Fort Worth and Freedom Writers

I had the pleasure of attending the Fort Worth ISD’s Teacher Convocation this morning, and it was something of a field trip. After a tense morning drive, complete with bad directions and highways I’ve never heard of (this Dallas girl needs a very good reason to stray west of I35), I made it to the Wilkerson-Greines Athletic Center and found nothing short of a coliseum full of teachers.

Grouped in the stands by schools, it was a grown-up pep rally for some 5,000 educators. After some inspiration from Superintendent Melody Johnson, the main event featured keynote speaker Erin Gruwell. Haven’t heard of Erin yet? You will soon enough. Paramount Pictures has adapted Ms. Gruwell’s experiences as a teacher to some seriously at-risk high schoolers scheduled to hit theaters January 2007.

Moved by the catastrophe she witnessed in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict, Gruwell gave up plans for law school for secondary education, only to be handed 150 of Long Beach’s most “un-teachable” youth. Her students attended class with their parole officers, but she credits many of them as having “PhDs of the streets.”

Not to ruin any Hollywood endings, but Gruwell proved a most engaging speaker, and there were few dry eyes in the house. On a lighter note, she is the founder of the Erin Gruwell Education Project, and her students’ writings were first published in a book, The Freedom Writers Diary.

So, I’m inspired. I’ll be first in line at the movie theater, come January. I’m doing my best to schedule an interview with her. And I did make it back to Dallas in one piece.

Thanks, Erin! And thanks, Fort Worth teachers! -Liz