Erin Gruwell

Erin Gruwell explicating her magnificent storyhttps://myhero.com

Twenty percent of students today don't graduate due to gang-related violence, surroundings, and drugs. To most people, it would be a nightmare to be forced into teaching the twenty percent of these students. However this was a task Erin Gruwell could handle. Gruwell was faced with the task of changing one-hundred and fifty troubled students that had nowhere to go. Erin Gruwell took this as an opportunity to push through instead of giving up like any other teacher would. At the age of twenty-three, Erin gruwell walked into her first teaching job at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. As a child, Erin gruwell has always had the dream to impact others lives and to change something in society for the better. She was able to achieve that by switching the criteria and using her own strategies to create a pathway for her students. Gruwell showed heroic traits as well, she stayed optimistic and never gave up through the negativity from the students in her class. She was committed into creating a place for them so they feel comfortable and are able to create strong bonds between each other. Erin gruwell demonstrated inspiring and determined character traits throughout her journey of changing the lives of others making her a hero.

Her book containing essays of her students and their stories and background. https://inlpcenter.org/freedom-writers-

Erin Gruwell was able to portray the heroic act by being inspirational to here peers, teachers, and students. Expected to quit, Erin gruwell was able to persevere and not give up in doing what she loves most which was to teach. Given one hundred and fifty students that were bound to be dropouts, she was able to overcome that thought and change it. “Throughout her young life, she has aspired to advance the cause of human rights and has, in fact, succeeded in making significant changes, especially with the 150 young people whose lives she intends to follow for years to come. Erin had always wanted `to change the world' and, indeed, while completing her undergraduate work at the University of California, Irvine, she succeeded in forging several institutional changes” (“What’s Right With Education”). As a child, Erin gruwell has always had the dream to impact others life and change something. She was able to change the lives of students and to follow her dreams. Not only did she change lives of many teenagers, she has also inspired many teachers. She was able to provide a path for her students who at first had nowhere to go. Her thoughts and attributes persuaded her students and their peers to push hard because in the end it was proven that it pays off. Gruwell’s inspiration was also shown when she motivated fellow teachers and peers to make a difference, “Erin Gruwell is one of those teachers who achieved the miracle, touched that one unreachable group of kids. The way she did has been chronicled on television and on bookshelves and soon will be featured in movie theaters. She began urging teachers to recognize that students will have a wide range of styles, and classwork should be equally varied, with lots of cooperative groups, role-playing, reenactments, graphics, and other visual elements. She argued that students need assignments that make them feel empowered, lessons not simply dictated by a test or book. For years, she has been devoting her career to showing how the breakthroughs she achieved can happen for other, similar students, and how the techniques she developed to reach the kids thought of as unreachable can be replicated¨ (Manual For Miracles). Erin Gruwell achieved something great that is very rare. She encouraged other teachers that in order to create stronger bonds you must be open minded and be more visual so students feel safe and that they have a say. That being said her attributes continued to touch and alter the people around her. She has been emboldening teachers that her miracle that she has done is possible in any situation. At a young age, Gruwell was under the pressure to teach troubled children who didn't care about education. She opened their eyes to famous stories that the students could make a connection too. They can use this to overcome and take a risk. In the end it payed off and they were able become successful and graduate to go off to do good things. She was able to inspire people to make an impact and instead of giving up, to push through hard obstacles. She achieved a miracle and she has been urging teachers to do the same. Erin Gruwell's, persuasive acts to teach these high schoolers went worldwide. Her qualities have changed other teachers, schools, and districts perspectives on learning. Inspiring someone has an effect on how they view things and will affect their life as they move forward. Erin Gruwell has done exactly that and her students are able to do exactly what she did in the future.

