Post by title1parent on Sept 5, 2009 8:19:21 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1754177,2_1_AU05_FREEDOM_S1-090905.article
'Freedom Writer' inspires teachers and would-be educators
September 5, 2009
By MARISSA AMONI For The Beacon News
When Derrick Barrett picked up a bootleg DVD of "Freedom Writers," the 2007 movie starring Hilary Swank as a young, inspirational high school teacher in southern California, he didn't realize it might change his life.
But the realization may have sunk in on Thursday night as the 25-year-old homeless man sat in Aurora University's Crimi Auditorium to hear Erin Gruwell -- the real-life teacher who Swank portrays in the movie -- speak about hope.
Barrett, of Chicago, took two buses and two trains from his job at an organic farm in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood to see Gruwell, the woman whose story made him hope to become a teacher.
"There are teachers out here that really teach people," Barrett said of Gruwell and the teachers who have joined the Freedom Writers movement that she inspired.
Gruwell, 40, came to the university to promote her latest book, "Teaching Hope," the story of 150 Freedom Writers teachers nationwide. Three Chicago-area teachers who wrote diary entries in the book and a former student joined Gruwell during her presentation to an audience of mostly teachers from Aurora.
"Everyone has a story," said Gruwell, who in 1993 began her teaching career at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif.
She arrived at that school in white polka dots and white pearls. She can now see that her students were immediately wondering how long Gruwell could last in a classroom filled with students deemed "unteachable."
"I asked my students to tell me about their journeys," she said.
The wall between Gruwell and her students came down brick by brick as she opened up a world of writing and reading to them.
"I'm really a nerdy English teacher, and all I want is my students to read," she said.
So by using the tools of books like "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl," Gruwell transformed her students to become not just readers, but critical thinkers and aspiring college students.
"I want to make this absolutely clear: Erin Gruwell didn't change my life. She allowed me to open a door and self-correct my life," said Maria Reyes, one of the original Freedom Writers.
Reyes was one of the troubled students in Gruwell's class that first year of teaching.
Gruwell described how Reyes entered her classroom at age 14 wearing an ankle monitor because she was on house arrest. She was kicked out of school at age 9 for hitting a teacher.
Reyes' story and others are printed in the pages of the New York Times bestseller, "The Freedom Writers Diary," which is marking 10 years with a 10th anniversary edition.
Waldo Middle School teachers Kelly Grigoropoulos and Donna Berczynski said they were both motivated by the book to try journal writing with their students.
"It was a good way for them to tell us what was going on," Grigoropoulos said.
Gruwell's latest book peeks inside the pages of diaries from teachers who use the Freedom Writers teaching method. The book is about hope for kids, teachers and maybe future teachers, too.
"We need good teachers. Derrick, I hope that you become a teacher. We need you," Gruwell said. "You are never going to make a lot of money, but what we have, you can't pay for."
'Freedom Writer' inspires teachers and would-be educators
September 5, 2009
By MARISSA AMONI For The Beacon News
When Derrick Barrett picked up a bootleg DVD of "Freedom Writers," the 2007 movie starring Hilary Swank as a young, inspirational high school teacher in southern California, he didn't realize it might change his life.
But the realization may have sunk in on Thursday night as the 25-year-old homeless man sat in Aurora University's Crimi Auditorium to hear Erin Gruwell -- the real-life teacher who Swank portrays in the movie -- speak about hope.
Barrett, of Chicago, took two buses and two trains from his job at an organic farm in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood to see Gruwell, the woman whose story made him hope to become a teacher.
"There are teachers out here that really teach people," Barrett said of Gruwell and the teachers who have joined the Freedom Writers movement that she inspired.
Gruwell, 40, came to the university to promote her latest book, "Teaching Hope," the story of 150 Freedom Writers teachers nationwide. Three Chicago-area teachers who wrote diary entries in the book and a former student joined Gruwell during her presentation to an audience of mostly teachers from Aurora.
"Everyone has a story," said Gruwell, who in 1993 began her teaching career at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif.
She arrived at that school in white polka dots and white pearls. She can now see that her students were immediately wondering how long Gruwell could last in a classroom filled with students deemed "unteachable."
"I asked my students to tell me about their journeys," she said.
The wall between Gruwell and her students came down brick by brick as she opened up a world of writing and reading to them.
"I'm really a nerdy English teacher, and all I want is my students to read," she said.
So by using the tools of books like "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl," Gruwell transformed her students to become not just readers, but critical thinkers and aspiring college students.
"I want to make this absolutely clear: Erin Gruwell didn't change my life. She allowed me to open a door and self-correct my life," said Maria Reyes, one of the original Freedom Writers.
Reyes was one of the troubled students in Gruwell's class that first year of teaching.
Gruwell described how Reyes entered her classroom at age 14 wearing an ankle monitor because she was on house arrest. She was kicked out of school at age 9 for hitting a teacher.
Reyes' story and others are printed in the pages of the New York Times bestseller, "The Freedom Writers Diary," which is marking 10 years with a 10th anniversary edition.
Waldo Middle School teachers Kelly Grigoropoulos and Donna Berczynski said they were both motivated by the book to try journal writing with their students.
"It was a good way for them to tell us what was going on," Grigoropoulos said.
Gruwell's latest book peeks inside the pages of diaries from teachers who use the Freedom Writers teaching method. The book is about hope for kids, teachers and maybe future teachers, too.
"We need good teachers. Derrick, I hope that you become a teacher. We need you," Gruwell said. "You are never going to make a lot of money, but what we have, you can't pay for."