outside, which wouldn't take much since hell is hotter than hell, and today it was early release day for our students. Our principal treated us teachers not with some boring workshop but with the film The Freedom Writers, based on the real-life experiences of teacher Erin Gruwell of Long Beach, California. She entered teaching only to get stuck with students who were considered at-risk for failure. However, because she confronted their intolerance for one another (many in gangs and so forth), they ended up, through writing in their journals and in field trips, almost like a family. It was remarkable, for not only did she wind up teaching 150 students throughout their high school career, every single one of these "losers" wound up going to college. A few ended up being teachers, and others are working on undergraduate and even PhDs.
Gruwell left teaching in Long Beach in 1998 and now runs a foundation dedicated to helping teachers in teaching tolerance and in working with at-risk groups.
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