“dissecting the draft”

 Introduction: I will start with the Erin Gruwell’s infamous quote “I remember watching LA rights on TV and I was thinking of going to law school at the time and I thought by the time you’re done defending a kid in the court room the battle is already lost. I think the real fighting should happen here in the class room” as the lead then give a quick discript of teachers and students.

Body: I will then give many concrete facts given by reviews and articles written about the movie. I will also give concrete examples from the movie using scenes, quotes from the students and actions that were taken to support my thesis. Following each concrete fact will be my thought or my opinion of each. I will then use counterarguements from fellow classmates and people who were against the way Gruwell taught her students, maybe giving another perspective as to how we might look at this situation and special case of teaching and changing. Supporting my counterarguements I will use quotes from classmates and situations from the movie that could be looked at from the counterarguements perspective.

conclusion: With most of my papers I end my conclusion with some quote, a quote that sticks and basically rounds out my paper as a whole and answers my question and supports my thesis in a “so what” kind of way. I like to make my reader stay intrigued with my perspective on whatever issue or topic I choose to write about. Such as: “It is important to never stop transforming, evaluating and reflecting to keep improving one’s teaching skills.” ( Humes 9).

What do you think? (give me an honest opinion please)

should I do anything different? Should I use a different technique?

I am overwhelmed (in a way) as to how my eight page is actually going to set out and be put together. A lot of ideas and don’t know where I should actually start. Sometimes I get caught between my mouth and the facts.

“reclaiming your topic”

Thesis: Did Erin Gruwell give inspiration to her students personal and academic lives? Jose chose to read from his own journal to make a “toast for change” and in the last part of it says that “suddenly I feel all the problems in life aren’t important anymore…I am home” about Ms. Gruwell’s class and his classmates. Marcus then walks over to him with a tear in his eye, hugged him showing him support and I think friendship. Then everyone stepped in for a group hug and support for one another. I don’t think there’s anything else that supports my thesis more than this.Eva said she hated white people because of what they think they can do and they can…so she hates white people on sight, but towards the end she stays in class to speak to Gruwell of her fear for betraying her “own” kind and from then on doesn’t seem to want another teacher to learn from.  Marcus asked his mom to move back in, graduate, turn 18. Most of her students said that her classroom was the only place they felt safe and could be theirselves. They started reading books even after class hours, in the night time before they fell asleep… one student stopped selling drugs because he said he knew he had a better future in store for him besides bars. And when other staff and faculty believed those students were incapable and drop-outs, she proved them wrong. She gave them journals to write in and listened to the fears and issues they faced daily.

“saying back to your source”

So my source is an article about a woman named Connie Heermann from somewhere in Indiana. Also a high school teacher, Heermann was suspended for 18 months without pay due to what the school board called “insubordination” and yes we all know what that usually means when someone uses that vocab; she didn’t comply with what she was asked and went against the rules. She, too, taught at  a highschool in common to those Erin Gruwell also taught.  Heerman thought she could use the “Freedom Writers Diaries” book as a tool for teaching a new perspective and  overcoming many obstacles her students felt they were unable to achieve. In the end…Heerman was forbidden to be in contact with any of her students from her formal teaching grounds but hearing  that some stopped going to class. She is now teaching at some college.

Anna’s (the author of this article) Quote: “It looks as though her students are not going to wind up the way Erin Gruwell’s did.” Although I’ve seen the movie many times and at the end it says Erin followed “many” of her students to college…it doesn’t say all. Therefore, I disagree with your quote. You’re only assuming that because some students stopped going to class doesn’t go to say the other students didn’t have an unforgettable impression from Heermann leaving them no other path but to go to college and make something of themselves. I think that even making a permanent impression on one student would be the start of a great teacher. And I wouldn’t exactly compare and contrast Heerman’s students to those of Erin’s. Everyone goes at their own pace and own time to find what “everyone” seems to be searching for one day at a time.

Another quote: “Insubordination is what built this country, and a glacial pace in education means you lose kids.” First of all…awsome quote. It takes teachers/people like Heerman to set forth a determination that has students eager…everyday. For them to know that life is great with triumphs and battles. Without teachers who have the “uuuummmph” to get a student beyond a life of ignorance or giving up, who would our teachers be? Just like in the movie…Erin not once gave up to showing her students the will power one has to make a difference…reading books, experiencing the evidence of hardships and the reality of reality. She could not and would not let them down…keeping her promise as a teacher who wanted her students to LEARN!!!

“Toast For Change”

In this particular scene it is very touching…a specific point I knew and felt that Erin Gruwell effected her students lives by changing their views on a better aspect on life.

The scene starts off as Sophmore Year Fall Semester. After their summer has ended, her freshman class from english last year have returned to her class as sophmores. She opens her classroom door, inside hung over the blackboard a sign that says, “Toast For Change”. On a table below, cups filled with cider and a bag filled with books for the semester’s reading. She says to everyone…in order to take a bag, they must make a toast-a toast for change.

