Inspired by "Teach With Your Heart"

My principal said he was inspired by this book called, Teach With Your Heart : Lessons I Learned From The Freedom Writers, a memoir of Erin Gruwell. He suggested that my colleagues and I read it. He passed the book to me, and so I started reading it this morning during our reading period.

From the moment I started, I couldn't stop reading. Erin was an English teacher like I was. Erin has to be everyone's dream teacher. She set out to woo her students and engage them in their learning.

Now compared to Erin's students, my students had to be heaven-sent. Erin's students came from notorious neighbourhoods, and were put down all their lives. Erin made English lessons relevant for these students, helping them to relate to characters in To Kill A Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye to name a few.

Erin believed that everyone had a story to tell, and encouraged her students to tell their stories. It was really moving, to read how Erin helped her students to come to terms with who they were, by writing about themselves. It was a cathartic process for many of her students. Many of her students went on to universities and colleges, becoming the firsts in the families to pursue tertiary education.

I learned a few analogies from the book. I liked it when Erin said an essay should be like a miniskirt - long enough to cover it all, and short enough to keep everything interesting. When I told my students this, they were all amused.

The book was really touching, and some incidents moved me to tears. I liked in particular the part when Khari - a really a big tough boy up front, but who is just a vulnerable teenager inside - handed in his story to earn himself a trip to meet Steven Spielberg.

Erin and her students went on to achieve great things. They appeared in tv shows and won awards and had their stories published. But none more important than them graduating from school, knowing that they were worthy individuals who knew that they would make it in the real world.