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Freedom Writer Teacher

The Story

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It began many years ago, a philosophy of how my classroom should work that would give students hope.  As years passed I was able to meet an extraordinary teacher named Erin Gruwell. Erin's beliefs mirrored a lot of how I felt about students, education and exposing students to more of life. Erin asked me to participate with 15 other teachers to share how we used the Freedom Writers Diary and help develop a teacher's guide for the Freedom Writers Diary (2007).  We became known as the FT16 and before completing the teacher's guide were joined by a new group of 16 amazing teachers. Together the 32 began to develop relationships, bond over space and time. In the end we watch a movie help a grassroots movement to change education.
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Mr. Williams with Holocaust Survivor Rene Firestone at the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, CA during a Freedom Writer Teachers' Event.

Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writer Teachers

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After the release of the movie, Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank an explosion occurred with teachers from around the world looking to be trained in the Freedom Writer methodology.  When 150 teachers were trained they came together in a Summit where together the idea for a book by the Freedom Writer Teachers came to life.

The latest publication in a series from the Freedom Writers Foundation is Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writer Teachers which is a compilation of diary entries sharing  the lives of a teacher. In these pages you will share successes, defeats and moral dilemmas that teachers across the country face every day through the eyes of 150 Freedom Writer Teachers
Teaching Hope Freedom Writer Teachers
Freedom Teacher Summit, 2008 I am on the right at the bottom, next to Cameron Lymon from Lake Elsinore.

The Journey Continues... Symposium 2014, Long Beach, CA