The Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers Journal

1)      What are some of the hopes and expectations Erin has prior to starting her first job?

To keep kids out of the juvenile delinquent programs, increase the children’s reading levels, and fight for each of her students.  She liked the integration idea, and she wanted to help it work.

Although her exact expectations are not stated, I feel like they would be generally the same as any new teacher, to help her students learn something and make a difference in their lives.  I believe that she definitely achieved this goal.  She started out with a group of kids who had no respect for her or what she wanted to do with them.  In the end she had a group of kids who not only respected her, but were willing to fight for her to be able to teach them.

2)      What realities and challenges confronted her in the beginning of the year?

When the kids came in her room they paid no attention to her, but talked amongst themselves.  She had a very diverse group of students, and each race hated each other resulting in many fights between groups.  She was told that most of her students would be dropped out by junior year.  She was also confronted with conflicts from her father.  She has no respect from her students.  Her students got to their freshman year having only a fifth grade reading level.

It would be very difficult to walk into your classroom on your first day teaching, and have your students ignore you.  Even worse for them to say that what you are doing is bullshit and will not help them out in their lives.  Then add students fighting into the mix, and that makes the rest of the year seem extremely long, and makes you feel like quitting.  It took great courage and strength for Erin to come back day after day to a classroom that did not want her there.  I was amazed by her strength and commitment to teaching and her students.  It would also be very difficult to deal with no support from your colleagues.  It made me mad when they talked about how the kids in her class were helpless, and that she need not try hard, because it won’t make a difference.

3)      What were some of the case scenarios of the lived experiences of the students she had in class?

Some did not want to be in school, some had gang influence, some were beaten or watched their family members being beaten, juvenile detention halls, and for almost all DEATH.

To me coming from a small town with very little diversity, this seems extremely foreign and shocking.  These kids were freshmen in high school and almost all of them had been shot at, almost all of them had a friend or family that was killed, and almost all of them knew someone in a juvenile detention center.  Erin’s line game was eye opening to me, and I feel like it was the first step towards her great success as a teacher.  She was able to get the kids to see that almost all of them have walked similar paths no matter what color their skin was.  She was able to find some common ground for each of them to stand on. 

4)      How did the student’s attitudes towards learning impact their academic performance?

They thought that all the teacher was good for was a babysitter, and that the things she wanted to teach them were of no use to their own lives, so they did not care, and their academic performance was low.

This makes sense.  The other teachers in the district judged these kids by what they hear about on the news or from their previous teachers.  None of them thought they were worth spending time on to teach them.  When you go through school knowing that is how your teachers feel about you, why would you put any effort into doing well? Why would they live up to expectations if no one will set any for them?  I think that teachers who feel like it is a waste of time to work with a child who ‘stupid’ compared to their peers, or who comes from a different background and family life than they are used to should not teach.  Every child has the potential to be great, and every great person started out the same way these kids started out.  The difference is that people took the time to reach out to those great people, and no one took that chance for these kids until Erin.  No one is born into greatness; people have to work towards greatness.

5)      What strategies did Erin incorporate to break down the barriers between the students and the teacher?

She got to know the kids in her room and what they have been through.  She made the kids write in a diary daily. The kids could write about anything they felt like.  In the end the kids wrote the story of their life.  She pushed the kids to look past the invisible borders of gangs, and to look at how each person in that class had something in common.  She had the kids share what they had been through, and by doing so she made them a family.

The key part of breaking apart the barriers was breaking apart the prejudices each kid had against each other.  One of the kids in her class admitted that they did not even know what the war they were in was about or how it started.  What is the point of fighting a war when you do not know what you are fighting for.  She had to make the kids see their similarities instead of their differences.  Great ideas were the diaries, her line game, the dancing, and the toast she made each student take for change. 

6)      What kinds of teaching methods worked with the students?

Uniting them as a class and getting them to understand where everyone else in the room has come from.  Doing this allowed her students to get past their division of race and see past what gang each other had allegiances with.

She had to throw out anything she was taught in school, and go with her gut.  She had to go against her colleagues and do what felt right.  She had to find a way to connect with each one of her students no matter what problems it may bring into her personal life.  That would be very difficult, especially for a first year teacher.

7)      How did Erin develop curriculum that connected with the students?

She incorporated stories and situations that the kids would be able to connect with.

A great example was the story of Anne Frank and the holocaust.  One student out of her class knew what the holocaust was prior to her teaching them.  These were freshmen students, and one knew about the horrors that happened to the Jewish people.  She had to work extra jobs to buy books for her students with her own money, because the department of education felt it was not worth giving these kids one of the school’s books.  She was smart enough to realize that the way to get these kids interested in school was to find literature that they could relate to.  Whenever I pick out a book to read, it is because it is of interest to me.  I wouldn’t want to waste time reading a book that does not grab my interest.  Erin was smart enough to be able to find books that would grab her student’s interest.

8)      What were the attitudes and challenges from other teachers and administrators in the school?

That she won’t make much of a difference, and that there was no hope for the kids in her room to learn but the best she could do was to get her students to obey.  Teachers feel that the poor quality of education and all the problems in the school are because of the integration of the races. 

As I have already stated, it would be extremely difficult to go to work every day and not have any support from your colleagues.  It would be terrible to have the other teachers hate you because you are taking time to connect with your students (in this case the ones they did not want to teach) and are making their grades improve.  I do not know how she got through those first few years, but she is one hell of a good teacher.

9)      What role did Erin’s expectations for the students have on their learning?

She expected them to actually work, and not just put their time in.  This is more than anyone had expected of them as to date, and by Erin finding ways to encourage her students, she helped them succeed.  She changed their whole idea of school and its part in their lives. 

10)  What lessons did you learn from this in regards to your first year of teaching?

 I learned to not expect my first day of class to go over without a hitch.  I should have a plan in place in case something disastrous happens.  I learned that no amount of studying or schooling can really prepare you for stepping into that classroom that first day and approaching your first students, because you never know who they will be or what will happen.  I also learned that although it may cause rifts with some teachers who are stuck in their ways, you have to fight for your students.  Respect is important, one of the students asked why he should respect Erin just because she is a teacher.  He didn’t know   anything about her, and he was right.  Respect should be earned, not just assumed or given.  I also learned that sooner or later you will have that child that seems impossible, but it will do neither of you any good to just give up on them.  By giving up that child will continue to seem impossible to others and will not reach their potential in life.  It will also leave you with regrets.  You will always wonder where that kid is now and what they could be if given the chance.  By meeting the challenge head on, the child will grow, and so will you as a teacher.  You will gain experience and confidence along with knowledge and a friendship.