TWYH - pg.228-265

Abstract:
After the loss of Erin's campaign, she was put into serious debt. The voice recording alone cost her $20,000 and Erin wasn't making much money at this point. At this same time one of the Freedom Writers, Tony, was beaten badly and left for dead. He was doing well in life and because of this he lost his job, his car, and had to drop out of school. Tony didn't let any of this phase him, he just moved on with his life the best he could. Tony helped Erin move on with her campaign loss, and she started to speak at different locations about the Freedom Writers. She started speaking to get out of debt, but Erin enjoyed telling people about their story. She started speaking all around the United States and even spoke after Rudy Giuliani. A successful businessman with lots of money, Ric Kayne, asked Erin if she could replicate her success with the Freedom Writers at a national level. Erin didn't think she could do this without her students' help, so she asked Mr. Kayne to provide scholarships to them so they could replicate Room 203 together.

Around this time, Erin was asked about turning the story about the Freedom Writers into a movie. She met with the screenwriter who wrote Erin Brockovich and he started writing the script. Before he could finish writing the script to the movie, something very tragic happened to Erin. Her father, who was her biggest supporter throughout this whole book, had a heart attack and died. Erin got the news right before she left to make a speak somewhere on the border of Canada. She stayed on the plane and continued with her plans because that's what her dad would have wanted her to do. Her father passed away before the Freedom Writers movie came out, so when it finally came out Erin and the Freedom Writers went back to the same movie theater that Erin and her dad brought them to before. Instead of people giving them weird looks and clutching their purses, everyone embraced the students. It was a touching moment for everyone who was involved.

Reflection:
I feel like for the first time in this book, Erin finally had things in her life under control. She was spreading the Freedom Writers' story all over the United States, but she didn't seem to be as much of a workaholic as before. She was asked to run for Congress again and she actually turned down the offer. I feel like Erin has grown throughout this book, and the old Erin wouldn't have been able to say no, but the new Erin could. She finally decided that she couldn't do everything, and decided to focus on the movie that was being released and making more speeches about the Freedom Writers. I think the movie being released made Erin feel like she finally made a difference. Not only did many of her students improve their lives by getting an education, but now everyone knew their story and what they went through to achieve that success.

Erin's story is an amazing story of how one teacher made a difference in the lives of 150 students. But I definitely don't want to do what Erin did. She lost so much because of her devotion to her students, and I don't feel that it was worth it. Teachers need to think of themselves and their own families before their students. It's a difficult thing to do, but not all of us can be like Erin. Once the year is done with your students, you just need to let them go and not hang on to them forever. This book gave me another perspective of teaching and what happens when you become a workaholic and over attached to your students.