Question No. 1 Answer:
Ms. Gruwell is a teacher who doesn't abandon the students, on the grounds that she trusts them. Alternate teachers dependably quit the occupation, due to the students. Be that as it may, if a teacher doesn't demonstrate the students respect, they never offer respect to the teacher either. And after that Ms. Gruwell comes to the class, she has a goal with these students, and she needs the students to succeed. Erin makes the students understand that they very nearly have been through the same things. A case for this is the line-exercise, when Erin said an inquiry and the students ought to venture on hold in the event that they had been through this. Erin never abandons them; she might want to make them feel exceptional.
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Ms. Gruwell is the first teacher to show trust and respect for the at risk students at Wilson High, and says that 'to gain respect you need to give it'. In this blog entry, I will talk about how Erin shows this, and how the two themes are managed in the film. I will likewise discuss why a portion of the students are more resistant to trusting her, and how the students change their mentality through the film. Huge numbers of the students in Freedom Writer's just trusted the general population who had the same foundation as themselves. Whenever Ms. Gruwell came into the classroom surprisingly, the majority of the students gathered with the general population of their own race. This demonstrates they didn't trust individuals who had an alternate foundation than themselves, and that they were frightened of problems that may happen in the event that they were sitting beside a weird individual. Ms. Gruwell and her students did not get along exceptionally well before all else. The students were disrespectful to her and did not listen to what she needed to say. A percentage of the students were resistant to trusting her in light of the fact that they didn't have the same, terrible involvement with the teachers, the same number of alternate students had. A large number of the students had teachers who did not think about them, and treated them unreasonably. Consequently it was troublesome for these students, trusting
The central issue with the general education classroom teachers and Ms. Isabelle is that they were so willing to push Juanita onto Ms. Isabelle and not put any real effort or make changes themselves. That dealing with Juanita was a hassle that they were overall not willing to put up with, and that Juanita be put in special education even though she did not fit statistically wise.
E. D. Hirsch and Lisa Delpit are both theorist on teaching diverse students. Both of these theorist believe that when teaching diverse students, teachers need to see their students for who they are. Seeing your students for who they are, means you look past the color of your students’ skin and recognize their culture. According to Stubbs, when teachers look at their students equally, no matter the color of their skin, then the teacher is considered colorblind (2002). Being colorblind is not a great thing because we should not treat all of our students the same, since each student is different. It is important to see our students for who they are because our classes are unique. Instead, our classes represent a rainbow underclass. According to Li, the rainbow underclass is the representation of families who are culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged (2008). In order to meet these student’s needs, teachers need to think about the struggles that each student face.
As Pollock states, “Equity efforts treat all young people as equally and infinitely valuable” (202). This book has made me realize that first and foremost: We must get to know each of our students on a personal level. Every student has been shaped by their own personal life experiences. We must take this into consideration for all situations. In life, I have learned that there is a reason why people act the way that they do. When people seem to have a “chip on their shoulder”, they have usually faced many hardships in life. “The goal of all such questions is deeper learning about real, respected lives: to encourage educators to learn more about (and build on) young people’s experiences in various communities, to consider their own such experiences, to avoid any premature assumptions about a young person’s “cultural practices,” and to consider their own reactions to young people as extremely consequential.” (3995) was also another excerpt from the book that was extremely powerful for me. Everyone wants to be heard and understood. I feel that I owe it to each of my students to know their stories and help them navigate through the hard times. On the other hand, even though a student seems like he/she has it all together, I shouldn’t just assume that they do. I must be sure that these students are receiving the attention and tools needed to succeed,
The things that Mrs. Hawkins says to Mrs. Paley are things that really stuck out to me. I think that if Mrs. Paley had thought more about what Mrs. Hawkins said to her in the beginning of the book she would have made a few of her discoveries about teaching African American students earlier. I feel that this statement made a huge impact on the way that I think about teaching. I never thought about the positives of the differences before. I grew up in a mainly white area. We had a few black students in our school, but most of them where bused in from the city and didn't live in the area. I always wondered why they wouldn't just stay and go to schools that were closer to where they live. Mrs. Hawkins brings up a good point that integrating brings in positive, interesting and natural differences. I think that if I had gone to a school with only white children I wouldn't have been shown these differences in such a good light.
During the 60’s and 70’s, people have thrashed out with their words and each other. This caused some awareness in schools due to the offensiveness of the matter. During the 80’s schools began on focusing on preventing this kind of speech on their campuses. Since then, students have become more and more sensitive in a negative way. The authors used an example of a kid shouting “Shut up, you water buffalo” at an Israeli born student. That incident made national news, just for calling another kid a “water buffalo.” Another example is when a university found a student guilty of racial harassment for reading a book honoring student opposition to the Ku Klux Clan. The picture on the cover of the book offended one of the student’s co-workers. Just because the student was reading a book, minding his own business, the student was punished from the university. Never said anything or hurt anyone physically, and his education was ruined by someone taking offense to a book he was reading. The authors used this extreme example to prove that accepting the fact that student are fragile and letting them be fragile is not the right way to go and the past can prove
In his work, “A Talk to Teachers,” James Baldwin poured out his point of view on how he believed American children should be taught. Throughout the essay, Baldwin focused on a specific race of school children: Negros. Perhaps this was because he himself was an African American, or even for the mere idea that Negros were the most vulnerable for never amounting to anything — according to what the American society thought during the twentieth century, specifically the 1960s when this piece was published. With the focus determined, the reader is able to begin analyzing Baldwin’s main appeal through the essay. At first glance one could argue that the essay has no credibility with Baldwin’s lack of not being a school teacher himself; however, when further evaluated one could state that whether or not he was a school teacher has nothing to do with the fact that he establishes his credibility, he appeals to morals, emotions with authority, and values, which thus outweighs the possible negativities associated with his argument.
