Erin Gruwell Research Paper

According to Traina (1999), “effective teachers impact our learning, our development, and may even make a difference in what we become.” (Discussion section, para. 1). Mrs. Erin Gruwell, teacher from “The Freedom Writers”, is an effective teacher. Moreover, an effective teacher is a teacher who is well organized, teaches with clarity, is positive, models respect and most importantly “is a leader who can inspire and influences his or her students.” (Sandy, 2004, para. 3.). The qualities that made Mrs. Gruwell superior are those characteristics found in an effective teacher.
Certainly, Mrs. Gruwell students did not make it easy for her at first but never the less Mrs. Gruwell never gave up on her students. From the beginning of the movie Mrs. Gruwell clearly showed her commitment to her students and their learning. Moreover, she provided an assignment of writing a daily journal in which she assured them that she was not going to grade nor read unless they wished to have her do so. Little by little the students began to open up to her and that is when she learned the horrific truth behind each of her students. Despite of her limitations on supplies she tried her best to provide her students with the material they needed in order to help them obtain a
proper education. Mrs. Gruwell saw potential in her students and she was not willing to let them fail. The dedication she gave her students was surreal however because of her leadership her students were able to finish school and strive for the better.
Furthermore, the qualities Mrs. Gruwell showed are a match to EPY list of qualities that make an effective teacher such as the ones mentioned earlier; organization, positivity, respect, and leadership. Zhang (2014), an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Fairfield University, said that teacher enthusiasm is generally recognized as one of the most essential and desirable qualities and characteristics of effective teachers. Mrs. Gruwell was enthusiastic and her passion for teaching was recognized by students and her colleagues. Despite of all the setbacks she encountered Mrs. Gruwell taught with passion and dedicated her all to those students. Furthermore, according to Walker (2008) “the most effective teachers come to class each day ready to teach.” Even though Mrs. Gruwell was not prepared for what she was going to face, she did manage to think systematically about her practice and was able to organize herself for the school year. “Effective teachers also have optimistic attitudes about teaching and about the students.” (Hommond 2006, Discussion section: para. 3) Even though Mrs. Gruwell colleagues had little to no faith on the students, she knew that she was responsible for managing and monitoring her student’s learning so she always approached her students with confidence and optimistic.
One last characteristic of an effective teacher is when they model respect.
Teachers who give the highest respect, get the highest respect and in this occasion a teacher can show respect by “Showing sensitivity to feelings and consistently avoid situations that unnecessarily embarrass students” (Walker 2008.). Mrs. Gruwell definitely matched this quality to those of an effective teacher because after learning what her student’s would go through she approached them differently and showed them that she really did cared about them and created a trusting bonding between her and her students. To conclude, Mrs., Gruwell does show the EPY qualities that makes teachers effective in which makes her superior from other
teachers.