Freedom Writers Journal

Freedom Writer’s Journal

            When Erin met with the head of her department she had many hopes and expectations.  She talked about how if she were doing her job correctly that all her students would be standing in line at the door to get into class; that they would want to learn and succeed.  I think she knew it was going to be a tough crowd but nothing like reality hitting it on her first day when the students were literally hitting themselves.  She then realized that her hopes would take more work.  Erin expected her co-workers to support her and that the school/district would give her the supplies the classroom needed but that wasn’t the case.  She had to expect less from the people around her and expect more to receive more from her students. 

            Erin took on two part time jobs so that she would have extra money to pay for things that she wanted for her students and thought were necessary.  At the beginning of the year you can see where her husband starts to back away not understanding where she is coming from.  It later turned into a divorce from her husband.  At the beginning of the year she was also confronted with the different gangs in the classroom and no one getting along or getting anything done.  If there isn’t peace you can’t learn.  She had to figure out a way to get classmates getting along and focused to learn.  One thing she did to help keep classroom in order was to move the students seats around and to move Jamal who was making lots of jokes and starting fights right up to the very front seat right in front of her.

            There was a girl in Erin’s classroom named Eva.  She came from a gang back round where she watched her father get dragged to jail for no reason.  She lived the “gang life.”  She always was following what others were doing and had to support them.  This included constantly running from other gangs or protecting boundaries.  She witnessed shootings and was a part of some including one that was at a gas station with two other members from her class.  Eva had to go on trial and either lie and defend her people or tell the truth and stand up for what is right.  Most students in the English classroom 203 had multiple friends die by their freshman/sophomore year in high school.  Some had even been shot at them and survived.  Erin was dealing with a world that she knew nothing about.  One where the color of your skin and where you lived was all that mattered, not who you were as a person.

            Erin gave the students journals to write in.  She had to earn her respect as a teacher and as a white woman with the students.  She was able to learn more about the students’ lives by reading their journals.  It also gave the students a way to vent or share their experiences.   Once the students had better outlook on life and school their grades improved and their drive to learn more.  Erin showed the students that they were all alike.  They all had the same issues and that these issues wouldn’t direct their future.  Erin started being much more aggressive towards the students to get their attention and to do what she wanted of them.  Many of her teaching methods included bringing what they knew and were familiar with into the lessons like Tupac lyrics in her poems lesson.   She also let the students decided if they wanted her to read their journals.  She had a cabinet that was locked and if they wanted her to read the journals they would leave the notebook in the cabinet.

            The teaching methods that worked with the students in room 203 were ones that they could relate to in real life.  The Holocaust was similar to the war the students were facing every day living where they did.  She was able to give them Anne Frank’s Diary and have them read what someone who was their age had to go through as well.  It really helped the students reading about the struggles others had to go through just like they had to.

            The administration wasn’t a big fan of Erin.  Or maybe I should say her department head and principal.  Erin asked a lot from them and when she didn’t get the answer she wanted she kept going.  She was very determined and I think that intimidated some.  They couldn’t understand why she wanted to do what she was doing.  Erin had to go to the board many times starting with the books and curriculum she wanted to teach them.  And ending with her wanted to continue to have the same students past their freshman/sophomore years and onto their junior/senior years. 

            Erin expected her students to do well and succeed.  When Jamal stopped coming to class for a while then showed up with him critique on himself saying that he should be failing; she did not agree.  She took him aside and told him that he wasn’t a failure and that she would not let him think that.  Erin expecting more pushed them to be even better students.

            This movie is a great example of every teacher’s worse nightmare.  I think it showed how much you are able to succeed and become an incredible teacher on your first year when you are inexperienced.  And also to stick up for what you want and desire.  Erin had these goals and dreams for the students and she was determined to make those come true.  Every teacher must believe in themselves and what they are capable of.