Customer Reviews

Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book, I believe, is a must-read for all teachers. It demonstrates the powerful and far-reaching influence of a teacher who made it her primary aim to nurture her students' ethical ideal and passionately dedicated herself to this aim. Our educational system has much to learn from Erin Gruwell and her students. If you are an educator, I highly recommend that you read this book. It will give you hope and inspire you to be a better teacher and human being.

I would like to respond to the two previous reviewers'critiques of Erin and her book.

First of all, studies have indicated that students do better when they stay with each other and with the same teacher (assuming the teacher is a caring one) for an extended period of time, the longer the better. Erin and her students must have recognized this truth and her example proved this hypothesis quite well. Secondly, so what if Erin only taught for four or five years? I speculate that the difference she made in the lives of her 150 students in those four years is more significant and lasting than the contribution some teachers make to their students in a 20 or 30-year long career. Erin is serving our society and our students on a larger scale by speaking and providing training to teachers on a methodology that yielded astounding success. I don't think she left teaching because she was "burned out". She was smart enough to know that she could serve the world more effectively in a different capacity.

And this one is to the reviewer who called Erin's book "self-serving and trite". Like you, I am sure all of us--as teachers--have spent our own money on our students and felt that every dime has been worthwhile. However, I don't know how many of us has actually worked a second or third job like Erin to cover our students' expenses. Erin is SELFLESS and anything but "self-serving". I am saddened that this extraordinary teacher has been so harshly criticized for what I consider an extraordinary act of love.

I read the Freedom Writer's Diary, watched the movie, and then read Erin Gruwell's "Teach with Your Heart." I have to say that, by far, this book is the best book I've read on an education related topic! Having taught High School students in California for 4 years and reading countless literature (journals, articles, newspaper, and books), this is one for the ages.

Erin Gruwell's passion, energy, and enthusiasm are extremely contagious. Her commitment to working with and caring for her students is what helped her earned her stripes and gain credibility, for they had become acustomed to being called "stupid" or "worthless" and being brushed off as problem children who many other teachers refused to teach.

The book chronicles her start in education with her student teaching stint, up until her Freedom Writers graduated from Wilson H.S. whereby she then went on to work for the University of California as a professor in the Education training program.

Imagine if each and every teacher emulated the qualities "Ms. G," as she is affectionately called by her former students, possess - what a change there would be in our educational outcomes and learning potentials!!

This is a book which reinforces the belief that every single person can make a difference in this world!

Erin Gruwell was a high school English teacher who slowly came to fame working with the "last chance" kids in her classroom she taught as a student teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. She eventually guided her students into writing their own stories which were eventually collected and edited to form the book THE FREEDOM WRITERS DIARY. The students that she taught are now known as The Freedom Writers and Gruwell has gone on to become a motivational speaker and the leader of a non-profit organization, The Freedom Writers Foundation. To be honest, I had never heard of Gruwell before until I saw the movie FREEDOM WRITERS. I am a high school English teacher myself and even though the film was full of clichés, it still touched me. As a teacher, I was more interested in learning about Gruwell and her story, rather than that of her students. That's why I bought and read a copy of TEACH WITH YOUR HEART.

Once Gruwell was able to capture the attention of her students and prove to them that she really cared for them, they were able to accomplish some amazing things together. They faced many challenges, the most difficult which seemed to be the usual bureaucratic red tape and school politics. Gruwell persisted and her students were able to overcome their own prejudices and racism and went on to lead better lives.

Stories like Gruwell and The Freedom Writers are encouraging and can be inspirational. In a field where the workers are underpayed, overworked, and underappreciated teachers need to hear more stories like this. Teaching is exciting and rewarding, but it can be incredibly draining, too. Reading about what Gruwell and her students were able to do and accomplish is an inspiration especially to educators, but also to everyone else.

