Freedom Writers ~ 1.5.07
 

I love teacher movies and this one looks good, reminiscent of Dangerous Minds.

http://www.freedomwriters.com/

http://www.myspace.com/freedomwriters

A dedicated California teacher finds a way to unify her disadvantaged, racially divided students, and to improve their grasp of academics, partly by having them keep journals about their violent, troubled lives.

i'm hoping it's better than dangerous minds. the story is real and happened in long beach where i'm from. Erin Gruel taught at Wilson Classical HS, the rival school of Long Beach Poly where I taught. Although both schools are magnet schools, we both saw the same violence in and out of the classroom. The movie is drawn from the book her students wrote which is chock full of raw emotion and true grit. Oh that sounds so Siskel and Ebert hunh?

Though the story needs to be told, I am really tired of movies like this, "white" teacher goes into a "bad" school and changes the students. It's been done over and over again. Just my opinion.

Cosign Treblk. It's like saying in order for "bad" schools to change, they need a great white hope to come in and help. I say nothing can compare to "Lean on Me". "The used to call me crazy Joe, now they call me BatMan". Priceless...

oh trust me soror, i feel you on that one. i don't want to give away the movie since i don't know how much they tell of what really happened. but i will say this..... after old girl got acclaim in california, she left the classroom for politics. hmm, perhaps for change, perhaps for???????

meanwhile, i'm still grinding in my classroom eerry day. where's my movie???? i know who i want to play me too. ME!

I TOTALLY feel you on this soror!

I feel like I should write a book. But my book won't be all sunshine--it'll be REAL gritty and will include many of the teachers of the "white hope" type and how they figure out by their second year that it isn't what they want to do anymore...among other things.

after a decade in the classroom i noticed that some of the white hope teachers use a certain weapon to get them over. they cry. about everything.
we may nag, whine, shout, threaten to go postal but they cry and depending on who's listening, sometimes get results.

so i started using this acronym:
When in dispair get Buffy First Year teacher to use the PCWW
Power of a Crying White Woman

LOL--Imma hafta use that one soror!

HUGE CO-SIGN! its definitely a movie you can play a drinking game to cause its so over the top cliche. i mean i can do two shots off the movie description alone. but these kinds of movies have the same layout and makes me not even wanna wait for the DVD... ill wait a few years til it comes on TNT or TBS.

• sincere, well-to-do white teacher
• troubled inner-city youth (ALWAYS LA, NYC or Chicago, not realizing there are troubled kids EVERYWHERE!)
• many over-the-top climaxes, including a student who tells her off and in the end becomes the star student, a shootout where said student gets shot or killed, a parent who tells the teacher "we were better off before you got here"
• the faceoff between administrators and said teachers
• the moment where said teacher breaks down, either in a bathroom stall or when she gets home
• an ending where the teacher makes it through their first year and cant wait to do it again, or they move on to another school, where the students tell her "i cant believe youre leaving us like this! you all do this!"
• cameo music performance for the movie's soundtrack
• and of course, whatever subject it takes to get the message across that the student is somebody and that they dont have to live "like this" (this time it's through journals, but as we have seen, it can be dance, art, singing, even math)

i've been in this scenario in real-life. i was slated to work as a teacher's aide in a high school where the teacher was this mid-30s white guy who had worked in the finance sector for a few years and wanted to teach math to "give back and help the kids." i mean, damn, teaching is not like a community service project, its an actual job and career like anyone else's. i only lasted there a couple weeks cause that man didnt know what he was doing in the classroom with the material OR with the kids.

Then I was placed in a special ed class where another guy (white guy from Nebraska, went to UPenn for COMPUTER SCIENCE) was in the teaching fellows. another guy who wanted to "help the kids" but how? you arent trained in any way more than i am to help kids who need more than a good teacher who knows their stuff. again, only lasted there a week (that may be stretching it even) and i had to give him pep talks at lunch cause he didn't think he'd be able to last (if youre not familiar with teaching fellows, its like a 3 year commitment, but it was STILL SEPTEMBER! he was a 2005 graduate, we were the SAME AGE!)

long story short, echoing what everyone else is saying.

I feel you on this one. Are there no black teachers who have had a positive influence and changed the lives of black kids? This topic is just played if you ask me.

And it's an opinion I share. Even though the longer trailer shows that the performances of some of the students demand close attention, the whole white savior teaching the "uncivilized brown masses" trope is SO. TIRED. That a movie like this can be greenlit in this day and age leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Ha! I'm sure we can come up with a script that would blow the socks off execs in Hollyweird. :rolleyes: I don't believe they would be ready for our real life storyline(s). :D :p :rolleyes:

I need to find a new gig. :(

I think they should do a reality show about teaching I mean we have ones for vets, chefs, lifeguards, doctors, mecanics, tatoo artist, real estate agents, plastic surgeons, rich white teenagers who live in Laguana Beach, sixteen year old party girls, preachers kids, people with dirty jobs....I mean surely there is enough drama in the schools I have been in to make a show!

I was saying the exact same thing. I watched Stand and Deliver today about a "brown" man saving "brown" children. Minority teachers who teach at "bad" schools are not movie worthy because we do so many exceptional things everyday that we make it seem easy.

