...Freedom Writers Diary Review The movie “Freedom Writers” is a true story about a white teacher trying to make a difference in a room crammed with black, Latino and Asian high school freshmen. It is defiantly a challenge, especially for a first time teacher. Hillary Swank is the main actress and she plays Erin Gruwell, a 23-year-old teacher in 1994 assigned to teach freshman and softmore English at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. By the time Erin steps into her classroom, two years after the riots for integration, the school had changed greatly. This film portrays teachers in two ways, one way is the set in their way teacher and the other is willing to do whatever they can to make students succeed. In the beginning of the movie Mrs. Gruwell said “God by the time you’re defending a kid in a court room the battle is already lost, I think the real fighting should happen here in the class rooms.” In her statement she is foreshadowing two things, one is the real fights that happen in her class, and the other is what she does to help these students succeed. She later said “I know I have a lot to learn as a teacher but I’m a really good student….and I really want to be here!” This is a great statement by her and proves she could be an excellent teacher. Threw out the movie she did learn a lot, and applied what she learned. Mrs. Gruwell had a rough start. The kids wouldn’t respect her, they were fighting in the room, and there were gang problems brought into her class. At...
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...seemed like an insurmountable, Sisyphean task. On their website, the Freedom Writers explain that "on our first day of school, we had only three things in common: we hated school, we hated our teacher, and we hated each other." A novice teacher with big ideas and an even bigger heart, Gruwell refused to allow her students' lives to become self-fulfilling prophecies. By holding them to high standards and presenting them with countless opportunities, Gruwell gave these students a chance to overcome the limitations imposed on them by society. Gruwell encouraged her students to "do something different, something memorable, something powerful and humane." In response to the overwhelming popularity and success of The Freedom Writers Diary, Erin Gruwell established the Freedom Writers Foundation which "promotes acceptance and innovative teaching methods in classrooms around the country." Proceeds from the sale ofThe Freedom Writers Diary go to the Tolerance Education Foundation, which was established to pay for the Freedom Writers' college tuition. Today, teachers and students around the globe can bring the original Freedom Writers into their classrooms via an online video chat. Erin Gruwell now serves as the president of the Freedom Writers Foundation. Her work has been featured on The View, Good Morning America, Book TV, and Oprah. Currently, there are 32 Freedom Writer Teachers implementing the Freedom Writer Method across the country.The core of this approach is not only recognizing...
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...The Freedom Writers Diary is a book that I truly enjoyed. It is a book broken down in diary form viewing the survival of a first year teacher and her students. This book shines light on real issues that these students as well as their teacher went through. These issues range from racism, death, and gang related violence. Although the only person that is named throughout the entire book is Ms. Gruwell, one can still identify and keep track of the situations that occur. Diary number two, by far was the most prevalent in my opinion. It gave the viewpoint of a white male student in a class where he was the minority. “What the hell am I doing in here? I’m the only white person in this English class! …Is this really where I’m supposed to be?” (P.8) This student made it clear that he felt really uncomfortable in a class full of “rejects”. Since most of the “rejects” were not white, he felt he shouldn’t have been in that class. The “rejects”, as he called them, were students that were labeled as problem students and or students with learning disabilities. Although this student had a learning disability, he felt that because of his race, he should have been placed in a high level class. Like many others he 2 authors .... These two essays are very similar because their subject .... to that improvident avarice..." These are writers who have .... work soon after he got his freedom and was .... (642 3 ) Kate...
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...The Freedom Writers Freedom Writers was released in 2007 on January 7. It was based on the book the Freedom Writer's Diary by Erin Gruwell, who wrote the story based on a school name Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Eastside Long Beach, California. This film tells a story about Erin Gruwell, who is a young teacher who just started her job as a freshman and sophomore English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School. She is soon challenged by a group of Black, Latino and Asian gang members who had excessive hate for the new teacher, Erin Gruwell. The most significant themes in The Freedom Writers is tolerance, journal writing/empowerment, determination and last but not least is freedom. Erin Gruwell, the teacher starts on her first day at Woodrow Wilson High School. She is unprepared for the nature of her classroom because the students live by their generations history of strict rules and rivalries amongst other “groups.” Most of the students in her classroom are in gangs and almost everybody knows somebody that has been killed by gang violence. Once she steps in the class, Gruwell quickly learned that her students had more to worry about than homework; her students went home to gunfire, gangs, drugs, and a host of other difficult situations. Gruwell did not know what she was getting into. The students was convinced that they didn’t have nothing in common, or that they could learn from a white teacher because she never experience what they previously and currently...
