Freedom Writer Teacher, Xochitl Lugo was recently presented with an Award of Distinction from the Peel District School Board for her commitment to students. She is pictured here with the book she and 149 other Freedom Writer Teachers authored, "Teaching Hope (http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/store-teaching-hope)." "I make it my y ..

Teacher Appreciation Week: Freedom Writer Teacher Amy Civin Amy Civin’s eighth grade English class at San Diego Jewish Academy has been doing some spring-cleaning this May. They have brought Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of “Be the change you wish to see in the world” to life by collecting used ..

Education Through Connection In Entry 1 of The Freedom Writers Diary, Erin remembers asking, “‘How many of you have heard of the Holocaust?’ Not a single person raised his hand. Then [she] asked, ‘How many of you have been shot at?&rsqu ..

Teaching Tolerance Rwandan Freedom Writer Teacher Issa Sikubwabo (pictured to the right with his students) teaches at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (http://asyv.org/about), a village for young people orphaned by the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Agahozo is a Kinyarwanda word meaning, "tears are dried," and Shalom is the Hebrew word for "peace.&rdquo ..

Renée Firestone Activist and Holocaust Survivor Renée Firestone discusses the importance of Yom HaShoah By Taylor Mims Robyn Marotta, original Freedom Writer, and I arranged an interview with Renée Firestone (pictured left surrounded by Freedom Writer Teachers) at her favorite Jewish deli in Los Angeles. We have ..

Cameron Lymon Freedom Writer Teacher introduces his students to Renée Firestone In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day this year, Freedom Writer Teacher Cameron Lymon shares his experience of bringing Holocaust survivor, Renée Firestone (pictured above with Lymon's students), to his high school in Wildomar, California.  ..

Teaching Hope Diary #127 "Paradigm Shift" Manie was fifteen years old, tall and lanky with dark wavy hair and an olive complexion bespeaking his Middle Eastern roots. He was a talkative guy with a sense of humor that went above the heads of most of his peers, which was why he got along better with adults than with people his own ag ..

Diary #24 Dear Diary, 5:00a.m. –The sound of my alarm clock woke me up to a dark room this morning. The sun wasn’t out yet, so I decided not to get up. My clock saw things differently and kept beeping. So I thanked my clock by throwing it on the floor. The beeping stopped.  ..

By Dan Gathman, Freedom Writer Teacher During recent weeks, two different Freedom Writer Teachers were able to show off the good they are doing in their communities while Erin and I were on the road. First, Jake Perlmutter of Jerry Zucker Middle School of Science in North Charleston, SC was able to bring in teachers from around his  ..

"Living in a Blurred World" Essay Contest Winner Tamika N. Washington Virgin Islands In observance of African American History Month, the Freedom Writers Foundation held an essay contest in which students used a personal story to show how African American History Month is relevant to them. We received an overwhelmingly large volu ..