I think that's a bit of an overreaction in this particular movie's case - it's based on a true story, and the real teacher was a white woman (she was on the View today).

Personally, I think it looks like a good movie; I like inspirational stories and everything.

i feel like you're missing the point... the fact that the story is based on a true story doesnt change the fact that people are tired of movies like this. it becomes overdone and cliche, and when you look at it racially, it gives this image of white people being the rescuer to the minorities who need rescuing, which leaves a bad taste in some people's mouth.

this movie (the trailer, anyway) doesnt show us anything different than similar movies of the sort. it's kinda cut and dry, fill-in-the-blank-type storyline. you have to wonder why this woman's story (of all the people doing great things in the world) is being told. someone mentioned the real-life woman is now in politics - so i wouldnt be surprised at all if it was a campaign move.

so tell me how that's an overreaction.

Fully co-sign.

Even my very white boyfriend who HAS been a teacher in an inner city school (along with other white people, black people and even hispanic and asian people, wow!) turned to me when he saw the trailer for this and was like "they're making this movie again?"

My mother is a teacher, I grew up around teachers and have worked in a number of schools. "Great white hope" teachers generally don't last. People who come in knowing it's a job, developing their skills as teachers,with commitment to the kids and the courage to put themselves out there regardless of race do. If you come in with a bullisht save the brown people attitude you are not going to make it.

But it seems like we never see any other teacher stories on the screen (except Lean On Me- LOVED that one).

I'm generally colorblind when looking at some situations, but this one is glaringly annoying. I like the journaling concept in this movie, but the better movie was "The Ron Clark Story" on TNT. It fell in line with the Great White Hope genre, but the only singing was the Tribute to The Presidents rap. It was a good story for TNT, and I'm wating for "Freedom Writers" to join the TNT lineup.

Well, I guess I just think this movie can't help the fact that the story it's based on...well, is what it is. That's what happened, and the people that were involved, so I can't see why that's the film's fault. But, I think that the film be more than just a stereotype, it seems to be better than a lot of other movies of the same type.

I read the Variety review of the movie today (it's here: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117...id=1263&cs=1); this is what it said:
That sounds pretty good to me, definitely worth giving it a chance.

No need to go and see that movie. As a teacher, I feel as if I should call HBO and allow them to catch some real everyday footage of wannabe gangstas who can't match the gang to the right color, little grown azz girls who don't need to be in school. As a matter of fact, they need to be at someone's job, especially since they ARE grown, and mothers who never come to school at report card time or parent/teacher conferences, but seem to be at the school in 2.3 seconds in order to DEFEND their children's honor, even when the kids are disrespectful to the parent at home. Anyone else interested?

ME! ME! ME! Your post speaks the truth!!!!

holla!

Okay!

There was an excellent op-ed in the Guardian (UK) newspaper about the whole "white crusaders/brown savages" theme that runs through Hollywood films. It was written about Blood Diamond, but also touches on films like The Interpreter, The Constant Gardener, Glory, and To Kill a Mockingbird:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/...982608,00.html

From the article:
Pioneeringly foolish, To Kill a Mockingbird establishes the basic theme of all Three Cheers for Whitey! movies: Yes, there are many bad white people out there who do some terrible, terrible things to black people. But when the chips are down and black people are poised on the very precipice of disaster, they can always rely on some thoroughly decent white folks to step in and make sure that justice prevails.

The only movie where there was a white teacher (protagonist) who played against a black student that came off feeling somewhat genuine was Half Nelson with Ryan Gosling and Shameeka Epps. If you haven't seen it, rent it.

Okay, I'm excited about my little trip down memory lane. Let me tell you why!

I’ve been seeing this movie publicized on billboards and bus stops, and I thought it was interesting… I didn’t really get the storyline until I started seeing commercials. When I learned more, I also connected it with Dangerous Minds, and saw it as a cliché.

When I heard the commercials, I kept hearing the name Erin Gruwell in the clips and previews, and I knew it sounded familiar. But I didn’t know from where. Tonight, one of my best friends from high school asked me if I wanted to see it, and told me that it was about our high school. THAT GOT MY ATTENTION! That’s when her name rang a bell. LOL! Ms. Gruwell was in her last year as an English teacher at Wilson when I was just coming in as a freshman.

[RedBlackDelta, my little sister is currently a freshman at Poly! Ugh, Jackrabbits…lol. j/k, I’m a PROUD BRUIN! LOL! :p]

Ms. Gruwell left a lasting impression at Wilson. The movie did an excellent job of telling her story. It was very accurate, as far as the segregation, her teaching strategies, and ignorance of some of the faculty and administration. I’ll never forget that I FOUGHT long and hard to get into Distinguished Scholars, I was the only black student in many of my AP and Honors classes, and yet I still only graduated with honors. They always found a way to create new rules or “alterations” to the curriculum. My friends and I fought the same battle. Some succeeded, some didn’t. Some had parents to take teachers to court, some students protested, some didn't bother to try and just settled for whatever, etc. etc. But that’s another story. I love my alma mater, but I was glad to finally graduate.