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...HI18 - C July 1, 2013 _____________________________________________________________________________________ To many of us, history is simply a class you take to be able to learn and memorize certain dates, events and people that have tremendous significance to a country, nation or even community. If you view it this way, you are missing the whole point of history. There is more to the objectivity of history. The very essence of history is that it leaves a trace of emotion by these so called significant events in one’s and/or other people’s lives – much like what Erin did in the movie, Freedom Writers. Erin is one of the rare kind of teachers that teach you more than what the curriculum offers. More than just a teacher-student relationship, she has offered and developed friendship, trust and hope for the students of Room 203 and more importantly, bridged the gap among her students that has been constraining their way of interacting with each another. Erin’s first encounter with her class did not seem to be what she expected at all. There were no signs of respect for anyone in the room as the students formed cliques, isolated themselves from those who belonged to another race or gang and continued chitchatting despite the presence of their teacher. Nevertheless, Erin put up with this kind of attitude from her students and strived to teach them the best way she could – through innovation. She planned field trips, inspiring talks by Holocaust survivors, Anne Frank’s guardian...
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...PRACTICAL COMPETENCE COMMON ASSESSMENT #2 EDCI 5790 Advanced Instructional Strategies Jillian Dietchman In the movie Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell is challenged with the task of teaching at-risk students and inspiring them to learn tolerance as well as apply themselves. Ms. Gruwell recognizes and applies principles and strategies for communicating effectively in varied practice and learning contexts. During this movie, Ms. Gruwell made learning meaningful and relevant to her students by appreciating their diversity and finding ways to connect their backgrounds to ideas they related to. She encouraged her students and helped them to self-direct their learning. Ms. Gruwell considered where students were coming from, what their lives were...
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...Freedom Writers When she realizes that her students are living in their own personal wars, she takes the Diary of Anne Frank, Romeo and Juliet (another gangster story) to read in class. She notices that her school is segregated by race and color. So, she divides her class with a colored tape taped to the middle of the floor, and she says, “ were going to play a game, o.k.?” This activity helps them realize that they are all fighting the same battles, and are living their lives very much in common. “You’re going to have fun I promise.” Look you can work on those workbooks til the bell rings or you can play a game.” This is called the line game, I’m going to ask you a question, if that question applies to you, you step on to the line then step back away for the next question. Easy right? First q How many of you have the new Snoop Dog album? Everyone steps up to the line. How many of you have seen Boys in the Hood? Again everyone steps up to the line. How many of you live in the projects? Most of them go up to the line. How many of you know someone, a friend or relative, who was or is in juvenile hall or jail? Everyone steps up to the line. How many of you have been in juvenile hall or jail for any length of time? How many of you know where to get drugs right now? How many of you know someone in a gang? All of them step up to the line. How many of you are gang members? Noone goes up to the line, but their lying. Stand on the line if you’ve lost a friend to gang...
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...In Erin Gruwell’s The Freedom Writers Diary, Ms. Gruwell, a teacher, helps change students for the better. Ms. Gruwell starts her new job at Wilson High School. Her new co-workers start to judge her for that class she is assigned to. She is assigned to teach delinquent students because they are failing and other teachers refuse to teach them. However, Ms. Gruwell is determined to teach her students new information. The reason why she is so determined is because only a few know about everything in the world. While Ms. Gruwell tries to teach the class anarchy occurs throughout the class. Fights breakout and bulling occurs because of different races and gangs. She breaks it up and yells at the students. Ms. Gruwell then assigns everyone to start...
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...break through the invisible barrier that kept her students from learning. What she did know is that everyone in the school had written off these teens. After learning about the hardships in these teens’ lives — an environment full of racism, rejection and the tragedy of seeing no hope for the future — she understood why they saw no point in reading and writing. Gruwell also understood their need for self-expression, so her students began writing anonymous journal entries about their lives. After seeing a film about the Freedom Riders, a group of teenagers who showed remarkable bravery during the Civil Rights Movement, the class decided to call themselves the Freedom Writers. In 1999, their entries became a best-selling book called The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. In 2007, Hilary Swank played Gruwell in the Freedom Writers film. Today, Gruwell runs The Freedom Writers Foundation, which she started in 1997. The foundation trains educators to use innovative techniques to change the world, one class at a time. Gruwell earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of...
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...Freedom Writers: A Message of Hope According to Joseph Campbell, a scholar of mythology states that, a hero is one who hero gives his or her life to something bigger than him or herself, to some higher end not to mention also the hero undergoes trials and tests to see if he or she has the courage, the knowledge and the capacity to survive. To explain what this means I will use the protagonist Erin Gruwell (starring Hilary Swank), in the 2007 drama film, Freedom Writers, directed and written by Richard LaGravenese, It is based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell (teacher by profession) who wrote the story based on Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. She started her teaching career as would any teacher; by doing a lesson plan. However her mistake was not taking the time to fully understand the type of students in her class room. Most of her students think the new teacher is “odd” because she does not believe what everyone else seems to know about these classes; they can read and they can write, and Ms. Gruwell expects them to do both. Everyone else seems to think they are stupid and beyond hope. They think this new teacher is “too young and too white to be working here,” and most of the kids in class predict she will leave after a day; one student gives her a month. The class is out of control, and there are more students than desks. The entire school is divided into groups ranging from “Beverly Hills” and “Da Ghetto” to “China Town”...
