There is no individual quite like Miss Moore in “The Lesson.” She is clearly considered an outsider by both the children she educates that the adults on her block. Her manner of speech, dress, and behavior all contribute to the way she is misunderstood by the children and ostracized by the community. However, the most prevalent reason for her isolation, by both the adults and the children, is the way she pushes her lessons and knowledge upon the…
Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. a teacher in Riceville Iowa, Jane Elliot wanted to show her students what it means to discriminate against someone. They had just named Martin Luther King Jr. as their “Hero of the month” and no one could understand what would compel someone to assassinate someone so good. She wanted to let her students understand what it’s like to be discriminated against and what it was like to discriminate against people, letting the students experience both sides of these situations. Truly showing the evils that exist in everyone.…
The movie “Freedom Writers” is based on a true story. Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell plays an inspirational teacher at Wilson High School. She is ready to take on the teaching world as she steps inside Wilson High School for her first day. Her class, varied with teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds, wants nothing more than to just get through the day. African Americans, Latinos, Asians, gang members, and much more are from poor neighborhoods, that all share a similar hatred for each other. On the first day of teaching she is very scared and unsure, but she knows she has to stop the racism in the class as well as their attitude towards life. Despite her students' persistent refusal to participate during class, Erin tries various ways to communicate with them on a daily basis.…
Freedom Writers is a movie that tells the story of how a teacher, Erin Gruwell influences the education and lives of a group of students at a very diverse high school. As a novice to the classroom Mrs. Gruwell struggles to discover how to help impact her class deemed as misfits, and students who are incapable of learning. In beginning to understand the life stories and environments of the students she is able to connect with them as an educator, and meet the students where they are. Furthermore she gears their learning towards the person in the environment and sees their potential beyond the classroom. Intertwining the characters of the movie are the concepts of grief and loss. In order to gain a clinical perspective on how the students in Mrs. Gruwell’s class move towards success, one must understand their journey towards a level of restitution. Grief and loss as a concept of this non fictional story is best understood through: a definitive knowledge of grief and loss, the losses experienced by the characters, and the interventions that are applicable to persons experiencing loss.…
One of the cool things that amazes me about Mrs. Gruwell throughout the movie was her dedication to change the mindset of her students. She had no support from her colleagues or the school. Every expense for the experiences she gave these kids was coming out of her own pocket. She worked two jobs and held fundraisers to help pay for everything and it even ended up costing her her marriage, but she was determined to make a positive…
The main character was a English teacher went by the name of Mrs. Gruwell or Mrs. G received the at risk sophomore students for her first teaching job. Students who were consider incapable of learning, a waste in the educational system before the arrival of Mrs. G, no one in the school had any hope for that specific group of students to be successful in any aspect. while classes were co-ed with racial diversity. the entire school was divided by street and racial gangs which hindered the opportunity for teachers to develop a positive and healthy student teacher relationship. as Mrs. G was named the new teacher on campus she had barriers to overcome with the group abused by society because the entire class was affected by gang violence in some way either it be personally or to a friend or family member which caused the at risk sophomore to develop trust issues to temporary figures in their life. because in the movie freedom writers on the very first day of school after Mrs.G attempts to politely address the class and introduce herself she soon after entered an altercation with her students who explained to Mrs.G that she doesn't know anything about how they are living, the pain they have to deal with and how it is all about the color of your skin that dictates everything in their life, not what they learn in grammar class. After taking the first few days to breaking the ice between the teacher and the students they became more comfortable with Mrs.G expressing their feelings and life experiences through their diaries given to them by Mrs.G, opening a healthy link of communication between both roles. one day in class one of the students complained about how uninteresting the stories were which made it difficult to retain the appropriate information to succeed because the educational system hasn't been updated for centuries. As the…
Freedom Writers, a film directed by Richard LaGravenese (based on a true story) is about a young teacher named Erin Gruwell played by actress Hilary Swank who inspires her class of at risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school. Knowing that Woodrow Wilson High school was in integrated high school, she chose to work there hoping to be an instrument for change. The concept of belonging is represented through the use of racial groups and gangs. The students are clearly identified as belonging to an ethnic group based on their colour, race and ethnicity for example the Cambodians, the Latino’s, African American and the whites. They also identify themselves as being gang members and belonging to a gang, this includes having territory and protecting your own. Security, affection, friendship and support are all examples of the benefits in belonging to a gang…
Shakespeare’s AYLI explores the characters struggles and romances that can affect their sense of belonging. A place and characters and their surroundings can often influence a person’s sense of belonging around others.…
Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, teacher Jane Elliott knew she had to do something. Riceville, Iowa, the town in which she lived, was entirely homogeneous and, as a result, she realized that her students had no firsthand experience with discrimination. A Class Divided illustrates Elliott's spirited experiment and the life-altering impact it had on her students.…
Ms. G dedicated herself to teaching a difficult group of students. California had integrated the school system, which resulted in a culture of conflict and violence. She spent a lot of her time and gave up a lot of her family life in order to help people that she barely knew. Her desires to make a change were clear and honest. For example, she took evening and weekend jobs in order to buy books and take her students on trips. She also made herself available to help students with personal issues. She had a strong desire to help her students understand that they were worthwhile, and that whatever challenges they faced, they could make their lives better. As a result of these efforts, her students learned to trust her and became united with each other. They began to feel hope for their future.…
I absolutely loved this project and experience overall. We got the idea for this project after seeing the movie, "Freedom Writers". I went with three of my four other teammates to see it for our first paper and when we walked out, the three of us couldn't shut up about how much we loved and were inspired by the movie. On the way back from the movie, we got the idea to do a spin off of the movie for our project. The whole way home from the theater we were coming up with ideas for our upcoming project. When we finally began working on the project, it fell into place fairly well because we were so intrigued with the inspiration we each had. This project brought forward so many new aspects of teaching to my attention and really got me motivated…
What other factors impinge on the person’s experience and sense of belonging (or lack of it)?…
Erin Gruwell, an autobiography on the Freedom Writers Foundation Website, states, “When I walked into my first class as a new teacher, I could not have been less prepared to deal with the harsh realities of the lives of my students or the way the outside world would crash into my classroom.” The 150 freshmen in her classroom were considered “unteachables” and they were not expected to graduate. No one could change the lives of these kids; they did not want to learn nor did anyone support them. Kids in the classroom were in gangs, they had problems at home, they were in poverty, and no one was there for them. Erin Gruwell made it a mission to change these students and connect with them as if they were her children but this was very challenging.…
When I was reading the section of Racism in Multicultural Class, the facilitator’s way of handling the subject “Racism” reminds me ‘’Freedom Writers” the movie, which is based on a book of Erin Gruwell -a new teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach. She chose the school because of its integration program, but she did not expect a class consist of students who have racist problem. Students splitted into different racial groups, who are ready for fighting, hate each other, but also they hate Erin more than anybody else. On the other hand, senior teachers of the school just ignored the students and they did not make an effort to pave for solving racist problems. Somehow teachers believed that students come to school because of their…
“The function of sociology, as of every science is to reveal that which is hidden.”(Pierre Bourdieu). The film Freedom Writers has hidden themes that can be explained by the three theories of sociology. The three theories of sociology: Structural Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interactionism explain the behavior and experiences of the students in room 203. The students’ lives are filled with gangs, crimes, racism, domestic abuse, income inequality, poverty, unfair treatment, and lack of education. With regards to Structural Functionalism, gangs, and education can be understood.…