TWYH - pg. 62-103

Abstract:
This section of Teach with Your Heart starts out with Erin's class going to see Spielberg. She tricked them into writing letters to him about their own personal journeys in life. She was very surprised when her students got into the assignment and wrote amazing letters. Even the students who rarely turned in assignments wrote letters to Spielberg. The field trip to Universal Studios went well and Erin's students had a blast. But by this time in the book it was the end of the school year, and she had to say goodbye to her students. They would be seniors next year, and there was no way that the English Department would allow Erin to teach seniors. It seemed tough for everyone, but there was nothing that could be done. Erin continued to see some of her students over the summer, and in the fall she was assigned a brand new bunch of freshmen. This group was more difficult for Erin then her past students, but at least she had their support, especially Manny and Sharaud, in helping her connect with them. Erin tried to do sort of the same thing with her new class as with her old class. She was able to get funds to take them on a field trip, but she wanted her students to earn it. She wanted them to write essays about a person who's overcome adversity. All of her students completed the assignment, and all of them wanted to go on the field trip except Maria - she never passed in her permission slip. At the end of this section in the book, another school year has gone by but Erin has been asked if she wanted to teach sophomores instead of freshmen next year. And all of her current students requested to be in her class.

Reflection:
I felt really bad for Erin during this section of the book. She had been so successful with her first class of students and couldn't continue with them to their senior year. If that's not hard enough, she was given a brand new class of freshmen who were very hard to connect to. I knew Erin wouldn't give up on these students, but it definitely helped her a lot to have some of her past students there giving her advice on ways to connect with her students. I did recognize this new group of students as the students she had in the movie Freedom Writers. I also knew from the movie that this she was allowed to teach this group of students next year as well, which would be their sophomore year. Erin must have been so relieved that all of her students wanted her to be their teacher next year, and that she had a whole other year to help make a difference in their lives. My favorite part of this section in the book is when Manny is accepted to go to the University of California in Berkeley. Erin must have felt so good that she helped one of her students get into a great college. Even though she had the problem with Manny's mother, I'm sure it was worth it to get yelled at because it gave him a chance to get a great education.