TWYH - pg. 1-35

Abstract:
Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell starts out by Erin explaining her first day of teaching at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. I automatically noticed a difference between this book and the movie "Freedom Writers" because in the movie she was a regular teacher and in real life she was only a student teacher. It makes a lot more sense that she had to work two other jobs while teaching because student teachers don't get paid, they actually have to pay to student teach. It was great reading what thoughts were going through her head while she was trying to find ways to relate to her students. She tried the sports approach and that gained her a little bit of respect but the thing that helped Erin the most with her students was bringing them on a field trip when usually students like hers weren't allowed to go on field trips because of behavioral reasons. Erin had faith in her students, and she was probably the only teacher of those students to do that, so they gave her their respect and full attention.

Reflection:
One of my favorite parts of these 35 pages is when Erin talks about all the things that didn't work with her students. She said that her students refused to read anything she assigned so she'd read it to them in class. So for 55 minutes or however long the class period was, her students would just sit there and listen to her read, or pretend to listen because I don't even think I could listen to someone read for that long. Or Erin would try to make them write an essay or story all period long. It's nice to know that even if you aren't a perfect teacher at the beginning of the school year, there is always a chance to turn things around and that you haven't lost your students' interest for good. You just have to keep trying different things until you find what works with that class. And what works with one class probably won't work with another, so you have to do the whole process over again every year. Teaching is about putting in the effort to find what works in order for your students to succeed.