Erin Gruwell : The Woman Who Brought Freedom

             

               

An American teacher was born August 15 1969 in California. She inspired lots of people and  was known for her unique teaching method.  Teaching in a public school which consist of American, Chinese and American-African races. Then she made those different races became like a family. How incredible she was.

She began teaching her students in 1994 at Woodrow Wilson High school  in Long Beach, California.

First day of going to school seemed like the worst day that she had ever felt.  No students were listening to her, they were just busy with their people and then went fighting with each people and Gruwell couldn’t stop them. The second day was the same, no changes but she kept trying and learnt to be more patient to face her students.

On the next day, Tito ,one of her students was drawing an African American’s  face with extremely large lips. Gruwell told her students that there was a type of caricature that the Nazis had used during the Holocaust. When only one of the students knew what the Holocaust was, Gruwell changed the theme of her curriculum to tolerance. Holocaust is a murder that was claimed to be done by the Naz to wiped-out Jews around Europe, so only a few Jews who were saved in the Holocaust time.

Gradually, the condition changed and it was an incredible time for Gruwell.She could teach them and made them become educated people. Everyday, her students were reading books that she had bought until all of them were attracted to read and read it again ,especially  the Anne Frank’s book.

In the fall of 1995, Gruwell  gave each of her students a bag full of new books and asked them to make ‘Toast for Change’. After that, she saw a turn around in them . The students went on to surprise everyone. A sad news came to Gruwell that she was divorced by her husband, Scott.  It was because she spent almost a whole day with her students and  Scott thought that she couldn’t take care of him.

Gruwell bought new books from her own pocket and invited guest speaker who could inspire her students. This guest was special to compare with others. This guest was related to Anne Frank’s book which was their favourite book. She was the women who helped  Anne Frank .

Gruwell returned to Wilson High as a full-time teacher. She aksed her students to make journals of their lives. She also had the students to read the books written by and about other teenagers in times of war.Then she asked them to make a book that consist of their stories with the title ‘The Freedom Writers’.

Writing journals became a solace for many of the students, and because the journals were shared anonymously, teenagers who once refused to speak to someone of a different race became like a family. At the end all Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many of Gruwell’s students went to attend college.

-This is originally composed by Via -