FREEDOM WRITERS

so, moving along with the likes of Educating Esme, the movie Freedom Writers depicts through motion picture the "rookie" year of teacher Erin Gruyell. Known as Ms "G." to her students, this is the true story of how a single teacher had lasting impact on the lives of her inner city students whom that many were caught up in the life of gangs and violence.

by no means the biggest of Hilary Swank fanatics, i felt as though the movie was a good story of what can be accomplised when a single individual shows the determination that Ms. "G" did in attempting to change the lives and educational experiences of her students. although some would probably agree that the story and the setbacks to Erin's life were unrealistic in the sense that she basically chose her students over her own life and that of her husbands, i feel it is more of a story of potential "obstacles" that may be encountered by rookie educators. from the beatup old classroom with little to no equipment with grafitti written all over the desks to coming across certain individual that will only tell you that "YOU CAN'T or "YOU SHOULDN'T"...in many ways this story overlaps with what Esme encountered in her rookie year in the Chicago school system.

i enjoyed the movie. probably both more than i had expected and would like to admit but would have liked there to have been more time devoted to either the classroom discussion of the film or something to the effect that wold have held us onto a standard to watch the film (i.e. writing assignment, quiz, etc.). for me, during a severly stressful academic week...if I knew there would be no grade assigned to watching this movie, I probable would have utilized the 2+ hours slightly different, say perhaps working on this very painful 502 Literature Review...!