What It Means to Be a Freedom Writer Teacher

“I watched as my students, in the face of seemingly every obstacle, succeeded with such grace. In spite of losing friends to gang violence, in spite of having parents deported, in spite of abuse, in spite of it all, they showed up […] My students only wanted a chance; a chance to be great.”

Dustin Wood, Freedom Writer Teacher, Ohio

“My kids from this past year scored the highest in the state on their Writing Assessment, 100% of my kids passed, and 16 out of 22 scored a perfect 4! The Freedom Writers Program, all its lessons, and keeping our own daily journals really helped.”

Jesse Schmitt, Huntsville, Alabama

“Being a Freedom Writer Teacher is not about me; it is about my students and helping them realize that no dream is too big and no accomplishment is too small. Being a Freedom Writer teacher has allowed me to teach my students what freedom is all about... freedom from self-doubt, freedom from ‘haters,’ and freedom from apathy.”

Anne Schober, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

“As a Freedom Writer Teacher, even as an administrator, my goal is to ultimately empower my students. I see the "bad kids" most of the time now; they want better, they want more. Being a Freedom Writer Teacher allows me to see that potential and tap into it, to listen to what my kids have to say. It also means that we make no excuses. We acknowledge our pasts and presents, but we work to help our kids overcome obstacles.”

Cathy Cantu, Muskegon, Michigan

“I have experienced firsthand the effects that this training has had on my students. Now they are fully engaged in school and have learned to respect others as well as themselves. But, most important of all, they have what I was taught to teach: Hope!”

Cedric Cooper, Omaha, Nebraska

“I watched as my students, in the face of seemingly every obstacle, succeeded with such grace. In spite of losing friends to gang violence, in spite having parents and relatives deported, in spite of immigrating without speaking a word of English, in spite of poverty and eviction, in spite of drugs, in spite of alcoholic and abusive families, in spite of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, in spite of it all… it all, they showed up. In the face of, at times, impossible odds and improbable circumstances, they made no excuses and they asked for no favors … My students only wanted a chance – a chance to be great.”

Dustin Wood, Columbus, Ohio

“John Quincy Adams once said, ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.’ The collective actions of the Freedom Writers Foundation have inspired me to do all of the above. Simply put, they ARE the hope that continues to fuel a movement that has changed the face of education.”

Mike Sissel, Chandler, Arizona

“For me, teaching is not a job, it is a calling. The institute allowed me to see how important it is for students to be involved in their learning, to have a voice … It is not only teaching curriculum, but teaching people and relating to kids. During that experience, I could completely relate to what my students go through on a daily basis. Incorporating Erin’s teaching model and lessons into my teachings has opened many doors for me and my students. I have learned that when diverse worlds come together, beauty is inevitable.”

Jessica Fenton, New Brunswick, Canada

“If it weren't for Erin Gruwell and the 150 Freedom Writer students, I would have left my career as an educator. The system was pushing me down year after year. Erin and her original 150 students paved the way for me to make more meaningful connections with my students and colleagues. The Freedom Writers methodology has energized me to continue my passion as an educator. After attending the Freedom Writers Institute, I felt ready to Teflon-coat myself against a system that doesn't always support hard working teachers. Facilitating the Freedom Writers pedagogy into my teaching has naturally increased students' test scores while, more importantly, creating life-long learners who readily engaged into their own learning paths.”

Karen Gibson, Upper Marlboro, Maryland

“I have been to a lot of professional development that is pretty dull and prescriptive, but I was truly blown away by [Erin Gruwell’s] ability to masterfully mix content/curriculum, instructional strategies, a child-centered focus, and intense personal reflection. I can say that I am a better educator and person for the experience. I am thankful for the knowledge, inspiration, and passion that [Erin Gruwell] shared, but I am indebted [the Freedom Writers Institute] for helping me realize that I am the one that can – and will – make a difference in the life of a child… no matter what!!”

