...and memorize certain dates, events and people that have tremendous significance to a country, nation or even community. If you view it this way, you are missing the whole point of history. There is more to the objectivity of history. The very essence of history is that it leaves a trace of emotion by these so called significant events in one’s and/or other people’s lives – much like what Erin did in the movie, Freedom Writers. Erin is one of the rare kind of teachers that teach you more than what the curriculum offers. More than just a teacher-student relationship, she has offered and developed friendship, trust and hope for the students of Room 203 and more importantly, bridged the gap among her students that has been constraining their way of interacting with each another. Erin’s first encounter with her class did not seem to be what she expected at all. There were no signs of respect for anyone in the room as the students formed cliques, isolated themselves from those who belonged to another race or gang and continued chitchatting despite the presence of their teacher. Nevertheless, Erin put up with this kind of attitude from her students and strived to teach them the best way she could – through innovation. She planned field trips, inspiring talks by Holocaust survivors, Anne Frank’s guardian, She realized that to be able to teach her students, she must first understand who they are and what they are going through to be able to get her point across. She started it with the...
Words: 1010 - Pages: 5
...Psychoanalysis of characters When people think of psychoanalysis, usually one name comes to mind. This would be Sigmund Freud. Freud, along with Carl G. Jung and Alfred Adler, has impacted the history of psychoanalysis. Further, he has influenced the lives of the men and women during the early 1900s. In critical theory today: a user friendly guide, Tyson explains the critical theories of psychoanalysis and Marxism. It’s all about the studies of human behaviors for example, human mind, especially inner experiences, thoughts, feelings, emotions, fantasies, and dreams. I have chosen one book and a movie. In a book, it talks about James, who is a main character of the story. He was really confused about his identity because he was a black and his mother was a white. In a movies, they showed the racism and differences create between students in their childhood. Both of these based on true stories. I would compare these character with Marxism and Freud’s theory. A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother is the autobiography of James McBride. It is also a tribute to his mother. It starts of the narrator James’s mother Ruth, who describes her early life with her family. She was born in Polish Orthodox Jewish family that was immigrant to United States. She had a repressed childhood in Virginia. She was sexually abused as a child from her father. In critical theory today: a user friendly guide, Tyson defines Fear of abandonment—“the unshakable belief that our friends and loved ones...
Words: 1902 - Pages: 8
...Freedom Writers Diary Review The movie “Freedom Writers” is a true story about a white teacher trying to make a difference in a room crammed with black, Latino and Asian high school freshmen. It is defiantly a challenge, especially for a first time teacher. Hillary Swank is the main actress and she plays Erin Gruwell, a 23-year-old teacher in 1994 assigned to teach freshman and softmore English at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. By the time Erin steps into her classroom, two years after the riots for integration, the school had changed greatly. This film portrays teachers in two ways, one way is the set in their way teacher and the other is willing to do whatever they can to make students succeed. In the beginning of the movie Mrs. Gruwell said “God by the time you’re defending a kid in a court room the battle is already lost, I think the real fighting should happen here in the class rooms.” In her statement she is foreshadowing two things, one is the real fights that happen in her class, and the other is what she does to help these students succeed. She later said “I know I have a lot to learn as a teacher but I’m a really good student….and I really want to be here!” This is a great statement by her and proves she could be an excellent teacher. Threw out the movie she did learn a lot, and applied what she learned. Mrs. Gruwell had a rough start. The kids wouldn’t respect her, they were fighting in the room, and there were gang problems brought into her class. At...
