This week in my Cultural Issues and Diversity class we watched the movie "Freedom Writers". I had never seen this movie before, and I found it very interesting because of the content relating to privilege and culture. The story is about a high school that is very separated because of gang violence. One of the characters talks about the day that she was initiated into the gang, and how she was the third generation in her family to be a member. Because of a persons ethnicity they were separated by gangs in the community and because of that there was conflict in the classroom.
Watching Erin Gruwell work with these students inspired me as a Child and Youth Worker. Erin was new to the school and appeared to be naive about the challenges she would be faced with in her English class. When her superiors had doubts about her skills to overcome these challenges, Erin persevered and went above and beyond to help her students. Erin was able to really connect with her students because she was genuine and listened to them. She showed her students that she really cared about their single story, and she never looked at them as just "gang members". Her students saw that she really cared about them, and they started to open up and listen to Erin. Erin found ways to reach out to her students and really connect with them, like when she took them to the Holocaust Museum. I noticed that Mrs. Gruwell used a lot of hope focused and solution focused brief therapy in her work at the school.
I admire Erin for her dedication to her work and what she accomplished with her class. I also noticed as a Child and Youth Worker that she was not practicing self care techniques to take care of herself. Because of Erin's dedication she spent all of her time talking about her work and making money to support extra curricular activities. This showed in Erin's relationship because her husband filed for a divorce. In the field of Child and Youth Work it is important to separate work from your home life. One technique for this is imagining a folder of your day closing in your mind and leaving it at work for the next day. At home it is important to self care if you have had a stressful day. Some people like to cook a nice meal, talk to a co worker, exercise, or watch their favorite TV show. If work beings to take over your home life, it is recommended to talk to someone such as a counselor to help develop a plan of action for self care and to talk about your feelings.
I really enjoyed watching this movie in class with my cultural lenses off, because it caused me to think more about what was really happening. I found it interesting to make connections from the movie to the field of Child and Youth Work. I hope that when I graduate, I can make as much of a difference as Erin Gruwell made in her classroom.