Karl Kurt, Independence, Iowa

“I never was one to believe in fate until I met Erin Gruwell and some of the Freedom Writers. Suffering from burnout in only my third year of teaching, Erin was the saving grace that kept me from leaving the field of education and inspired me to continue to work with kids. After meeting Erin and sharing the Freedom Writers' stories of change, I felt reinvigorated and my students began to breathe in this inspiration. I noticed small changes at first: kids feeling comfortable enough to share personal life stories, "trouble" kids paying attention and participating in class and working to complete assignments, and kids who felt empowered to change themselves and the world around them. In my eight years of teaching I have not had this experience when teaching any other stories. People connect to the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell. I truly do credit a lot of my success in the classroom to Erin Gruwell and The Freedom Writers.”

Kate Hogg, Richmond, Indiana

“When I walked into my first teaching job in an urban midwest high school in January, 2009, I was the seventh teacher my students had seen for sophomore English that year. They were unmotivated, apathetic, and way behind.

Eight days into my assignment, a counselor visited my classroom. One of my students had been shot and killed in a jewelry store the night before.

I knew I needed the Freedom Writers’ stories. We put away the anthologies and spent the next few weeks reading, grieving, and sharing stories. The students connected with the text in a way I could not have imagined: gangsters brought to tears, the most resistant kids stealing the book to take home.

As a result of The Freedom Writers Diary and Freedom Writers methodology, my students realized I wasn’t just another filler teacher. They knew I cared about them because I taught to their interests and wasn’t afraid to teach about life.

I was overjoyed to attend the Freedom Writers Institute, which only deepened my beliefs in teaching to kids’ hearts, as well as their minds. I was connected with other professionals who know that teaching is not just an intellectual undertaking but one of the heart. I was validated in my beliefs and have since presented at district workshops and faculty development in order to ‘teach one to teach another.’”

Kerri Molczyk, Omaha, Nebraska

“Every year a new stream of students enters through our classroom doors, each with his or her own story that either supports their educational success, or makes it all the more difficult for them to make it a priority in their lives. Over time, some of these students have experienced moment after moment of disappointment and failure and are beginning to give up on the possibility of achieving a passing grade or even graduating from high school. I have these students in each of my classes in a Washington State rural, low-income school.

I remember the first time I began teaching Memoir writing. One day I asked students to leave their composition books for me to read. That night as I flipped through the pages of each notebook, I found myself shocked and saddened by the obstacles many of them faced. That same week a fellow teacher left the book The Freedom Writers Diary in my box in the teacher’s lounge. That night I read through entries written by Erin Gruwell’s 150 students from Long Beach, California. Students who were dealing with homelessness, drug-addicted parents, avoiding deportation, teenage pregnancy, and abuse at home, I couldn’t help to see some similarities between these students and my own. I contacted the Foundation to find they were starting a teacher-training program to train 150 teachers in the methods that helped Gruwell’s students achieve educational success. The vision of the Freedom Writers Foundation is to publicly and systematically promote an educational philosophy that honors diversity and gives all students the opportunity to reach their full potential. The Foundation empowers students and teachers through curriculum, outreach and scholarships to help break the cycle of inequity that still continues in our educational systems. This was the reason I entered the teaching profession.

As I got off the plane in Long Beach I was greeted by teachers from around the country and Canada, all with a similar visions and passions for teaching. We learned ways to engage students in meaningful and relevant curriculum, teach students to write, read and listen to each other’s stories and experiences, teach Holocaust education and diversity awareness, and most of all, form relationships that allow all voices to be heard in a safe classroom community.

When I returned to my students, I witnessed some that seemed to have become ‘failure-acceptors’ experience moments of success and begin to see that with motivation and work they could feel a sense of accomplishment. By getting the right book in the right student’s hand at the right time, a student was able to actually read a book for the first time, read more books, and perhaps become a lifelong reader. By getting students to develop some sense of empathy through diversity awareness teachings, the safety in my classroom increased and more students felt comfortable and willing to share their personal writing and experiences with others.

Every student has the potential to contribute something positive to our community and world. By finding ways to reach students that often fall through the cracks and help them experience success, more students will graduate high school with the skills they need to become contributing citizens to our world. These citizens may one day have their own children that they will be able to support and help to experience this same success. Education has the power to help affect the social inequities that exist in this country. Helping all students find voice and relevancy in their education may be the first step.”