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...freedom.../... Free Essays on Reaction Paper On Freedom Writers for students. Use our papers to help you with yours 1 - 20. Reaction Paper On The Movie Freedom Writers Free Essays www.termpaperwarehouse.com/subcategory/reaction-paper...freedom.../... Free Essays on Reaction Paper On The Movie Freedom Writers for students. Use our papers to help you with yours 1 - 20. The Freedom Writers Diary -Reaction essays www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/100068.html The Freedom Writers Diary -Reaction essaysThe Freedom Writers Diary is a book that I truly enjoyed. It is a book broken down in diary form viewing the survival ... Freedom Writers: A Story of Success ENGL201: A Reaction ... movieenglish201.blogspot.com/2008/.../reaction-to-freedom-writers.htm... Sep 24, 2008 - A Reaction to Freedom Writers ... that arise with our students in its newspaper to live and that many times we result to be its fatherly figure. Reaction Paper Over The Movie Freedom Writers Free Essays www.studymode.com/.../reaction-paper-over-the-movie-freedom-writers... Free Essays on Reaction Paper Over The Movie Freedom Writers for students. Use our papers to help you with yours. Reaction Reflection Paper About Freedom Writers Movie ... www.studymode.com/.../reaction-reflection-paper-about-freedom-writers... Free Essays on Reaction Reflection Paper About Freedom Writers Movie for students. Use our papers to help you with yours. Freedom Essay - Learn English Online, Teach English https://www.englishforums...
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...Erin Gruwell, author of “The Freedom Writers Diary” and founder of the Freedom Writers Foundation, spoke on encouraging diversity and understanding in a lecture titled “Teaching Tolerance” in Moreau Hall’s Little Theater on Friday. Penn High School sophomore Katie Laiman approached Saint Mary’s with the idea to invite Gruwell to speak as a part of Girls Scout Gold Award project. “I think this talk was really impactful, and I hope everyone that was here takes a lot from it,” Laiman said. Gruwell said she became a teacher because she wanted to stand up for kids who did not have a voice. “Before there was a book, before there was a movie, there was a group of students who were tired of being invisible, tired of being on the fringe and just wanted to matter, just wanted to be heard,” she said. Gruwell said when she was in graduate education classes she noticed a disconnection between theory and practice. “I realized this when I walked into my first classroom and my students could care not less about stories, and books, and Shakespeare and tales about Homer,” she said. “My students cared about would I make it home alive, am I gonna get home and see my hardworking mom with those cockroaches and those rats in that tiny one bedroom housing project, and will there be dinner, would their be food on the table, are those cupboards going to be bare again.” Gruwell said all of her students buried friends due to senseless gang violence by the age of 14, and it made...
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...Why I Feel Called to Teach Sometimes I feel overwhelmed when I think about becoming a teacher one day, but at the same time I can’t wait. Becoming a teacher may take a lot of responsibility, patience, time, and effort, but there are also numerous rewards. First and foremost, a teacher is given the unique opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life on a daily basis. For me, making even the smallest impact on a person’s life is one of the most rewarding things a person can do. I want to be able to experience the joy of making a difference everyday, and I am given that opportunity as a teacher. I want to have a job that I would do even if i didn’t get paid to do it, a job with a purpose, and a job that I truly love. I want to live a life of service, make a tangible difference in the lives of others, glorify God in what I do, and be a leader. As a teacher, I am able to accomplish all of these goals. It may not be easy, and it will probably be extremely frustrating at times, but it is something that I feel called to do. I will know that I touched the lives of children, and that’s all that truly matters. I may not be able to see the flower, but I will know that I planted the seeds. To become this type of teacher, I will need to exhibit a variety of traits and knowledge. More specifically, I will need to demonstrate knowledge of content, knowledge of students/background, knowledge of classroom environment, and proper classroom management and engagement. Utilizing...
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...The 1990s freedom writers The freedom writers are people who right that they got freedom in their pass they were free to join and have fun in the world. The Thesis is that the story is about people who were fighting for they freedom and they were different color-country. First character was EVA in the beginning she was a little girl who saw one of her dad die from a gang person. Then she saw her dad go to jail because her dad was a immigrant. And the middle she was old like 17 are some like that she joins one of the Mexicans gang because she though that it was good for her because she had protecting and had love there. And she had a boyfriend there. In the end Eva was a little was old but had make decision by herself she so somebody die she was surprise because she never so somebody die. but she knew his brother kill him and Eva went to the court so Eva can make the...
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...The Freedom Writers book is way different from the Freedom Writers movie. In the book they finish it at their senior year fall semester. In the movie they finished the movie on their sophomore year spring semester. In the movie they didn’t read all the students diary they mostly read Eva’s diary, also Andre, Marcus, Gloria, sindy, Tito, and Victoria. In the book they showed everyone's diary, they even showed Mrs Gruwell's diary entries. Eva was mostly the main character in the movie. Another different thing was in the movie they would add extra things to the scene. They would show the stuff that they said in the diary entry but they would add little extra scene to it to make it a little more excited. They start the movie with Eva, she starts explaining the how it all works where she is from and also everyone is divided with the race. The the next scene it starts with Ms Gruwell, she is barely starting to work in Wilson High School. There was a part in the movie when it was the students freshmen year. Their first...
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