Words: 1379 - Pages: 6
...customers. At last, the company had to pay for what it had done: $333 million to victims. Definitely employees would be greatly affected, because they may lose their jobs if the company goes bankruptcy due to lawsuits and damages. They could have stopped this but they remained silent. As for residents in Hinkley, the polluted water ruined their lives. The epidemic swept the whole community even the young children failed to escape from this. I found a handful of ethical issues in Erin Brockovich. To begin with, there was an issue of bribery. PG&E tried to buy houses which located in that contaminated land, and give house owners a good deal. It offered $250,000 to Jensen to her house. Clearly they knew why they offered so generously and what they did was wrong, but they did that anyway. Therefore, it is an ethical decision. Besides, an issue of whistle blowing also was shown in this movie. Eventually a brave employee who was in charge of destroying documents about the water problem in PG&E told Erin a lot of information about what exactly happened. This is an ethical decision, as that employee did the right thing. Finally, an issue of honesty and integrity was involved in the movie. The company lied to local residents, and even told doctors to lie that the their diseases had nothing to do with the water problem. This is also an ethical decision, because the company knew this was absolutely wrong. If I were the manager of PG&E, I would firstly stop supplying poisonous...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
...conceivably permits himself to be subjected to expert behavior infringement through the demonstrations of his workers. From a Teleological viewpoint, the results were moral as the result was effective as profited the reason as it were. 2. Erin shares in some oppressive or threatening conduct while in her office. She routinely spooks the legitimate aide at the law office. She additionally utilizes some foul dialect and yelling, which made somewhat of a threatening situation at work. According to the Deontological viewpoint, this conduct of Erin is not dishonest as her hardheaded conduct is her unimportant identity as she needs her way through and does not need any issues while she works. Her aim is not to make issues, rather to simply complete her work. Be that as it may, from an Utilitarian point of view her conduct is untrustworthy as it makes superfluous inconvenience and a threatening and beset conduct at work. 3. Erin's clothing standard and clothing is improper as per the convention of her workplace. According to the Deontological point of view, her method for dressing is not unscrupulous since her aim is not to over-appear or make anyone "uncomfortable". She dresses the way she does, simply because that is how she is. 4. Erin harassers her manager keeping in mind the end goal to land a position as his secretary in his law office. So as to gain as a profession, she constrains her way through the law office effectively and lands the position of his secretary. So from...
Words: 925 - Pages: 4
...Together We Stand Letter Outline Heydi Maldonado – Paz Edgar Serrano HUM/114 August 04, 2011 Randy Stinnett Outline: Together we stand letter I. Introduction: Several children and adults in our community have been developing extensive and similar illnesses. This is not clearly a case of genetics; this is a problem that started since the development planning and execution of our community The purpose of this letter is to let the people know what is happening in our community and create conscious to step up and unite in a fight for justice. “An informed citizen is the only true repository of the American will.” Thomas Jefferson (Official Website of Erin Brockovich, 2010). II Body Paragraph #1 A. Due to the unsafe chemical disposal the town’s water has been contaminated with chromium 6. * Health effects to the public: cancer, cramps, or paralysis and may also damage the respiration tract. * Upon termination chromium acid is formed, which decomposes the organs. * Wastewater is being flushed into our water every day. III Body Paragraph #2 B. Company’s unsafe chemical-disposal. * The company has been practicing unsafe disposal for twenty plus years. * Keeping it a secret from the community. * How could this have happened? IV Body Paragraph # 3 C. Action that needs to be taken. * Minimize the amount of...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
...Teacher Evaluation In the “Freedom Writers,” a teacher was needed to teach freshmen English at Woodrow Wilson High School and Erin Gruwell took on that challenge. As it turned out, it was nothing like what she imagined it to be. There was racial segregation in the classroom and all her students had problems outside and inside of school. That however, did not stop her from being passionate about her job. She used new techniques to help her students become interested in the class while learning and made many sacrifices for those kids which no other teacher was willing to do. Although everyone thought the kids in room 203 were the “unteachables”, Mrs. Gruwell used her own ways to educate them and made a huge impact to those students’ lives including her three of her most difficult students: Eva, Jamal, and Marcus. When the bell rang for class, Mrs. Gruwell’s expectations went down the drain as most of her students came in her class late and the ones that showed up displayed disrespect and no interest for school. Even though her students were not what she expected them to be, she found a way to interest them into learning using her own unique ways. She entertained them in many ways such as music, and using music lyrics to teach instead of poetry that bored the whole class. She made the class time fun by having many activities and gave each of the students their own journals to write in and share about their everyday lives. Since the school was not willing to give students books...
Words: 831 - Pages: 4
...A large problem facing Erin Gruwell in Freedom Writers (2007) was although an integrated school system was considered a good thing at this point in history, the integraton created some issues. Society was not looking at the individuals in each school and examining how this sudden integration of different cultures would affect those involved. By suddenly uprooting so many students and drastically changing their environment, many teens were effectd in an adverse manner and had no desire to participate in school or continue their education. Erin Gruwell became the sole pathfinder practitioner for these troubled teens (Brown, 2011, p. 91). She challenged authority within the school system and fought to create a better teaching environment. Another problem facing these students was the school administrations “white” view of teaching. The other teachers did not take the time or care enough to make the curriculum something the students could relate to. These inner city kids were surrounded by violence, racism, abuse and no home life or positive influences in their lives. Each student felt alone and that no one understood their life or story, they took some refuge and made friends with in their own cultures and gangs that were separated by race. The school administrators were more concerned with getting students through the school system then truly educating them or inspiring them to improve their lives. Since there was not trust between the students and teachers there was...
Words: 1041 - Pages: 5
...jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv……………………… jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmd jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv……………………… jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv…………………………………………mkhujc gfhjmn, bjgvcxcgvhjkkhgdxcgv j jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv……………………… jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv…………………………………………mkhujc gfhjmn, bjgvcxcgvhjkkhgdxcgv jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv……………………… jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkg jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv……………………… jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv…………………………………………mkhujc gfhjmn, bjgvcxcgvhjkkhgdxcgv jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv……………………… jnnndskfbhdsfvbcxjnv dxfmrjkgtn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv mdfjkv…………………………………………mkhujc gfhjmn, bjgvcxcgvhjkkhgdxcgvh …………………mkhujc gfhjmn, bjgvcxcgvhjkkhgdxcgvh h …………………mkhujc gfhjmn, bjgvcxcgvhjkkhgdxcgvh tn dfmxvnjgfds gvjkfmdl;ovklmdxfkzesfnnnnndmkvdxffffffffffgrjklv...
Words: 1725 - Pages: 7
...Ryan Vandervalk Erin Brockovich Newspaper Article The film Erin Brockovich, is about a single mother who swears like a sailor. She is struck by a car after another unsuccessful job interview. Her lawyer Ed Masry feels confident that he will be able to get her money in a settlement, but is not able to as the ill mannered Erin loses her temper while the court is in session. Erin demands that Ed hires her to work for the firm since she is desperate for money, and he obliges to do so only after protesting quite a bit. While at work, Erin comes across some suspicious activity on some real estate documents for residents of a small blue collar town called Hinkley. Erin launches her own investigation and discovers that the evil corporation PG&E has poisoned their water with hexavalent chromium. There are six different types of chromium, some of which can even be healthy for the human body. Hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), is a carcinogen which is extremely unhealthy to come in contact with. Anyway, the sinister corporation lied to the residents of Hinkley about which type of chromium they put in the water. The lower class residents of Hinkley are tricked into thinking that the Chromium in the water was actually healthy for them. Many of the residents had cancer, tumors and other life threatening illnesses. The only reason they told the families about the chromium was so they could trick them into thinking it was healthy! PG&E again demonstrates their malevolent behavior by hiring...
Words: 553 - Pages: 3
...Ethical Issues in Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich is in a car accident that is not her fault and hires attorney Ed Masry to defend her. He gave her the impression that she would be getting a good settlement, but she lost the case. She is a single mom of three, has no money and is unable to find a job. She blames him for losing the case (due to lack of preparation) and forces her way in to a job at his law firm. Because of the way she dresses and acts, nobody takes her seriously and treats her with respect. She is given a real estate pro-bono file to open involving the purchase of Donna Jensen’s home by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PS&E). As she read through the documentation, she found it confusing that there was medical information included in the file. Erin becomes suspicious and asks to further investigate the case. After talking with Donna Jensen, as well as other residents of Hinkley, she became aware that they all had similar medical problems. As she digs deeper, she realizes that PG&E was at fault because they were dumping a toxic waste (chromium 6) in the town water and it was poisoning the people in Hinkley. At first, the residents are hesitant to jump on board and go against PG&E because they believe the company has done a lot of good for the community. Erin made it her mission to convince the people and once she did, she was determined to do whatever necessary to make this large corporation pay for what they had done and the lives they...