However, readers should read the book knowing that Gruwell owes much of her success to either luck or the guiding hand of Providence. I don't doubt Gruwell's passion for her students. However, she got a lucky break early in her career. The turning point in her first classroom came when students were drawing inappropriate pictures of another student and Gruwell used these pictures as a catalyst to teach the students about the Holocaust, racism, and propaganda. This breakthrough led from one success to another. When reading about this, I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if the teachable moment hadn't turned out they way it did. What if instead of becoming interested about the Holocaust the students started fighting and just stopped listening? How would things have been different? I believe after reading TEACH WITH YOUR HEART that Gruwell would have persisted until the end of the term, but she might have left the profession afterwards. She mentions how burned out and discouraged she was becoming. If the breakthrough had never come, would she have eventually given up and went back to law school? I raise these questions because I know there are dedicated teachers just like Gruwell who teach every day in classrooms similar to the ones she had who are never able to reach their students. They might touch their students' lives, but they never know it. No breakthrough moments ever happen in the classroom and yet, they persist in teaching despite the toll it takes upon their heart and soul. Teaching is a tough profession. You can devote yourself to your students, spending ungodly amounts of time, money, and effort upon them yet never seeing any results. I know because I've been there and I know there are many others. Then you read a story like TEACH WITH YOUR HEART and you remember why you started it all in the first place.

I enjoyed reading TEACH WITH YOUR HEART and found it to be encouraging. However, for student and beginning teachers, just realize that Gruwell's story is an unique one, one that cannot really be repeated no matter how diligent and dedicated you are to your students. You might never have a classroom situation that turns out the way Gruwell's did, but in reading the book you might just be reminded of why you became a teacher in the first place.

Read the book then write a review...this is my suggestion to the previous reviewer. Otherwise his review is ignorant and meaningless. While the movie was a dramatization which it necessarily had to be considering it would be impossible to effectively account 151 lives in two years in the span of 2 1/2 hours. But, dear previous reviewer, if you actually buy the two books, you can spend as much time as you need on the factual accounts spanning 12 years and then write a credible review.

These books will mean different things to different folks but they should be read by everyone because they are, if nothing else, simple stories which reflect our humanity and culture. I worked with "throw away" kids for many years and see them on every page...but many people do not want to see them, do not want to empathize with them or the struggles of a teacher, do not want to know that racism and poverty still exist in this country...Anne Frank and Viktor Frankl told their stories and people still deny the Holocaust. This story is real, not drama, and it is representative of the struggle thousands upon thousands of teens face today in this country. Don't knock the ones who overcame and the successes teachers rarely achieve in these circumstances. Let them serve simply as the inspirations they are.

Erin Gruwell cares about kids, which is why she cares about teaching. Her goal is to have all students enjoy reading and writing. This book is her story of doing just that - getting kids to love learning. Clearly this hasn't been an easy task, but it's been a rewarding one.

In order for you to evaluate the book, here are some excerpts from the beginning of the book, which not only give an idea of the style she writes in, but the task she's up against. This is a rough public schoool.

<< "Why do we have to read books by white guys in tights?" asked Sharaud, a foulmouthed sixteen-year-old, after he took one look at my syllabus.

As I started to discuss the curriculum, my students rocked in their seats and played percussion with their pencils. Some checked their pagers, while others reapplied their eyeliner. Some slouched, some laid their heads on the desks, and some actually took a nap. This was not the reception I was hoping for on my first day as a student teacher.

I dodged a paper airplane--made out of my syllabus, I quickly realized--and tried to make myself heard over a string of "yo mama" jokes...................

Once the students left, I picked up the paper airplane off the floor. I circled the room, collecting handouts that had been left behind, and saw ESL scribbled in black marker on several desks on the left side of the room. In educational jargon, ESL stands for English as a Second Language. Earlier, when I'd seen ESL etched on my door, I'd foolishly thought some Spanish-speaker was paying homage to my classroom. I soon realized this ESL had nothing to do with education--it was the acronym for East Side Longos--the largest Latino gang in Long Beach.>>

That's the beginning of the book - the rest is the story of how she cared for, taught, and gave these kids a passion for reading and writing.

