year, she catapulted Duval to an A. She became a national model, giving us a blueprint for student success."

In 2008, at the age of 58, Merriex sadly died after a diabetic stroke, cutting short her time with her students at Duval Elementary. Merriex leaves an incredible legacy, having made an incalculable difference to those she worked with and taught. Her peers remember her with great affection, respect and reverence, and describe her as a "genius" and a "pioneer".

This fantastic documentary is bears testament not only to Dvir's filmmaking prowess, but also to his journalistic skill; offering a truly wonderful and inspiring tribute to a brilliant role-model, the like of which is rarely seen, and to whose untimely death is a tragic loss to her community and her profession.

With a run time of nearly 90 minutes, this documentary is detailed and engaging, and will be enjoyed by those working as teachers or in education, as well as those with a love of biographic documentaries, and inspirational stories.

Class of Her Own is available to buy and rent online from several streaming services, including AppleTV and Amazon.