Freedom writers Mylaysia Donald, Tracy Williams, Emmaline Hollingsworth , & Kaitlyn Bohlken

Freedom Writers Movie Summary Freedom Writers is a movie based on the book Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruewell. Erin Gruewell is a 23 year old Freshman English teacher assigned to teach in a Long Beach California gang infested high school. Determined not to go out with out a fight, Erin assigns her students a diary writing project. This unconventional approach is a means of breaking through to her hardened students. The writing assignment would end up forever changing the lives of the students and the world around them,

DOMAIN I: Designing Instruction and Assessment to Promote Student Learning As a new teacher, Erin Gruwell has to accomplish an incredible feat. Her class is racially divided and has basically given up on their education. She must work to connect with her students and develop a relationship with them before they start to actively engage in learning. Soon after the school year starts, Mrs. Gruwell begins to see that most of her students are defined by the area that they live in or the people that they spend their time with. Gang life is consuming in the lives of these kids and if they are not participating in the gang, then they are close to crossing that line. One way that Erin promotes learning is by giving her students the control over their assessments. In a world where these kids work to survive day to day, she gives them a voice. She gives them power over their work through the journals that they write. They are able to write about something meaningful to them, put their own thoughts into a journal that would eventually become a book to inspire others. Erin Gruwell designed her instruction so that her students could relate to the material. She chose instructional material written by students of similar age, or in similar situations so that her students could recognize and relate in order to gain something from the material. She works hard to make the students want to learn, to be inspired to educate themselves. She provides the means for learning and allows the students to develop their own ideas on the material. She has them relate the material to their own life. She makes it applicable to the real world that they live in and that is one of the best traits of a master teacher.

Domain II: Creating a positive, productive classroom environment In this classroom, there are so many diverse populations. There are various loyalties and discriminations due to race, religion, and gang affiliations. In order to create a environment that is conducive to learning, Mrs. Gruwell has to work through these prejudices to be able to even start to break through to her students. In order to create a positive environment, she has to create common ground between her students. They have to know that when they enter her classroom that they are in a safe place, away from the violence and hatred that they live with in every other part of their day. The game that she uses helps these students to realize that even though they come from different families and different parts of town, they do have common ground. By doing this, she is able to create an environment where her students are free to learn and where they can put their differences aside just for an hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9axXKI3zBgU Master Teacher trait: the ability to create cohesion within a classroom regardless of the differences that the students possess. Mrs. Gruwell has a tough job of creating a positive environment in her classroom but she is able to do it through perseverance. No matter how difficult is got, she did not give up on her students.

Domain III: implementing effective, responsive instruction and assessment One way that a master teacher implements effective assessment is by monitoring student performance closely. They have to be able to recognize when their students are struggling, not only with material being learned but also in other areas. In the movie, Erin Gruwell goes beyond the call of duty when her students are visibly struggling. She makes home visits to the student’s parents to discuss their problems as well as their accomplishments. Mrs. Gruwell also works to bring technology into these students lives through the publication of their journals. She also takes them outside of the classroom on field trips to place such as the Holocaust Museum, where technology was used for the students to make connections with what they are learning. Using sources outside of a textbook or the normal scope of teaching is what sets apart a teacher from a master teacher. Being able to create instructional methods that really stand out to your students is a huge accomplishment. They will always learn more if they can see that you put in the extra effort to teach them.

Domain IV: Fulfilling professional roles and responsibilities A master teacher is one that takes the extra time to communicate with parents, guardians, other teachers, and administration. They work to provide the best opportunity for learning that their students can have. In the movie Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell is very viligant about creating those opportunities. She spends extra time reaching out to the families of her students by making home visits, as mentioned in Domain III. In addition to that she works to provide her students with books for their reading material. She was told by administration that her students wouldn’t learn no matter what she did and because of that, they were not given books. Because she cared about her students and wanted them to succeed, Erin raised money to provide new books to her students. She went above and beyond the standard role of a teacher and worked outside of her classroom to help her students. She went up against her principal and administrators time and time again to get the material that her students needed. She fought for her students, that is the most admirable trait that a master teacher possesses. Someone who cares about their students, recognizes their needs both in the classroom and outside of it, and is willing to do whatever it takes to give them the best education and opportunity to thrive.