10. Watch movies about famous teachers & compare teachers in the media with reality

I again just recently watched Freedom Writers. This is a movie from 2007, is based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary written by Erin Gruwell. Her book is based on Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. This movie is set in the 90s when Erin Gruwell, a new teacher gets thrown into a newly integrated class, which is full of at-risk students. These students in the movie are the worst of the worse. The class is full of students who argue and don’t get along, these students are the students who no one believes they can succeed in school. The classroom is very segregated by race even though the state mandates integrated classrooms. Erin struggles to teach in an environment where her superiors are not advocates for her and society looks down on her students. Eventually she is able to gain the trust of her students and is able to prove society wrong. She follows her students into sophomore and junior year and watches most of them graduate and attend college.

This movie plays up any and every stereotype out there about intercity students, race, and naïve female teachers. Even though the movie was a bit cheesy and cliché at times, it still holds an important message of hope. I have never lived in an inner city and what the film showed is how all movies portray inner city life, so I have nothing to compare it to. One of the aspects I found most annoying and very media driven was the idea that the administration was against “good teaching.” The administration in power at the school wanted to keep power and didn’t want to hear from the young naïve teacher aspiring to chance the world.

Despite it’s extremes I really enjoyed it. Every time I see this film I wonder where I will end up teaching. This year I receive the TEACH grant and this means that I will need to teach at a title one school for at least four years. There are title one school in many different settings, but inner city schools are the stereotypical image of title one schools.
where I will end up teaching. This year I receive the TEACH grant and this means that I will need to teach at a title one school for at least four years. There are title one school in many different settings, but inner city schools are the stereotypical image of title one schools.