Freedom Writers Review

The movie “The Freedom Writers” is based on the true story of Erin Gruwell’s English classes at Wilson High, an integrated school with students of all racial and cultural backgrounds. As a new teacher she is given the lowest achieving students. For safety and belonging most of these students belong to racial gangs and bring this social concept into the class by sitting in racial arrangements. Their morals and self concept are defined by these gangs, as shown by Eva’s statement of “we protect our own” and Andre’s comment about how his brother taught him to do anything it takes to survive. They have the ability to learn, but they do not see how school based knowledge fits their world. These kids are given negative labels like losers and non achievers; nothing is expected from them and they do not disappoint. Lacking the socialization that usually occurs by this age they are disruptive, rude show no respect for Gruwell. Her lesson plans fail. The staff are not supportive telling her to just push them through. The kids know this is how they are perceived as is shown by the student who says no one stopped him getting this far without trying. We see attribution theory at work when the kids label white people as having it easy, I think her difficulty with the administration actually helps her model the opposite, because she must work to achieve.
Gruwell is an effective teacher as shown by her students’ success. We see effectiveness by the students’ attitude change; they start to ask and respond to questions. Eventually, they make suggestions, go to the library and become invested in their education. The toast for change scene where the student reads from his journal and says he is “home” shows that she has created a safe place for these students and has thus satisfied the need for safety and belonging. Both Erikson and Maslow state that these are needs must be met before learning can take place.
Gruwell uses good teaching practices. She is an authoritative teacher who