Kirsten Jensen, Bellingham, Washington

“For many, the word ‘poverty’ is nothing more than a three-syllable jumble of letters thrown into speeches and onto newsprint. For my students, it has meant generations of not seeing a book for the first time until the age of five or not understanding that lines on a map are not on the ground, because they have not left their town. It means not having a coat this year, because out of five children, it was not their turn. Poverty is deprivation of basic needs but also of the mind and spirit. There are no quick fix programs that will change this student’s life. They are too weary and disillusioned to race to the top. The missing pieces for students who struggle in the throes of poverty are hope and compassion. That kind of inspiration can have lifelong, life-altering effects. There are no better models for these effects than Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers.

You cannot open the head of a child and pour knowledge in. A teacher needs to inspire a love of self as well as learning. That is the Freedom Writer way and it works. With 32 years of teaching in an urban school district, I have had the privilege of watching the miracle of hope change a student’s course off of self-destruction and into success on many occasions.

For a Freedom Writer student, this method has a life-long positive effect on a child’s academic, social and emotional well-being. The Freedom Writer experience does not leave children behind, nor encourage racing to the top of who knows where. It is a method looking to create inspired, life-long learners. The Freedom Writer method requires a teacher to think outside the box, to engage all students and to be a strong, positive role model. The Freedom Writer teacher strives to produce happy, academically successful young men and women who will become the positive role models needed for success in our communities, in our world.”

Lynn Frazier, Willimantic, Connecticut

“So what does being a Freedom Writer Teacher mean anyway?

Being a Freedom Writer Teacher means valuing the knowledge, strengths, and abilities of my students and local community; it means developing creative ways to help students realize that expertise, examine it, and share it with others. It means teaching tolerance and the affirmation of lived experience in the classroom and beyond. It means connecting to what makes us all human in the process of these things.

It means we help uncover and unlock shared stories. Through those shared stories we find shared emotions, shared curiosity, and a shared want to survive in spite of varied and difficult circumstances. It means connecting to our shared humanity and the idea that each of us is a citizen of the world. And it means that the stories you write, rewrite, and tell with your students become the stories of freedom, hope, courage, and care, stories of possibility for the present and the future.

Being a Freedom Writer Teacher means taking the time to build and sustain lasting relationships, to learn with and from others during teaching, to listen with love, and to speak with purpose. It means consistently supporting and challenging your students and colleagues, especially the ones who drive you crazy, while at the same time using your sense of humor. It means organizing against injustice and working to solve problems that we face in our local, regional, national, and international communities.

It means exploring what we want our lives to be about with others and through great literature. It means not fearing mistakes or our past, but recognizing that they are a part of who we are, what we've learned, and why we've grown. It's about embracing and making sense of diverse perspectives and experiences to develop a more critical and caring eye with which to view the world.

Being a Freedom Writer Teacher is about being empowered and inspired to fight for what is best for your students, your profession, and our schools. It is about engaging in a dynamic community of people who care about education and who believe that we all have something to teach and learn every day. Ultimately, it is a way of being the world that makes new and wondrous opportunities possible.”

Mark Kohan, Cincinnati, Ohio

“We were given a fail-proof recipe to make teaching interactive and powerful. The more Freedom Writers Foundation activities I attempt with students, the more they crave. Returning to teaching a new school year, I am reenergized and totally motivated. The training not only brings you into the mindset of every first-year teacher, that you may change the world by teaching, but it promises this. You leave knowing that by being in the classroom you are touching the future.”

Scott Bailey, Chico, California

“My experience with the Freedom Writers Institute (July 2007) is a highlight of my teaching career. Erin, the Freedom Writers, and the other Freedom Writer teachers inspired a renewed commitment, on my part, to my profession. My time at the institute taught me the true meaning of the words “No Child Left Behind.” The Freedom Writer Methods designed to engage, enlighten, and empower every student make possible what no mandate can. The lessons of tolerance, respect, aspiration, and true acknowledgement are not found within the pages of standardized tests. Test-taking skill sets do not equip our students to be critical thinkers who want to better themselves and our world. The Freedom Writer methods preserve and promote the ideals of humanity and decency in our educational system and students respond in kind. My involvement with Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers has been more valuable to my teaching practice than any course taken in my teacher preparation classes or during countless hours of professional development. It has without question made me an even more effective teacher.”

Susan O’Rourke, South Bronx, New York