The story of Erin and her students was compiled into a bestselling book called The Freedom Writers Diary, which was later translated into a movie. Through her innovative, caring approaches to teaching however, Erin was eventually able to bring her students together to create a strong classroom community, and to help her class develop the resilience that they would need to succeed in the face of their challenging circumstances. Erin was working as a high school English teacher in Long Beach, California with a group of students who could definitely be classified as “at-risk.” Many of her students were living in extreme poverty, and grappling with issues such as gang violence, addiction, abuse, and various other familial problems when she met them. In my opinion, a classic example of this is the story of Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers. Resilience is not an overnight process– it is gradually built up in students over a long period of time. However, my family (and in particular my mom) helped me to discover the resilient attitude and coping skills that I would need to overcome these circumstances, and I can honestly say that I am a stronger, more empathetic and compassionate person because of these experiences. Growing up with a moderate physical disability, I was relentlessly bullied throughout the majority of my schooling. In reflecting on my own personal experiences, I would say that I am a very resilient individual, and I attribute a great deal of this to my parents and my upbringing. I gave a presentation about Erin and her class in my At-Risk children course this past January, and wanted to share it on my blog, along with Erin’s TED talks about the power of education, writing, and role models in changing the lives of young people.Īs a becoming teacher, helping children to find resiliency within themselves is something I am incredibly passionate about. While I will be working with elementary school-aged children, Erin Gruwell is the type of teacher that I aspire to be, and I hope that I can meet her in person someday to thank her for this. I read the original bestseller, The Freedom Writers Diary, Erin’s personal memoir, AND a book written by a group of Freedom Writers teachers that contains a great deal of reflection, advice, and suggestions for classroom activities. This movie resonated with me more than almost any film I’ve ever seen, and this past year, I made it my mission to learn as much about Erin and her students as I possibly could. Listening to her story was a welcome reminder of the importance of education and the power that teachers have to change the lives of their students.Another one of my professional mentors as a future teacher working with at-risk students is Erin Gruwell, whom I was first introduced at age 13, when my Grade 8 class went to see Freedom Writers at my local movie theatre. Her excitement and passion about teaching was obvious and infectious. It’s not hard to see how Gruwell was able to turn a project involving 150 students in Long Beach, Calif., into a best-selling story and feature-length movie when you hear her speak. Through donations, she received a computer for each of her students to type out their own stories to be shared in the book. Gruwell was able to help her students connect to writing by relating the story of Anne Frank to their own lives. Gruwell, a teacher from Los Angeles who started the Freedom Writer’s Foundation, which encourages underachieving students to write, discussed the ways that she motivated her students to believe in themselves and ultimately share their stories in a book that went on to become a New York Times bestseller. Erin Gruwell’s inspiring keynote, which marked the end of this year’s NECC, illustrated the importance of making learning relevant to students and using tools, like education technology, to help students achieve.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |