This year brought the publication of their book (the book that started it all) The Freedom Writer Diaries from Doubleday books. This may be one of the most powerful and influential books written about multicultural education in the last century, and I am so proud of Erin, for having the insight and innovation to present this assignment and then follow it through to publication so the rest of the world could read about it. The great thing about this book is that it doesn't give us one author's fictional view of American education, but is a true account of students fighting the prejudice and pain around them; this a book of hope and consequence that all educators should read. I have not read the book yet, but reading this book as a precursor has made me excited and impatient to open the pages of that new book and immerse myself in its words. One problem with reading this book (Teach With Your Heart) before watching the movie is that I can't watch the movie now: Dr. Grace said to wait because it would make the movie so much better, but I started watching the movie and shut it off because I kept getting distracted having already known everything that was going to happen! I wish that I had watched it first, and maybe someday I will be able to get through it, but if I could return to the beginning of the semester I would so that I could enjoy the movie too.
Since I was the age of seven I have wanted to be a teacher, and every day I wake up I am not only passionate about the profession I have chosen, but also feel as if my life is meaningful. So maybe it is just hard for me to imagine that any teacher would want to do this, but why would Erin, who wanted to teach so bad, teach for about four years and then leave to attend college? I do not mean to imply I think she is a cop-out, because I don't, but I am disappointed in her that she left teaching so soon. I feel as if she has let down so many students who might have led better lives by being in her classroom, and has let herself down for not taking time to really incorporate herself in the profession before moving on and letting promotion get in the way of her passion--if, and this is another thought that has entered my mind, it was even her passion at all or was instead a spur of the moment decision that just seemed cool at the time. I don't really believe this, but as an educator I have a very strict pro-student outlook and I am sad that personal promotion has taken precedence over student success and most importantly, personal development as a teacher. The only thing more worse than her leaving teaching after four years to teach at college was her decision to run for congress. Although I don't begrudge her for that decision as her goal was to improve educational laws, I have to honestly admit that I am even more disappointed in her short, truncated run as a teacher. I for one will remain a teacher for many years, and perhaps one day I will follow in the steps of a principal or a superintendent, but it is a huge disservice to both my students and myself to take such a path before I have been a teacher for at least ten years and preferably more.
In case it hasn't been made obvious yet, which it has, I am a strong believer and crusader for experiential education. So when Erin took her students to Europe to see the actual consequences of war in Sarajevo and Germany, I first cried and then I looked at the powerful implications of the trip on her students' learning. Not all teachers can take a trip as big as this one to Europe (both because of time constraints and budget constraints) but any experience that students can have in the classroom to learn and think about the world differently can be powerful. Her students were not just traveling, but were re-evaluating their knowledge, their opinions, their own prejudices and their preconceived assumptions. Many people think that learning only exists inside of a classroom, but this is not true, and Erin is a great example of this fact. Learning can take place anywhere, and this is a very important fact to make known to your students so that they will be more motivated to learn outside of the classroom and will become lifelong learners--one of the ultimate goals of a teacher. Also, we often think of a classroom as a safe place where students can leave the world behind and learn without trouble; but in Erin's story the students return to their home state only to discover that the world did not stop for them: a white supremacist had killed many people in a shootout while they were gone. One last thought I got from this section was that although we try to make our classrooms safe we do have to remember that the real world is only beyond the doors, and so like Erin, instead of just teaching our students knowledge, we need to also give them skills they can use to overcome these dangerous situations and make the most out of their lives. This is one of the most important jobs of a teacher.
Since I was the age of seven I have wanted to be a teacher, and every day I wake up I am not only passionate about the profession I have chosen, but also feel as if my life is meaningful. So maybe it is just hard for me to imagine that any teacher would want to do this, but why would Erin, who wanted to teach so bad, teach for about four years and then leave to attend college? I do not mean to imply I think she is a cop-out, because I don't, but I am disappointed in her that she left teaching so soon. I feel as if she has let down so many students who might have led better lives by being in her classroom, and has let herself down for not taking time to really incorporate herself in the profession before moving on and letting promotion get in the way of her passion--if, and this is another thought that has entered my mind, it was even her passion at all or was instead a spur of the moment decision that just seemed cool at the time. I don't really believe this, but as an educator I have a very strict pro-student outlook and I am sad that personal promotion has taken precedence over student success and most importantly, personal development as a teacher. The only thing more worse than her leaving teaching after four years to teach at college was her decision to run for congress. Although I don't begrudge her for that decision as her goal was to improve educational laws, I have to honestly admit that I am even more disappointed in her short, truncated run as a teacher. I for one will remain a teacher for many years, and perhaps one day I will follow in the steps of a principal or a superintendent, but it is a huge disservice to both my students and myself to take such a path before I have been a teacher for at least ten years and preferably more.
In case it hasn't been made obvious yet, which it has, I am a strong believer and crusader for experiential education. So when Erin took her students to Europe to see the actual consequences of war in Sarajevo and Germany, I first cried and then I looked at the powerful implications of the trip on her students' learning. Not all teachers can take a trip as big as this one to Europe (both because of time constraints and budget constraints) but any experience that students can have in the classroom to learn and think about the world differently can be powerful. Her students were not just traveling, but were re-evaluating their knowledge, their opinions, their own prejudices and their preconceived assumptions. Many people think that learning only exists inside of a classroom, but this is not true, and Erin is a great example of this fact. Learning can take place anywhere, and this is a very important fact to make known to your students so that they will be more motivated to learn outside of the classroom and will become lifelong learners--one of the ultimate goals of a teacher. Also, we often think of a classroom as a safe place where students can leave the world behind and learn without trouble; but in Erin's story the students return to their home state only to discover that the world did not stop for them: a white supremacist had killed many people in a shootout while they were gone. One last thought I got from this section was that although we try to make our classrooms safe we do have to remember that the real world is only beyond the doors, and so like Erin, instead of just teaching our students knowledge, we need to also give them skills they can use to overcome these dangerous situations and make the most out of their lives. This is one of the most important jobs of a teacher.
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