The school isn’t as wild as they made it out to be. I didn’t like how they exaggerated the quad scene. Things were not prim and proper, but it wasn’t that extreme. Long Beach is rough, but I think somethings were a little "extra". I guess that's show buisness. The students did have a lot of crazy things going on at home, but a lot of people do.

I’m calling my former English teacher tomorrow! She was one of my most inspirational mentors throughout high school. We met when I was a freshman and she was planning a trip to UCI to see Dr. Maya Angelou, for the JRs and SRs only. I charmed my way into getting added to the list. ;) I had her for AP English Language in my Jr year, and enjoyed her class so much, that I decided that I would make more progress in her Honors Multicultural Literature for my senior year, instead of AP English Lit. with another teacher. She always told us stories of Ms. Gruwell, and used a lot of her teaching styles. We did the journal exercise, played similar games whcih were more like icebreakers into another lesson, and she even took us to meet a Holocaust survivor. That teacher was hard core. We had homework before we even stepped in her class, within the first week of classes, we had a test on the three books we had to read during the summer and the vocabulary words she gave us to study. She would come in on the weekends and have study sessions, she scheduled AP review sessions outside of class time, kept an open door policy, and we named our homework nights after her. LOL! We had so many vocabulary words (I felt a little overwhelmed when I got the list), timed essays for homework, along with reading assignments and projects that went along with them. That was all in addition to the work we had in class! LOL! She gave us the most homework I’ve ever had in my life, and every second in her classroom was productive. She dared anyone to walk into her classroom late. LOL! You had to be one brave soldior to do that. When I completed her class, I was confident with my writing, and felt prepared for college. This movie brought back a lot of memories for me! 

I have to retract this statement. I learned that the quad scene was actually a riot (between the blacks and hispanics) that happened two years before I got there. I vaguely remember hearing about the riot. So the movie was accurate.

*catching the holeegost* (notice the spelling, not trying to disrespect TMU)

PREACH!

[quote=Kamryn;1379179]

[RedBlackDelta, my little sister is currently a freshman at Poly! Ugh, Jackrabbits…lol. jo




Go Jackrabbits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I miss Poly dearly, but again, don't miss the violence. We had a shooting at the '05 graduation and last year I had phone calls and emails up the yahzoo because of the shootings on and near campus (two of the above involving one of my students) last year.

as a matter of fact, if they wanna make the saint-saves-the-sinners movie, they need to do it on Poly. Every year I marvel at how many students they send to college amidst the epicenter of the gang/racial violence in Long Beach. Poly is dead center of Long Beach and catches all heat.

LOL, you know it's all about the Bruins! :p

I can only imagine the amount of phone calls you had! Violence has been increasing a lot in LBUSD these last couple of years. I there was a shooting after a football game at Jordan a couple weeks before Christmas. Two other shootings happened within weeks of eachother while I was on my way home from work.

I know about some of the things that happen at Poly, and many of the other high schools in LBUSD. I was an advocate and worked with the city, PTA, and African American Parent Support Group. So I had a lot of access to information about the district that a lot of people don't have. Personally, I really wanted my sister to go to Wilson, b/c although Wilson had some issues, I felt that (compared to the other schools) it was a better place for her to be. But,:rolleyes: she's crazy about her beloved Poly. She's in their CIC Program, and plays soccer and the violin for them. I think she felt that she would be following in my shadows if she went to Wilson, so she made that decision. Both schools are good schools. (Ahem, Wilson's better...lol.) So she should be fine at Poly.

you know i have this theory about both poly and wilson. i think lbpd will wait until the wrong, ahem person gets hurt and then they'll finally do something. notice how nothing happens at cabrillo or jordan??? both poly and wilson have strong alumni who will fight to the death, but you let one of the Bixby Knolls kids, or better yet, the Virginia Country Club PACE or CIC kids get hurt in this mess, and all you know what will break loose.

Girl, that's not a theory! That's the TRUTH! The unfortunate truth... It's all about politics. If you don't know the game, then you lose... That's one of the most important lessons I learned during my matriculation.

One of my peers had this to say on another message board:


Personally, I can't say that I agree with everything she says, but she does make some good points.

FYI, for the teachers!

Dear Friends-

I have some amazing news to share with you! AMC Theaters and Paramount Pictures have agreed to let teachers across the country see “Freedom Writers” for FREE for one week! Between January 26 and February 1, AMC Theaters will be celebrating teachers and spreading the Freedom Writers’ message by allowing teachers nationwide to see “Freedom Writers” at no charge!

I urge everyone to tell a teacher to go see “Freedom Writers” at an AMC Theater near them for free! I also encourage teachers to bring their class, their co-workers, or even their families to this special film that is touching the lives of millions.

Please help the Freedom Writers and me encourage educators everywhere to take advantage of this very unique opportunity! Please send the attached press release from AMC to everyone you know (especially teachers!) For further details, go to http://www.amctheatres.com/promos/freedomwriters/.

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy the movie!

-Erin Gruwell

I just finished reading The Freedom Writers Diary...it really was amazing