As a result, these kids begin to believe they can’t achieve more than they already have. They have been limited to a test score, and are forced to take classes pertaining to test taking skills rather than classes specialized in careers. Many of the minority schools do not have the same class opportunities as schools that wealthier children attend. Something that hit me hard was the boy that said, “You’re ghetto—so you sew!” He is to the point that he is seeing himself as many people in society see him. He has lost the belief that he can become much more than what people believe he can be. This girl’s mother worked at a sewing factory, so he believes it’s likely she will be working at one too. The education isn’t in place to help her do more than
The students in the school are shied away and even denied opportunities for higher education by the teachers, “Many have been discouraged or prevented from pursuing academic or work goals” (Kivel 44). From not believing in the students to not wanting them to get further ahead in life, the teachers in this low budgeted, racist school are sacrificing the students future in the name of institutionalized racism. This causes the students to remain in the same social class for another generation, once again, starting the cycle of integrated racism in the schools and surrounding
Erin Gruwell began her teaching career at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California where the school is integrated but it’s not working. Mrs. Gruwell is teaching a class fill with at-risk teenagers that are not interested in learning. But she makes not give up, instead she inspires her students to take an interest in their education and planning for their future as she assigned materials that can relate to their lives. This film has observed many social issues and connected to one of the sociological perspective, conflict theory. Freedom Writers have been constructed in a way that it promotes an idea of how the community where the student lives, represented as a racially acceptable society. The film upholds strong stereotypes of
During the essay the author lost her innocence but graduated to a deeper appreciation and clarity of who she is and who she could become. In her school with no visible fences keeping the children within the schoolyard, there were the invisible fences of racism that tried to limit them from reaching their full potential. The author concludes, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death" (841).
Bell hooks knows about the challenges of race and class, and why some people have a harder time than others in achieving the American Dream. It is normal to feel uncomfortable and awkward arriving at a new school for the first time, but this was something completely different. For bell hooks, walking through the halls with eyes staring at her as if she was an alien, she realized that schooling for her would never be the same. She describes her feelings of inequality a...
The focus of the column is about the plight of African-American male students who have begun to enter the white prep schools in the south. Marvin Barnard and Bill Alexander were two black teenage boys who were among the first African-Americans to integrate into Virginia Episcopal School, an all-white prep school in Lynchburg, Virginia. They recognized the opportunity that they were given to start a trend of change in society, and throughout the article, these students challenge themselves to rise above the hate and unfair expectations put on them by their peers. As the title states, they begin to excel in the classroom while also keeping their noses clean. Their diligence and hard work helped to pave the way for other black students to enter these segregated schools. While as a result, it seemed that these students were unfairly pressured and their teenage lives were left unfulfilled because of the decisions they made to behave the right way. However, in the end, their sacrifice helped to complete a new change in the schooling system Not only did white students begin to respect and change their views on blacks, the entire system had to change to accommodate those who were coming in and trying to create change for
What is discrimination? Merriam Webster, defines it as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people”. But more generally, why does it occur? Is it because of inherent inferiority, or is it simply conformity? These questions are generally unanswered in today's society, but can be understood through careful analysis of what it means to discriminate. The text, A Class Divided, by William Peters attacks this question through analyzing both sides of the discrimination spectrum (ie. the inferior and superior group) from the perspective children. In response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Elliott, a third grade teacher in a predominantly white, middle-class
The film Freedom Writers directed by Richard La Gravenese is an American film based on the story of a dedicated and idealistic teacher named Erin Gruwell, who inspires and teaches her class of belligerent students that there is hope for a life outside gang violence and death. Through unconventional teaching methods and devotion, Erin eventually teaches her pupils to appreciate and desire a proper education. The film itself inquiries into several concepts regarding significant and polemical matters, such as: acceptance, racial conflict, bravery, trust and respect. Perhaps one of the more concentrated concepts of the film, which is not listed above, is the importance and worth of education. This notion is distinctly displayed through the characters of Erin, Erin’s pupils, opposing teachers, Scott and numerous other characters in the film. It is also shown and developed through the usage of specific dialogue, environment, symbolism, and other film techniques.
As I was walking my way through my first day of Georgian Forest Elementary School, I, like my peers believed that I was there to receive an education. I could do what everyone else could and treated like everyone the same. At least that’s what I thought. And, then, I saw stares. Thinking that I was the one everyone looked at. However I was wrong. I turned around to see a beautiful little girl child in a wheelchair with her head down. There were whispers, giggles and looks of concern at that time I realized discrimination within children is real.