There are many mixed reviews for this book, just as there are with the movie "Freedom Writers". As an educator, I put myself on the line everyday, both my heart and soul goes into teaching, and that is why I enjoyed this book. Erin did not stop at anything to ensure the success of her students. I will not go into the details of the book, but one only has to read it to see that Erin lost so much in her plight to save these kids. However, you will also learn the importance of being in the right place at the right time, and how much one can gain by giving it your all.
Some say that Erin's story is another "Stand and Deliver" or "Dangerous Minds" type of story, one where they great "white hope" comes in to make a change. I must ask why must we put down those in this world who are fighting for a change, ones who are fighting to make a better tomorrow?
I highly recommend this book to anyone who already does, or is ready to put there heart and soul into what they love to do.

How ironic that a story with tolerance as its central message should be criticized because of the color of the teacher's skin. Instead of poking (often fallacious) holes in an amazing story, folks should be focusing on some critical questions that are implied in this work:

"Given my monetary and time limitations, how can I adopt Erin's practices in my classroom? in my school?"
"Maybe I can't do it all by myself, but what if I could get a few other 'true believers' at my school to team up with me?"
"As a non-educator, what am I doing to empower teachers in my community?"
"As an educator, am I working in relative isolation or am I collaborating with colleagues about how to improve student learning?"
"What excuses (if any) am I making for not being able to reach every student in my class?"

None of these questions requires the herculean efforts Erin recounts in her memoire--only a simple willingness to get off the sidelines and into the game...whatever your color or gender.

For anyone who hasn't listened to Erin tell her riveting stories in person, this book provides her *voice* and fills in much of the background story that you will want to know after seeing Freedom Writers on screen. Teach With Your Heart gives a glimpse into the heart of Erin-ever resourceful, imaginative, savvy and strategic, sometimes naive, and brilliantly inventive as a catalyst for confronting racism and intolerance. Like the Freedom Writers Diary, or listening to Erin give one of her impassioned speeches, this book is a way to mobilize beyond hopelessness to ask "what can I do to make a difference?" Refreshingly, without distilling ten easy steps, Erin speaks to the perseverence, support and stamina needed to manifest an unstoppable vision in spite of heartache, threats and loss.

I've seen the movie, read the book. The Freedom Writers Diary, that is.

I found Erin Gruwell to be a touching and inspirational woman and have visited the Freedom Writers website to see what she and her students have been up to since the time of the book's publication. She ran for congress--and, sadly, lost. We'd have done well with someone like her in public office, someone with a love for and sincere concern for today's youth and education.

Since leaving the high school classroom, Gruwell has had her share of changes and obstacles and also, as one would expect, great successes. The book retreads a lot of the information gleaned from the book/movie, but I care about Erin now...I want good things for her. And her students. This was a way to catch up.

If you feel the same way, the book is worth your while, but if you are trying to learn more about educational techniques, this isn't the book you're looking for.

Many others have written detailed reviews. This is merely an attempt to throw mine in the ring. I will begin by saying that I do not believe this book was ever intended to be a "How To" manual, but rather it is Erin telling us her story. One reviewer's title stated it was "Difficult to Replicate." I would take that one further and state that it is IMPOSSIBLE to replicate (it is HER story!) and we would miss the point if we tried.

Her ability to take these kids to screenings, and meet screenwriters, and dine at the Marriott, and meet Miep Gies, and attend the Holocaust Museum was due in part to their geographical location. Granted, all of these resources were available to other teachers in the area -- but my understanding is that no one was taking "those kids." So her willingness to take these students to these places was a large part of what changed their lives. However, depending on where you live, some of these things just are not an option!

The bigger lesson is not to replicate (we would all try & fail!) -- but rather to figure out what is it that I can do, where I am, with the resources I have in front of me. Otherwise, we could excuse our inaction for lack of resources. For me this book served as a means of self-evaluation -- and I came away deciding that someone raised the bar, and it's time to step-up.