Freedom Writers

This movie is about the diaries of the students in room 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School. One of the main characters is Eva. She is a student in room 203. She states that she doesn’t even want to be at school but her probation officer told her it was either school or boot camp. On her first day of school she was initiated into a gang, where basically the beat her up so bad. It was a way of saying that you won’t break. Everyone was against each other, but mainly the Latino, Asian, and African Americans fought for their territory.
Ms. Erin Gruwell became a teacher there in 1994. She wanted to teach here because she thought it was a good idea to have the school integrated. The lady asked her are you sure you can handle all of these students and Ms. G replied yes, if I do my job that will be lining up at the door.
The first day in the classroom Ms. G had to deal with a lot of nonsense between different people. The next day she came with a cd player that was playing Tupac to try and help them learn about poems, but they just totally shut her out and were being smart about everything. Eva said, “She thinks she can teach but she can’t”. She was just trying to do something fun so they would be interested in learning.
The next day as she was writing notes on the board there was a lot of laughing so she turned around to ask what was so funny, that’s when she noticed Jamal had a drawing of himself in his hand that Tito drew making fun of him. Ms. G goes on to state that this how the holocaust started. Eva screams out you don’t know our pain we go through. This is all about color, I hate white people. Ms. G said, “So you hate me?” and Eva said “yes!” and Ms. G said “that’s the whole problem, you don’t know who I am.” In order to get respect you have to give it.
Ms. Gruwell does a really neat thing. She tells the students that they are going to play a line game. This game is about asking a question and if it applies to you, you step up on the line. She continues asking questions. After this, she told them that she has a surprise for them. She got them journals to write in everyday. She told them that it won’t be graded and that she will not read them unless she is given permission by the student. She said she will have a cabinet open during the class and after class she will lock it. If they want her to read them that is where they will place them. Everyone left their journals in the cabinet for her to leave. You could tell by the look on her face she was thrilled and honored.
She took her students on a trip. On the trip they went on a tour. At the beginning of the tour each student for a card with a child on it and they got to know who they were and what camp they went to and if they were a survivor. She also had them a dinner at the hotel she worked at on the side. They had dinner with holocaust survivors. The students could not believe that Ms. Gruwell did this for them.
Ms. Gruwell was talking to the person underneath the principal and asking if she could use some books to read in class. The lady said no because they will be in bad condition afterwards because the students don’t care to read. So Ms. G went out on her own and bought the students a book called Durango Street and the Diary of Anne Frank. Eva like the book Durango Street so much she took it to her dad in prison. All the students could relate to this book. They also loved the Diary of Anne Frank. They did fundraisers so that they could have Ms. Deeds, which is the lady who helped the Franks, come and speak to them. Marcus wanted to escort her in, and he did. Marcus told her that he has never had a hero before and that she was his hero.
Then came sophomore year where they walked into room 203 again. Ms. G had a Toast of Change up. She told them that in the border bags there were four books, take the sparkling cider and make a toast to every voice that said you can’t is silenced, every reason that tells you things will never change disappears, and that it is turn for the new you. It was such an emotional part of the movie to hear what all the students had to say.
Ms. G had to fight to teach the same group of student’s junior year. They were upset when they found out they would not have her as a teacher junior year. She told them to not use her as another excuse to why you can’t make, and Eva said that’s not it, it’s the sign of respect for you. Ms. G gave them one final project. The project was to make their diaries into a book. They have something to say to people and that they are not just kids in a classroom anymore, they are writers who have their own voice and own stories. She told them to come with a title to call you, and they came up with The Freedom Writers Diary.
Ms. G had great news for them after she spoke with people at the school. They asked her if she will be teaching them junior year. She replied “no, I will be teaching you junior and senior year!!” All the students were so happy.
During this movie, the author showed his purpose well. To me his purpose was to show that someone can change an individual’s thoughts and hopes. That everyone has their own voice and should be heard. This was a great movie to watch considering that I am going to school to be a teacher. It was neat to watch a movie and understand in some ways that side of a teachers point to get across to students. These students became a family and respected Ms. G as their teacher. That is such an honor to have, to know that you have affected someone’s life in such a good way and made a positive change.
Many Freedom Writers were the first in their families to graduate high school and attend college. Ms. Erin Gruwell left Wilson high school to follow her students and teach at California State University at Long beach. The Freedom Writers Diary was published in 1999 and Ms. G and the Freedom Writers Foundation dedicated to recreating the success of room 203 classrooms throughout the country. I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie. This movie makes me want to teach even more.