Words: 1602 - Pages: 7
...Diary, some things were not added into the movie. They changed the perspective, so instead of the students telling the story and the teacher secondary, like in the book, the teacher (Ms. Gruwell) tells the story, and the students are secondary. Also, the entries are worse and more horrifying than in the movie, like abuse, drugs, peer pressure, illness, and violence. I think that these changes, in the book version to the movie version, were to have a 3rd person point of view story of the kids, and not a 1st person point of view like in the book. When this story is in 3rd person point of view, we learn the struggle for Ms. Gruwell and the hardships on the students. In the movie, the screenplay writers added in a side story about Erin Gruwell and her husband. I believe that they did this because while the students are out on the streets with their gangs or friends getting in trouble or helping themselves getting better, we want to see how Ms. Gruwell is reacting to the students and what her family thinks of them. It shows what she thinks, wants, plans, and does to help the students and how passionate and caring she is aslo. After seeing the movie, some characters were like how I pictured them from the book, and others were way off. Eva was sort of how I pictured her, but not all of her. Her attitude, her hair, and what she wore is what I pictured of her, but she doesn’t seem like a “gangster”. I also pictured Marcus to look poorer, since his mom kicked him out, and...
Words: 421 - Pages: 2
...teacher/practitioner spent more time with the class, she learned a little each day of what to expect from the class and through trial and error was finding a way to make them a team. The teacher had to use different techniques to find out which technique was going to work the best with the class to make them a team. Once she got the class to start to trust her then she could start using other techniques to get them closer together. She found that she had to get creative in order for them to listen to her and also for them to get involved with the rest of the class. As an outsider coming in she not only got resistance from the class that she was trying to get to work together but she also met resistance from other teachers and faculty members as well. Erin Gruwell, was faced with all kinds of issues. She had to look at the whole situation from an outsider’s position. She had to diagnose all the problems of the class and the faculty to find out how to solve the problems. She had to listen to the kids and observe how they acted in order to figure out a way to teach them in such a way that they would learn. And not only did she have to find a way for them to learn she had to change the way that she taught so that they learned in a way best suited for their life. She was met by all kinds of challenges because each time she...
Words: 982 - Pages: 4
...The Freedom Writers Diary is a book that I truly enjoyed. It is a book broken down in diary form viewing the survival of a first year teacher and her students. This book shines light on real issues that these students as well as their teacher went through. These issues range from racism, death, and gang related violence. Although the only person that is named throughout the entire book is Ms. Gruwell, one can still identify and keep track of the situations that occur. Diary number two, by far was the most prevalent in my opinion. It gave the viewpoint of a white male student in a class where he was the minority. “What the hell am I doing in here? I’m the only white person in this English class! …Is this really where I’m supposed to be?” (P.8) This student made it clear that he felt really uncomfortable in a class full of “rejects”. Since most of the “rejects” were not white, he felt he shouldn’t have been in that class. The “rejects”, as he called them, were students that were labeled as problem students and or students with learning disabilities. Although this student had a learning disability, he felt that because of his race, he should have been placed in a high level class. Like many others he 2 authors .... These two essays are very similar because their subject .... to that improvident avarice..." These are writers who have .... work soon after he got his freedom and was .... (642 3 ) Kate...
Words: 692 - Pages: 3
...For anyone who doubts the power of storytelling to change the world, teacher Erin Gruwell’s personal story of transforming students who were labeled stupid and apathetic into confident, motivated high school graduates will erase that doubt for good. Gruwell Gruwell will be the Olin Fellows speaker for the Assembly Series at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, in Anheuser-Busch Hall Moot Courtroom, Room 310. Her talk, “Becoming a Catalyst for Change,” is free and open to the public. When Gruwell walked into class on her first day as an English teacher, she was met by a room full of angry, frustrated teenagers who were determined to hate everything about her, the school, even themselves. She didn’t know how to break through the invisible barrier that kept her students from learning. What she did know is that everyone in the school had written off these teens. After learning about the hardships in these teens’ lives — an environment full of racism, rejection and the tragedy of seeing no hope for the future — she understood why they saw no point in reading and writing. Gruwell also understood their need for self-expression, so her students began writing anonymous journal entries about their lives. After seeing a film about the Freedom Riders, a group of teenagers who showed remarkable bravery during the Civil Rights Movement, the class decided to call themselves the Freedom Writers. In 1999, their entries became a best-selling book called The Freedom Writers Diary: How a...
Words: 326 - Pages: 2
