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Richard didnt have to ask our opinions, Reyes notes, but he encouraged us to be involved especially with the dialogue and with the music anything that he felt would make the movie more real and that gave us a sense of validation. Gruwell recalls that writer-director Richard LaGravenese shared his various drafts of the script over the years and made Gruwell and her students consultants to insure that their stories would be accurate and true. Unlike many Hollywood films based on real stories, the filmmakers of The eventual publication of their journals in 1999 then provided the basis for the film. The students, inspired by the Freedom Riders of the early 1960s, dubbed themselves the Freedom Writers.
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Gruwell gave the students composition books and asked them to write about their lives. Our jobs are so noble and were richly rewarded when a student does get it.Ī key factor in helping her students get it proved to be writing in journals. Ive always said that teaching is psychic income. I think every time a light bulb goes on for a student, says Gruwell, it feeds my soul. Making that connection with a student like Reyes kept Gruwell going. And I understood that when you wrote something down no one could take that away from you. In a sense I understood the power of the written word without her having to preach to me. All these great books were really about ordinary people that were put in a really difficult situation and instead of fighting back with their fists or with a gun they actually picked up a pen and wrote about what they saw and documented their lives. She let the characters and the literature and the words speak for her. I truly believe that that was the breakthrough with me. She was smart enough to know that we were not going to relate to her that there was going to be this wall, says Reyes, so she brought in great characters and she brought them to life in our classroom. Hilary Swank plays teacher Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers The way she finally connects with her diverse students was through literature such as At some point we had to believe that she cared about us and where we all come from you have to give some type of respect to that.Īs we see in the film, Gruwells persistence eventually pays off. But no matter what we did to her, she came back into class everyday and had a smile on her face and was ready to teach, and it was refreshing. I hadnt met people like her before that were young and felt that they could change the world, says Reyes, I felt that her intentions were good but that there was no way I was going to give her a chance to change my life and to make her feel good about herself. But as a rebellious student back in 1994, Reyes remembers Miss G as being nave for thinking she could change anything. Gruwell and company were introduced at the screening by San Diego Unified Schools new superintendent Carl Cohen, who had worked with Gruwell when he was a school administrator in Long Beach.Īt the screening, Reyes explained that her experiences in Gruwells room 203 have lead her to believe that she too can make a difference in childrens lives by teaching. She was accompanied by one of her students, Maria Reyes as well as one of the actors, Jason Finn.
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Gruwell, flashing the broad smile that Swank captures so well in the film, hosted a preview screening of The Oscar-winning actress ever-smiling portrait of a teacher who faced classroom fights, gang violence, and erratic attendance by her less than enthusiastic freshmen English class may seem too optimistic to be believeduntil you meet the real Erin Gruwell who speaks so passionately about changing the world and creating a revolution in education that you start to believe it can happen. In the film, Gruwell is played by Hilary Swank. Fueled by that decades idealism, she entered the teaching profession in the hopes of reaching out to troubled kids and using education to open doors to a brighter future for them. Gruwell, a white, well-educated woman who had once thought of pursuing a career in law, grew up with an awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Their success story pays tribute to the dreams of Martin Luther King and his desire for a future when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Freedom Writers (opening January 5 throughout San Diego) is based on the true story of Long Beach high school teacher Erin Gruwell and the at-risk students she taught in room 203.