These students were always known to be dropouts until Erin Gruwell altered that thought.https://myhero.com/content/images

Throughout her journey, she also demonstrated the heroic act of determination through her actions and mind set. Erin Gruwell has always indicated determination throughout her quest. When she was brought down and not given enough resources to guide and support her class, she pushed through and was determined to change the lives of these teens.  “For Erin Gruwell, walking into her first teaching job was like entering a war zone. Gruwell was given a class of "sure-to-drop-outs," students no other teacher wanted, students who weren't expected to succeed. The school was tough, racially pided, and gang-infested. Gruwell was white, wore suits to class and looked like the well-educated product of a safe suburban life. The administrators expected her to quit as soon as she came up against violence and hatred in her classroom. Instead she threw out the curriculum and dedicated her class to learning about peace and tolerance. Her first weapon was The Diary of Anne Frank and lessons about the Holocaust. She thought her students might relate to Anne's situation”(Jacobs 3). Stated before, Gruwell was surrounded by drugs, gangs, violence, and students that don't have a path to go. She saw this as an opening for her to make a difference and change their lives like she has always wanted to do. Using her sources of Anne Frank and Holocaust survivors, she threw out the curriculum and taught her class actual information that could teach them to change. She worked through negativity and different obstacles to get her children to graduate. Even though everyone doubted her, she saw the good in the teenagers and that she needed to make a difference. Gruwell faced many obstacles and road bumps. Instead of being negative, she continued to stay positive and optimistic. Gruwell took time off her personal days and her days off to provide a secure and safe area for her students. This proved her determination towards her class and job.“Gruwell brought in Holocaust survivors as guest speakers. She worked a second job on weekends so she could take the students to movies and on field trips. Inspired by their readings and field trips, Gruwell's students started keeping diaries in which they wrote about their daily battles and experiences. For some of them, Gruwell's class was the only place where anyone wanted to hear their stories. For others, it was the first safe place to share them. Gruwell's class became like a family” (Jacob's 7). Gruwell didn't let anything stop her from making a difference. Her main goal was to create a place for these teenagers and she did whatever she could to maintain that. No matter the consequences she created a family and created new bonds that would never be expected. Her devotion and commitment to the students eventually paid off. As one single woman being in that state and environment and expected to quit the first few days she spent her time with her students, didn't stop her. She continued to do what she wanted to without caring about the judgment. Erin Gruwell, a hero, has achieved a miracle like no other. She has successfully changed lives of students with her determination and has made an impact.

After an amazing journey of changing lives of others.https://chancellor.uci.edu

Erin Gruwell possessed determination and inspiration throughout her journey. Her heroic acts made an impact on students, teachers, and parents. The attributes were shown when she continued to persuade others around her to not give up and persevere. Her students continued to strive and use her advice to eventually grow and become successful. The soon to be dropouts now, have graduated from high school and most likely college and are living a new life. Erin Gruwell has inspired so many people around us and she has inspired me to make a change. To do what I love without caring about people's judgment. As well as finding my way through obstacles to successfully complete my task. She has used her heroic characteristics and acts to change the lives of people, her audience, including me. Motivating people to make a difference and continue to do what they love. The twenty percent of student who weren't able to graduate at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School was successfully able to graduate and continue the ripple effect of changing people's life.

Works Consulted

HAGLUND, ELAINE. "WHAT'S RIGHT WITH EDUCATION? ERIN GRUWELL'S RECONNECTING THE DISCONNECTED." Education, vol. 119, no. 2, 1998, p. 300. Student Resources in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A53985386/SUIC?u=powa9245&xid=15af5c93. Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.

“Erin Gruwell.” The MY HERO Project, myhero.com/e_gruwell.

Flint-Ferguson, Janis. "Teaching Hope: Stories From the Freedom Writer Teachers and Erin Gruwell." Childhood Education, vol. 86, no. 5, 2010, p. 341+. Student Resources in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A229717523/SUIC?u=powa9245&xid=06cb4751. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Freeman, Matt. "Manual for miracles: famous for achieving what many thought impossible, Erin Gruwell's next goal is to make her extraordinary Freedom Writers experience a common one for disadvantaged, at-risk students." Reading Today, vol. 23, no. 4, 2006, p. 23. Research in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A142569402/MSIC?u=powa9245&sid=MSIC&xid=9362e9ae. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

“Erin Gruwell.” The MY HERO Project, myhero.com/e_gruwell.

Klein, Rebecca. “20 Percent Of Teens Don't Graduate High School; Here's What Their Lives Are Like.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 May 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/21/why-students-dropout_n_5365949.html.