Gruwell, Erin. (1999). The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. New York, NY: The Tolerance Education Association and Broadway Books.
Jason Fritz
The Freedom Writers Diary is more than a story of inspirational pedagogy in the lives of “at-risk” Wilson High School students from Long Beach, California. It is a book designed as a series of diary entries that interweaves the personal and professional challenges of Erin Gruwell, a young, exuberant teacher, along with those of her students. The end result is a narrative that highlights how academic success can be nurtured within the vicissitudes of daily life in an urban school and community. The book made a strong argument for the notion that “at risk” urban youth can achieve academic success when provided with adequate opportunities. Freedom Writers suggests that the use of an inquiry-based curriculum and a strong personal dedication to teaching can lead to academic success and engagement in life-long learning for urban youth.
Divided into freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year sections, The Freedom Writers Diary covers the span of years (1994-1998) that Gruwell spent at Wilson High School with a group of students labeled “unteachable, at-risk.” Furthermore, each year is sub-divided into a fall and spring term, mimicking the school calendar and accentuating the urgent sense of time and timing in the classroom environment. The editing of the chronology of events and thematic-juxtaposition of the diary entries underscores Gruwell’s growing aspirations for her students.
From the onset of her first week in the classroom, Gruwell’s search is for what will “work” in the classroom. In light of one of her first classroom management issues, she reacts through her lesson planning, “I immediately decided to throw out my meticulously planned lessons and make tolerance the core of my curriculum” (p. 3). In order to address the intolerance in her classroom, Gruwell redirects her curricular focus to authentic, interactive pedagogical experiences such as field trips and guest speakers. To top it off, Gruwell brings new texts into the classroom in the hopes that they will prove more relevant to promoting an environment of positive academic and social change.
However, such zeal and curricular redirection does not escape collegial criticism. On transitioning between her first year of student teaching and on into her second year as a teacher, Gruwell details her struggle to overcome the words of other teachers, “According to them, I was too enthusiastic, too preppy, and my teaching style was too unorthodox” (p. 47). Her resolve becomes that of struggling to model her messages to her students and avoid the pitfalls of hypocrisy by “running away” from such resistance and negativity; instead, Gruwell’s stance with the Wilson High School community becomes grounded in living out the message of tolerance in her curriculum. After this epiphany, Gruwell’s personal challenges remain starkly secondary and non-threatening to her greater objective.
Her subsequent entries are more celebratory and focused on the graduation and career aims of the students who adopted the title “Freedom Writers” after the historic accounts of bravery enacted by The Freedom Riders in the face of racial intolerance.
Another excellent example of Gruwell’s pedagogy is her use of inter-textuality in the weaving of Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo and Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl into her curriculum. These two texts are mentioned often in the diary entries of Gruwell’s students, and show how the text resonates with urban life. One student remarks, “Just like her [Anne Frank], I knew the feeling of discrimination and to be looked down upon based on the way you look” (p. 71). Another student identifies with Zlata, “Zlata and I seem to have a lot in common because while Zlata was living through a war in Sarajevo, I was living through a different kind of war—the L.A. riots” (p. 73). As the students draw parallels between their lives and Zlata and Anne’s, they also grasp onto the hope and persistent optimism of these young authors.
Furthermore, Gruwell and her students literally and collaboratively bring both texts to life through the financed appearances of Miep Gies (responsible for sheltering Anne Frank’s family) and Zlata Filipovic. As with these guest speakers, many of the projects that Gruwell and the Freedom Writers undertake in this narrative would not be possible without a zeal for fund-raising, brainstorming options, and forming connections with such influential figures as John Tu (a multi-millionaire who came from nothing) and Dr. Carl Cohn (Superintendent of the Long Beach school district). The sense of interconnectedness extends beyond the diaries of Frank and Filipovic and into the very community surrounding Wilson High School.
The Freedom Writers Diary takes its readers on a journey through intolerance and political red tape and into the successes and aims of this group of former “at-risk” youth. The reader follows them across the stage of graduation glimpses into their futures. As a reader, I was left with a strong sense of connection between success and personal sacrifice and will power. Gruwell’s narrative is a personal story of curricular enhancement and student transformation that will undoubtedly inspire many educators, especially those who work in urban schools.
For more information about Erin Gruwell and The Freedom Writers, go to http://www.gruwellproject.org. For more information on “Freedom Writers,” the movie based on the book, go to http://www.freedomwriters.com.
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