Freedom Writers
Freedom Writers
You’ll be watching the movie, Freedom Writers, which can be found on many different online platforms, including Netflix. Then you’ll be answering questions based on what you watched. Answers should be a paragraph to fully answer the question.
1. In one of the classic scenes from the movie, Erin creates a line down the center of the classroom and tells her students to stand on the line if they’ve lost a friend to gang violence. Then more than one friend…then three…then four or more. Why is this “line game” so powerful and how does it begin to change the culture in her classroom?
2. Despite their very different backgrounds, the majority of Ms. Gruwell’s students go through similar daily struggles. What makes them realize these similarities? How do the students use their collective strength as a source of healing?
3. Could Ms. Gruwell’s pro-tolerance teaching methods be extended to the entire school and beyond? How could this be achieved?
4. Ms. Gruwell is the first teacher to show trust and respect for the “at risk” students at Wilson High. How does Erin Gruwell demonstrate this? Why are some students more resistant to trusting her? Why is trust such an important component of a teacher-student relationship?
5. How do the classmates learn to trust one another? How does reading and writing initiate this change?
6. Ms. Gruwell’s students endure several hardships in their personal lives. Many of the students come from broken families, in which they have endured physical and/or emotional abuse, substance abuse, poverty, homelessness, gang violence, and deaths of close relatives and friends. How do the assigned class books relate to the students’ lives? What are some common themes that run throughout the literature?
7. In the book, the students write openly in their diary entries about sensitive family issues such as drug use and sexual abuse. How does Ms. Gruwell’s class become a safe zone for the youth to express their sufferings?
8. Contrast the disposition toward the students of Erin and her department chair, Margaret Campbell. How might Margaret have gotten to the point of being such an obstacle to progress?
