“She reminds me of you”
And…my first semester of teaching is over. Now that classes have drawn to a close, I find it hard to believe the semester flew by so quickly.
I hosted viewings of Freedom Writers all day today, and my students seem to have decided that the teacher in the movie is “just like you, Ms. ____!” If such analysis is personality-driven I can’t really think of a bigger compliment, but this entry would be incomplete without a side note: Ms. Gruwell and I are both white women with brown hair, monstrous smiles and a penchant for pearls. I haven’t done anything particularly revolutionary yet.
I hadn’t actually viewed the film before showing it in class — yes, this is generally a terrible idea, although it was fine in this case — and when we saw the scene in which the teacher realizes her students have never heard of the Holocaust, I almost started to cry. The same exact thing happened in my classes earlier this year.
One more thing: The kids freaked out when an allusion to Atticus Finch popped up toward the beginning of the movie. Be still my heart.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
You made it! Congrats. I’m sure it will get easier from here on out.