The Freedom of Education
Tiffany Nelson
ENGL 223
11 December 2013
The Freedom of Education
The movie Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese, shows the power of teaching, and Freedom Writers is a perfect example of a teacher who changes the lives of her students. The teacher in the movie, Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), is the central character and is portrayed by the director as a confident Caucasian woman who is eager to teach for the first time. Gruwell changes the lives of her students in the movie Freedom Writers through her methods of teaching, her context of teaching, and her relationship with students through her teaching. The portrayal of Gruwell in the movie stands as a strong example to those preparing to teach of what good teaching looks like with difficult circumstances. All time citations to Freedom Writers are cited as (hours:minutes:seconds). Teaching is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Teachers develop methods to be able to reach out to the needs of the students. Gruwell, at first, thought that it was going to be easy, teaching English to a bunch of freshmen. However, she was wrong and had to find ways to connect with these students. Her students weren’t the typical high school freshman. That is, going to school to get an education to go to college and become successful. These students come from all different races and backgrounds; from Latinos to Blacks and Asians to Whites. After two weeks or so of not being successful in teaching her students, Gruwell tries something new. This scene (00:29:16 – 00:36:54) basically sets the tone of how Gruwell changes her teaching methods. Eva (April Hernandez), one of her Latino students, explains that where they live and how they live is all based on the color of their skin. Another one of her students, Marcus (Jason Finn), this time being a black student, yells angrily at Gruwell for trying to understand their situations because she will never be able to understand their pain and suffering. In Race in the
ENGL 223
11 December 2013
The Freedom of Education
The movie Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese, shows the power of teaching, and Freedom Writers is a perfect example of a teacher who changes the lives of her students. The teacher in the movie, Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank), is the central character and is portrayed by the director as a confident Caucasian woman who is eager to teach for the first time. Gruwell changes the lives of her students in the movie Freedom Writers through her methods of teaching, her context of teaching, and her relationship with students through her teaching. The portrayal of Gruwell in the movie stands as a strong example to those preparing to teach of what good teaching looks like with difficult circumstances. All time citations to Freedom Writers are cited as (hours:minutes:seconds). Teaching is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. Teachers develop methods to be able to reach out to the needs of the students. Gruwell, at first, thought that it was going to be easy, teaching English to a bunch of freshmen. However, she was wrong and had to find ways to connect with these students. Her students weren’t the typical high school freshman. That is, going to school to get an education to go to college and become successful. These students come from all different races and backgrounds; from Latinos to Blacks and Asians to Whites. After two weeks or so of not being successful in teaching her students, Gruwell tries something new. This scene (00:29:16 – 00:36:54) basically sets the tone of how Gruwell changes her teaching methods. Eva (April Hernandez), one of her Latino students, explains that where they live and how they live is all based on the color of their skin. Another one of her students, Marcus (Jason Finn), this time being a black student, yells angrily at Gruwell for trying to understand their situations because she will never be able to understand their pain and suffering. In Race in the
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