Room 203of Thewoodrow Wilson High School In Long Beach
This emotionally powerful and intellectually stimulating; motivational and entertaining move,
whichdramatically executed real life scenes,captured the attention of many, was acted out by
‘150’ students (teens) of room 203of theWoodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Los
Angeles, California 1992; directed under the stewardship of an inexperienced fresh-faced,
idealistic twenty-three year oldteacher Erin Gruwellbetter known as (Ms. ‘G’).
Room 203 students were a diverse group of racially charged teenagers – African Americans,
Hispanics,Asians and one Caucasian male, all from different walks of life. Some were juvenile
delinquents, gang members and underprivileged coming from poor neighborhoods, who hoped
for nothing more, than …show more content…
MsGruwell decided on a different strategy, to which came directly from the students, known
as ‘unteachables’ class-room 203, in twoways – gang life(to which they were accustomed too)
andthe word holocaust(a word they never heard, except for one student).One night, there was a
gang shooting, in which Eva’s (a student of a Latina gang)boyfriend, shot and killed a
Cambodian. Eva was witnessed to the shooting and is now expected to testify in court. Living
by generations of strict moral codes of protecting your own at all cost, Eva thinks she has no
choice but to do just that when testifying.At school one day Ms. ‘G’ interrupted a racist
drawing of one of the students andused this as another strategy to teach them.She seeks to
explain what is a holocaust and to tell the story about the holocaust that took place centuries
ago. At this point Ms. ‘G’ begins to understand what she’s up against. Gradually earning their
trustthe class-room becomes more manageable,becoming a haven that draws them together as a
family. More importantly the students were more receptive to learn, as she sought to transform
her teaching style to one that they can better relate to – she related to their need, where …show more content…
To enhance their writing skills she introduces an assignment
making journal entries into a book, which she provides for them. Daily they are to give an
accountof their experiences and thoughts. The journals will not be graded and will only be read
by her if the students wanted.
As Ms. ‘G’ continued through Sophomore(year 2) which was unconventional, with the
‘unteachables’ she wanting to bring what they were reading to life –‘The Diary of Anne Frank’.
MiepGies – (woman who hide Anne Frank) was invited by the class, and several other
Holocaust survivors to talk and share their experiences with the students. All these visits and
field trips were done through means of fund-raisers and concerts, cooperatively and creatively
done by the students. As MiepGies spoke Marcus (a student) expressed that she was his hero,
to which she denied, claiming that she wasmerely doing the right thing. MiepGies denial of
what Marcus expressed caused Eva to rethink her choice of ‘protecting your own at all cost’,
even if one had to be untruthful. So atthe trial she told the truth, much to the dismay of
whichdramatically executed real life scenes,captured the attention of many, was acted out by
‘150’ students (teens) of room 203of theWoodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, Los
Angeles, California 1992; directed under the stewardship of an inexperienced fresh-faced,
idealistic twenty-three year oldteacher Erin Gruwellbetter known as (Ms. ‘G’).
Room 203 students were a diverse group of racially charged teenagers – African Americans,
Hispanics,Asians and one Caucasian male, all from different walks of life. Some were juvenile
delinquents, gang members and underprivileged coming from poor neighborhoods, who hoped
for nothing more, than …show more content…
MsGruwell decided on a different strategy, to which came directly from the students, known
as ‘unteachables’ class-room 203, in twoways – gang life(to which they were accustomed too)
andthe word holocaust(a word they never heard, except for one student).One night, there was a
gang shooting, in which Eva’s (a student of a Latina gang)boyfriend, shot and killed a
Cambodian. Eva was witnessed to the shooting and is now expected to testify in court. Living
by generations of strict moral codes of protecting your own at all cost, Eva thinks she has no
choice but to do just that when testifying.At school one day Ms. ‘G’ interrupted a racist
drawing of one of the students andused this as another strategy to teach them.She seeks to
explain what is a holocaust and to tell the story about the holocaust that took place centuries
ago. At this point Ms. ‘G’ begins to understand what she’s up against. Gradually earning their
trustthe class-room becomes more manageable,becoming a haven that draws them together as a
family. More importantly the students were more receptive to learn, as she sought to transform
her teaching style to one that they can better relate to – she related to their need, where …show more content…
To enhance their writing skills she introduces an assignment
making journal entries into a book, which she provides for them. Daily they are to give an
accountof their experiences and thoughts. The journals will not be graded and will only be read
by her if the students wanted.
As Ms. ‘G’ continued through Sophomore(year 2) which was unconventional, with the
‘unteachables’ she wanting to bring what they were reading to life –‘The Diary of Anne Frank’.
MiepGies – (woman who hide Anne Frank) was invited by the class, and several other
Holocaust survivors to talk and share their experiences with the students. All these visits and
field trips were done through means of fund-raisers and concerts, cooperatively and creatively
done by the students. As MiepGies spoke Marcus (a student) expressed that she was his hero,
to which she denied, claiming that she wasmerely doing the right thing. MiepGies denial of
what Marcus expressed caused Eva to rethink her choice of ‘protecting your own at all cost’,
even if one had to be untruthful. So atthe trial she told the truth, much to the dismay of