Weakness ju s t d o e snt care Strengths:

Society
: y o u n g people Realized that they can
The students life is like living abo ut
v e n if w e are the
,e
in a war. anymore Gruwell
change their
. E r in
The students dont have self- future
War is They can become like
esteem. no joke,
i t se the kids across the hall
Ms. Gruwell and students have It destroy
s, kills, b ems.
separat
a lack of family support. es, bring urns, Realized that they
unhapp s arent they only one
Critical Factors: iness. -
Filipovi - Zlata struggling
The writer of diary #47 was very engaged with the visit from Zlata.
She wrote about when the class went to the Croatian Hall to hear Zlata
Audience
speak. Unfortunately most adults that were there did not understand Students that think
the message that Zlata was trying to get through. They started to ask they cant change the
her where she was from, then what ethnicity and race she was, as if
that was important. They did not understand that it was not important future, and teachers
what race you were or where you came from. Zlatas answer was the who feel like they cant
most inspiring answer to the writer; she paused and instead of connect with their
answering the adults questions she said, Im a human being. The
writer agreed to her answer and realized that it was exactly who they students of different
all were and people should focus on how important it is to know Group: backgrounds
someones personality and them as individuals instead of focusing on
their race and ethnicity. Zlata, being a fifteen year old girl taught her
the mostly valuable lesson in life which was to not pay attention to
Jamey
Stafford,
Cali Jo, Ester
Freedom Writers
society labels, but instead fight against them. She is Mexican and even Santos, Denae
The book, The Freedom Writers, starts with Ms. Gruwell doubting
though she is proud to be Latina from that day forward when someone Gamble
her place of teaching, because of her fellow peers putting her
ask her what race she is, she will respond I am human being. down. When she talked to her principal he lets her know that she is
doing what she needs to do, and cant leave her students. She
The writer of dairy #50 was emotional throughout the entry. She realizes that she needs to be where she is, and wont leave her
described how instead of changing for the better she was changing for students like everyone else. The students go into this semester
the worst. She was a cocaine addicted and could not stop, she felt with the outlook of they are different in every way possible. This is
guilty yet not dishonest as everyone was looking at her as if she was a when they finally met Zlata, and start to see that they are all very