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The Freedom Writers Diary

by Erin Gruwell

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The moral lesson of The Freedom Writers Diary is that education can change the individual and the world for the better by increasing empathy and understanding.

2 educator answers

The Freedom Writers Diary

In both The Freedom Writers Diary and the film Freedom Writers, the main challenges and conflicts revolve around issues of racial tension, gang violence, and educational inequality. The students face...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Over four years, the students in The Freedom Writers Diary transform from divided individuals to a united group through empathy and shared experiences. Initially guarded and segregated by racial...

2 educator answers

The Freedom Writers Diary

The main characters in The Freedom Writers Diary are Erin Gruwell and the students she teaches at Woodrow Wilson High School.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Eva's decision in the movie Freedom Writers to tell the truth at Grant Rice's murder trial is justified. Despite the danger to herself, Eva realizes the value of truth and integrity after learning...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In "The Freedom Writers Diary," students are reluctant to associate outside their ethnic and racial groups due to deep-seated prejudices and social tensions. These barriers stem from longstanding...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Just before going to the museum, Eva goes to visit her dad in jail. He's in prison due to a murder, and their relationship forces Eva to wrestle with her loyalty to her family and ethnic group.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell compares a caricature of an African American student to Holocaust-era drawings of Jewish men to illustrate how seemingly harmless caricatures can propagate...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The conclusion of The Freedom Writers Diary is filled with hope, as the Freedom Writers all graduate from high school. They travel to Washington DC together, continue to support each other and...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The Freedom Writers Diary has never been widely banned. However, there was a teacher who was suspended for teaching it in 2008. Her school board objected to the book's use of foul language and its...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Yes, Miep Gies visits the Freedom Writers after they raise enough money to fly her to their California classroom.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In The Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell's three initial obstacles are her own inexperience, the students' apathy, and the staff's negativity. Gruwell must overcome her naïveté about the school's...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Books the Freedom Writers read include Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipović, Todd Strasser's The Wave, Elie Wiesel's Night, Frank Bonham's Durango Street, and...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

While none of Ms. Gruwell's students die in The Freedom Writers Diary, many of them have witnessed violence and death. One recalls seeing a friend shot and killed while they were shopping for candy...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The setting of The Freedom Writers Diary is Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California in the middle of the 1990s.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The book is called The Freedom Writers Diary because it is a collection of writing entries from a group of high-school students called the Freedom Writers.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Erin refers to the Nazis as the most famous gang in history to illustrate to her students, many of whom are gang members, how gangs abuse power and harm communities. By likening the Nazis to a gang,...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Erin Gruwell's teaching philosophy in The Freedom Writers Diary is student-centered and unorthodox, focusing on relating lessons to her students' personal experiences. She influenced her students by...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In the Holocaust museum scene of Freedom Writers, visual techniques emphasize the students' emotional journey and desire for change. The use of panning and zoom shots captures their evolving...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Most of the Freedom Writers went on to attend college, and over half of them graduated with a college degree.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The Freedom Writers Diary is a work of nonfiction, a selection of extracts from diaries with elements of memoir, literary criticism, and social criticism.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Erin Gruwell's most effective teaching strategies in "The Freedom Writers Diary" include integrating real-life experiences with classroom learning. She engaged students by having them create a movie...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In The Freedom Writers Diary, labels and books profoundly impact students by helping them find their voices and understand their identities. Labels often initially limit their potential, but books...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In Ms. Gruwell's class, students develop self-worth by connecting their experiences to the literature they study, helping them articulate strong positions about their lives and the world. Through...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Students in The Freedom Writers Diary relate to "The Diary of Anne Frank" through shared feelings of oppression and insecurity, such as racial prejudice and lack of freedom. Anne Frank's experiences...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Erin Gruwell was twenty-five years old when she started teaching as a student teacher and twenty-six when she became a fully qualified teacher.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In "The Freedom Writers Diary," the peanut symbolizes the idea that one's true worth is found within, not based on external appearances. In Diary 17, the student recalls being bullied for her weight...

1 educator answer

The Freedom Writers Diary

The night before she starts her new job, Ms. Gruwell is somewhat apprehensive. She wonders what her students will think about her. In particular, she's worried that they might find her out of touch...

1 educator answer

The Freedom Writers Diary

Three very striking sequences in The Freedom Writers Diary are the students’ reading of Zlata’s Diary and inviting the author to speak, their experiences writing and compiling their diary, and their...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The author of diary entry 33 faces the moral dilemma of either protecting his friend Paco, who murdered someone, by testifying on the witness stand that somebody else committed the crime or telling...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Education helps the Freedom Writers become better people. It teaches them to appreciate their education and how to make the most of it.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Ms. Gruwell receives assistance from her superintendent, Dr. Cohn, and the president of the board of education, Karin Polachek, in obtaining permission to teach seniors. Despite her lack of...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Through the students’ readings and educational experiences, many of the students learn to empathize with different individuals. Although the students may not exactly relate to some of the characters...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

Erin Gruwell feels the educational system often fails students from marginalized backgrounds by labeling them "unteachable" based on race and neighborhood, perpetuating educational underachievement....

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In The Freedom Writers Diary, teacher Erin Gruwell expects her students to learn from Romeo and Juliet by drawing parallels to their own lives. Gruwell's "unteachable" and "at risk" students could...

1 educator answer

The Freedom Writers Diary

Gruwell feels a great deal of pressure in her profession as an English teacher, but she is able to overcome this pressure and make a difference in the lives of her students.

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The Freedom Writers Diary

In The Freedom Writers Diary, Erin Gruwell shows persistence through her belief system. Erin's philosophy embraces human dignity. She does not negotiate on this idea. It is what drives her to believe...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The "power of the pen" in The Freedom Writers Diary signifies the transformative impact of writing. Erin Gruwell used writing to empower her students, allowing them to express experiences with...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

John Tu, through his support of the Freedom Writers, gained personal satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment from helping transform the lives of students labeled as "unteachables." His own...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

At the start of "The Freedom Writers Diary," Ms. Gruwell is contemplating her upcoming first day teaching a class of underperforming students. She reflects on her previous year's experience as a...

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The Freedom Writers Diary

The poem emphasizes pride in one's identity and individuality, encouraging people to be their best selves, regardless of their race or profession. It promotes self-respect and confidence, urging...

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