Asuncion, Alwin C.

September 23, 2022

BSED- MATHEMATICS 4A
Principle and Strategies in Teaching Mathematics

FILM REVIEW
FREEDOM WRITER

Submit your review regarding the film.

Guide for reflection and review.

1) Identify the kind of learners.
- Some of the learners were forced by the Government to attend school while others were
on the brink of dropping out. Some students witnessed their parents being unjustly killed
by police brutality, while others despised their lives of poverty. Many are in gangs and
almost all know somebody that has been killed by gang violence. The Latinos hate the
Cambodians who hate the blacks and so on. The only person the students hate more is
Ms. Gruwell.

2) What kind of school and community situation do they have?

A once highly acclaimed school that has declined since voluntary integration had been
enforced and where racial tension has increased since the Los Angeles riots two years before.
Teachers have struggles to form a connection with their students and observes numerous
fights between some of them, who are in rival gangs. It is a school and community with a
high rate of racism and prejudice against various racial groups, which leads to moral
degradation, a lack of interest in studying, and involvement in various crimes or disturbances.

3) What kind of teacher is the lead actor portraying and give the characteristics of her colleague?

Erin Gruwell is an idealistic teacher who starts her first teaching job as an English
teacher at a high school which two years earlier implemented a voluntary integration
program. The program is the reason why Gruwell wants to teach at this particular school,
and the classes Gruwell teaches consist of teenagers with different backgrounds and
experiences.
Some of her colleagues don't care that students are committing crimes. Only
candidates in good academic standing and intelligent students are given consideration.
does not know how to accept failure and has a high opinion of himself. He equates the
color of the skin to the status of life.

4) What are her strategies in managing the class, teaching and assessing students?

Erin Gruwell used the three Main principle of Freedom writing:

Engage – approach students with materials that speak to them, adapted to their interests,
regardless of their situation.

Enlighten – provide a diverse set of tools that convey the information effectively,
stimulating curiosity and social interaction while acquiring new knowledge.

Empower – help students create their own projects, demonstrating the practical benefits
of learning.

5) Did she employed various instructional materials, identify and discuss how it was used?
 Yes, all of the students receive student journal from Ms. Gruwell in which they are
instructed to write all of the happenings in their lives, happy or tragic as well as good or bad.
She needs to raise the instructional materials she uses as a learner-centered instructor so that
her students completely grasp the value of learning no matter where they are in life. This
journal served as a springboard for them to begin talking about their experiences and
accepting the fact that they are victims of many forms of violence in a violent society.
Through the teaching of literature with which her students could identify, as well as
having her student’s journal as a way of dealing with their emotions and thoughts, Gruwell
was able to transform the lives of both her students and herself. For one of their first
excursions, Gruwell’s students travelled to Newport Beach one Sunday to view Schindler's
List. Soon after, her students were checking out books that were not in the curriculum to help
satisfy their emerging love for reading. She was both amazed and encouraged how she was
able to get the students to bring their parents to an after-school event because they were
excited, and they wanted their parents to understand their newfound excitement.
Gruwell always had her students write because she saw that as a necessary technique
of being a classroom teacher. Also, because she used student journaling; the writing students
did promote their thinking and this eventually connected them to their classroom readings.
Whether the examples of stories from the books Gruwell chose such as "The Diary of Anne
Frank" or the many other books Gruwell had them read her students learned that there was
power of not just one voice, but also a collective voice. The power of writing, especially when
it was a collective experience that involved her students sharing their personal stories, quickly
became a focus in Gruwell’s classroom.

6) Reflect on the movie in general and relate it to your situation.

Freedom Writer teachers believe that everyone has his own story. They encourage
students to find their own and present it to the world. In the process, Freedom Writers
acquire general academic and life skills while becoming responsible for their own lives
and happiness, overcoming social disadvantage. Everybody deserves a second chance at
life. People aren’t always what they seem to be. Just because you’ve had a traumatic past,
does not mean you don’t deserve to have a bright future and the movie ‘Freedom Writers’
is proof that sometimes people with the worst pasts create the best futures.
Throughout the movie, we learn the story of each and every character. We understand
the reason behind their anger and hatred. We understand their pasts and analyze the way
they were brought up in underprivileged households. Freedom Writers is a movie that is
promised to pull unto your heartstrings, teaching you the difference between right and
wrong, making you believe that if there is cruelty in this world, there is also happiness,
and there is also love, you just need to have a little faith and keep your hopes strong.
When I was young, I also dealt with a variety of criticisms in my situation.
Additionally, my teachers discriminated against me. But rather than making me give up
on my studies, this strengthened me and allowed me to graduate and fulfilled my dream.
Freedom Writers taught me that it did not matter where I came from, or what my past
circumstances had been, if I had the willpower to better myself, to change myself, to
change my situation, and to make my life better, I could do so with the right hard work,
commitment, and dedication.