How reading and writing changed teens

“Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” may be routine reading for

local students, but for 150 teens in Long Beach, it became part of a

life-altering experience.

Once expected to drop out long before the end of their senior

year, the teens were in Erin Gruwell’s freshman English classes when

Gruwell arrived at tough, racially diverse Woodrow Wilson High for

her first teaching assignment in 1996. Most of the students were from

broken or abusive homes. Most knew gangs, violence, drugs and family

dysfunction from first-hand experience.

After intercepting a racial caricature passed between students,

Gruwell tossed aside her curriculum. The teacher, who will speak

Wednesday at the Newport Beach Central Library, built a new one based

on peace and tolerance. With two books penned by teenagers who were

caught in the cross-fire of racial prejudice, she launched a syllabus

that would go far beyond getting her students through high school.

After reading the memoir of the young girl who gave a name and a

face to Nazi horrors, Gruwell’s students studied “Zlata’s Diary, A

Child’s Life in Sarajevo.” Like Anne Frank’s account of Holocaust

madness, Zlata Filipovic’s story of a childhood lost to wartime

hardships held powerful lessons for at-risk teens who could relate to

hatred and discrimination.

As they drew parallels between the books’ characters and their own

lives, Gruwell’s students recorded their thoughts in diaries. They

called themselves the Freedom Writers, after the original Freedom

Riders who traveled through the South in the 1960s to fight racism.

To broaden their understanding of tolerance, they went on field

trips. They raised funds to bring Zlata Filipovic and Miep Gies, the

Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to their school.

They made a “Toast for Change,” agreeing to give themselves a

chance to start over. Their diaries were honored with the Spirit of

Anne Frank Award, supported by Doubleday books. Doubleday

subsequently published “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and

150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around

Them” with Erin Gruwell.

In 1999, four years after entering Gruwell’s classroom, all 150 of

the Freedom Writers were enrolled in college. Funds from the sale of

their book, funneled through The Tolerance Education Foundation,

which Gruwell founded in 1997, assist with tuition.

Now a teacher in residence at Cal State Long Beach, where she is

developing a curriculum based on the path of the Freedom Writers,

Gruwell will be the subject of a feature film now in production. She

will discuss her experiences at a special program at 7 p.m. Wednesday

at the Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave., Newport

Beach.

Parents, teachers and teens are invited to hear the inspiring

story of how one educator became a catalyst for change.

Student winners of the “Peace Through Understanding” art and essay

contest will be announced at the program, which will mark the debut

of a new Tolerance Collection, funded by the Newport Beach Public

Library Foundation.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach

Public Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams. All titles

may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the

catalog at www.newportbeachlibrary.org.