Books That Inspire Me

I just finished reading two very inspirational books, The Freedom Writers Diary and Teach With Your Heart: Lessons I Learned From the Freedom Writers. They're both about teens, education, and change.

In the mid-90s, Erin Gruwell, a young white women in her twenties, used innovative techniques to teach a group of at-risk youth in Long Beach, California. The teens she taught were from all different cultural backgrounds and most lived in neighborhoods where crime, gang violence, poverty, drugs, and teen pregnancy were the norm.

Erin's goal was to teach to the students, not to standardized tests. She encouraged many of them to put down their guns and fists and pick up a pen. She created a family like atmosphere in her classroom, room 203, and did a fabulous job of reaching her students and inspired change in even her toughest students. Using themes about racism and tolerance, she brought peace to her classroom in a community where an undeclared gang war had broken out.

One of my favorite parts of their story is when Maria, a tough Latina student who previously wore an ankle bracelet as part of her probation, stood up during the toast for change and said, "I don't want to be pregnant by the time I'm fifteen like my mother. I don't want to spend the rest of my life behind bars like my father. And I don't want to be six feet under by the time I turn eighteen like my cousin. I want to change!"

After reading the books, Erin Gruwell has become my role model. I can relate to her in many ways and we've shared some similar experiences working with teens. I truly admire her ways of building rapport and trust with her students and I plan on continuing to build those same types of relationships with my teen clients. I hope to inspire change in my clients as well by meeting them where they're at and having hope in each and every one of them, even the hard to reach clients.