Mrs. Gruwell, “from this moment on, every voice that told you, you can’t…is silenced. Every room that tells you things will never change…disappears. And the person you were before, his turn is over…it’s your turn.”

One student, Gloria, starts saying the highest hopes anyone around her had was that by the age of sixteen she would end up pregnant and drop out of school…like her mother…they are wrong.

The next student Brandi…the of the quietest states…for all the wars teenagers deal with everyday, she will succomb…(turns her head over her shoulder looking at Mrs. Gruwell) stating, “I am strong.”

Marcus, the tough guys who wants stated to Erin, ” I don’t see anyone around who looks like me with money in their pockets unless their rappin or dribbling a ball” or ”I’m graduating everyday just to make it to eighteen” suddenly had a different outlook on life stating…”my moms kicked me out when I got into the ganglife, I’d like her to see me graduate, I’d like to see eighteen.”

And last but not least a boy asks if he can read a passage to his journal, “This summer was the worse summer in my short 14 years of life, it all started with a phone call, my mother was cryng and begging…asking for more time as if she were gasping for her last breath of air. She held me as tight as she could and cried. Her tears hit my shirt like bullets and told me we were being evicted. She kept apologizing to me, we had no home. Maybe i should’ve asked for something less expensive at Christmas. In the morning of the eviction…a hard knock woke me up, the sheriff was there to do his job. I looked up at the sky waiting for something to happen….My mother has no family to lean on and no money coming in. Why bother coming to school getting good grades if I’m homeless? The bus stops in front of the school, I feel like throwing up. I’m wearing clothes from last year, some old shoes and no new haircut. I kept thinking I’d get laughed at, but instead I’m greeted by a couple of friends from my last years english class and it hits me…Mrs. Gruwell, my crazy english teacher from last year is the only person who made me think of hope. Talking about english and field trips we’ve taken, I began to feel better. I recieved my schedule and the first teacher is Mrs. Gruwell, room 203. I walk into the room and suddenly I feel all the problems in life aren’t important anymore…I am home.”

The camera turns to Marcus…who is crying, walks up to his classmate and hugs him. There after everyone gathers to support and hug one another.

“freedom writers”

Focusing Question: In which ways does Erin effect her students lives for the better?

Let me count the ways: First off Erin Gruwell was a teacher with confidence in her teaching, that when she sets her mind to something it will and can be done. Never does she give up, especially when it came to her students.

Respect: You have to give respect to earn respect. At first her students didn’t care for her because they thought she was just some teacher at that school that didn’t care to teach them, but to earn a paycheck. Of course…if you don’t want to teach…what makes you think students want to learn? Well…she gave them respect showing she wanted to listen and cared about their feelings in how they view life. She gave them chances. She gave each and every one a journal to write in. With them…they could write poems, songs, a story, anything that came to their minds any second of any day. She wanted to get to know them and show them someone cares more than those students believed anyone did. She funded money by taking two other part time jobs to buy books that stories that related to their own. She took them on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum and proving to them that being in a gang proved to be nothing but death and caused nothing but sadness in the end. She showed them another road they could take, by believing in themselves. After earning their attention and proving that someone cares, by giving them something to look forward to…she earned their respect.

That being said…those same students took her class again their sophmore year of high school. They felt like a family in her classroom and felt that in that room they could be who they really were with eachother. They got along and showed they were eager to learn. They wanted to make something of theirselves. In the beginning, one student said that he was graduating every day he lives and he’ll be lucky if he sees eighteen…later showing he wanted to go to college and not be in a gang anymore. Another student named Eva, didn’t care for school, but went because her probation officer threatened her. It was school or bootcamp. She said it was like war at school. She was initiated into a gang at ten years old standing for her “kind” (latinos). Never would she sell out her “people”. She later testified to witnessing her boyfriend shooting another, knowing it was the right thing to do. Later Erin moved on after their senior year of high school and followed most, who went to college.

In conclusion, they all were effected in more ways than one by Erin for the best. They all have a story and I can’t wait to write more about it in my paper, but for now this is what i got at ten o’clock at night. LOL

Muzak…music…same difference

Paraphrasing Hainge’s Thesis (I think): The banjo picking and yodeling played in Raising Arizona and country bluegrass in O Brother Where are thou? seem to be used to stereotype the characters in them.

Do I agree? I do because if I were to listen to them without watching the movie I’d probably be picturing a movie with men in overalls somewhere in the south on a farm. Don’t get me wrong I love music and I think Muzak in movies make a movie and a feeling you get from a movie. Can you picture songs like “In the Club” by 50 cent or “My heart will go On” by Celine Dion in Raising Arizona or O Brother…? I can’t at all, so I think the Muzak is picked properly for movies and I believe the muzak picked for these fits well. Although we shouldn’t stereotype the common human being, we do. Plus the Muzak in these movies make them funny and bring a comedic sense that these characters play. Take O Brother…? the bluegrass and folk and country fit the time and era, the characters and place. For me I get a kick and a laugh out of ”stereotyping”…it’s funny as comedy although it might not be funny as serious…but I love that Muzak in movies fit characters and scenes and feeling. It’s great…where would a movie be if it had no Muzak? On top of that I love country bluegrass folk and gospel…I think it’s great music in general…I believe every song has it’s meaning and tells a story and makes a person…

pshycographic…torn?

I’m torn…Allison wrote in her blog, “Painted Arizona”, to “interpret the film as a live-action cartoon”. I totally love that because then you’ll see that the unrealistic scenes in the movie don’t make any sense, do cartoons? Cartoons don’t really make sense we just love them and understand them and why? I don’t know, but I just look at Raising Arizona in a bit of a different way. I guess from the perspective of a cartoon, I don’t need to understand why, just know it was comical.

Now, when I look at it from the “deeper” side to try and understand if Hi is dreaming or not dreaming…when i look at the things such as: In the beginning of the movie when Hi was in prison…he fell asleep and as he turned his head on the pillow, a scene later he has mugshots taken and turns his head to the side at the same time, maybe indicating to veiwers (hey this is his dream) or him robbing the store  and the cops trying to shoot at him open fire…over and over again and he didn’t get hit once. Also, Leonard Smalls having the same tattoos…but that right there also makes me think he’s dreaming about his “outlaw” (Andrew Moss, Schizophrenia…)side…himself. Hi mentions not knowing if Leonard Smalls is a “dream or a vision”…that leads me to believe he is seeing himself as two different people. Is Leonard Smalls a real person or a figment of Hi’s view of himself and what he’s known to do? I guess we’ll never really know…

PG-13 or…not!

Starting…my focusing question is…This movie is PG- 13. Would you assign it a different rating? Why?

Do I think (Raising Arizona) should be rated PG-13? No! Why? Although I know I’ve watched way worse movies when and before I was 13, I wouldn’t rate that movie exactly (PG-13). I would definitely rate it (R). I could name many reasons why…the kidnapping, the cussing, the violence, stealing, etc…Although I really enjoyed the comedy, the crude humor, and the movie itself, I would not let my kid who’s 13 or younger see it. I wouldn’t want my child developing a “bad habit” i guess you can say. And though it’s a movie, sometimes kids will form into someone that they observe in life or on the big screen. In my opinion…Hi and Ed stealing a child because they couldn’t have one of their own, could translate to a child at 13 or younger that if they can’t have something they might as well find a way even if that means stealing or even kidnapping in Hi and Ed’s eyes. Not something I would want my child to follow. Now as an adult, you know right from wrong…a movie isn’t going to shape the mind. It might change a perception, but it wouldn’t translate into anything else unless you were stupid enough to let it:) just an opinion. On that note I wouldn’t want my son or daughter going around repeating any cursing that comes out of Nathan Arizona such as “shit box” or get your damn feet on the floor…etc…but i did enjoyed it.

To sum it up!

First off…the name is Danielle…I’m 24, yes I know I look like I’m in highschool. I am a hairstylist and new people in my chair usually think my career IS my afterschool activity…nope. I’m currently “in change” of a second career goal…Dental Hygiene. If I’m not at school, work, or the gym, my usual activity is watching my OTH, Housewives of New York (got to love other’s drama) and  go to Target (an addiction) every Tuesday to get what I haven’t seen in theaters. But I do have my favorites. First off… Dirty Dancing is my ultimate, not because of the actual movie, but because of my past time @ 5 being intrigued with dancing in general. But yes…the movie and it’s characters are corny, but you gotta love it!:) One of my others is Pursuit of Happiness it touches me on a personal level of life. This movie relates so much to the relationship between my dad and me, and the obstacles life has put us through. It’s definitely my tear jerker, a reminder of what opportunities are waiting for us, and the strength a parent has to put their child first. Another is Transporter…I love action. It keeps your adrenaline up and going. But it sucks to know that you’re never going to drive your car off a dock and get the crane hook to remove a bomb and land like a swan. Plus…who doesn’t love Jason Statham?? I like movies that have actors who can totally pull off the character. If there is anything that bugs me most about paying for a movie…is watching something that has great potential, but the acting was flaky (excluding DD). Don’t get me wrong, I love a good scare, but come on, “horror” movies aren’t like they use to be! I love a good laugh. So If I can see a comedy more than once and still have my cheeks hurting, my money was worth it (Pinapple Express). Movies, in my opinion, are a great insight to one’s personality and watching them on a regular basis can open your mind to a new perspective in the world.