I brought Freedom Writer’s Friday back . .. to a new group of students. Last Friday, I gave the first journal writing assignment. I told the kids they could write whatever they want .. . they could say whatever they wanted. . . I wanted 1 page and I didn’t care what the topic was about. So, I’ll share the response that brightened my day.
Miss A I hate you!! Just kidding!! 
I actually think that you are one of the coolest teachers that I have ever had. You’re young, spunky and you love what you do, and after having mostly old, dried up prunes for teachers, I really appreciate you. Before coming to your class I heard alot of rumors that you were mean and that you were a B****, well you know. So coming into your class I thought were going to have some beef; but that is so not the case. So how if I hear somebody talking about you I go off on ‘em. I tell them if they didn’t like you then it was obviously something they did. I am so happy I had the opportunity to be in your class and if I speak at graduation or something you are definitely one of the teachers that I will thank.
All year long, I thought this particular student didn’t care for my class. You know, you see the occassional eye-roll. She was never disrespectful or anything. But, she wasn’t one of the students who lingered or came after school to chat. My goal is not to be the student’s friend ; however, it is nice to be respected and liked. Yes, I come off strict and stern and I DON’T play games with my students when it comes to being respectful and obedient. Now, I just wish her entry had mentioned SOMETHING about what she had learned or how I made learning easily. Then, my ego would be TOTALLY fed! 
I thought this was a response worth sharing. I validates why I do the assignment.
Miss A, thank you so much for letting us have another freedom writing journal, the first was very helpful to me because I needed to express myself in writing instead of going to my 7th period and start making my friend who I think likes me. And when I get mad enough I will say something mean or just look at him a wrong way, but it will make him feel as if he did something wrong and since he is a good friend he does everything he could possibly think of to make me happy again or to just see me smile. Even though I don’t want you to read it, so you can have fun on this half day. I would just like you to know that even though your 5th period talks a lot and most of us do not even turn in all of our work, we thank you for letting us be able to write anything, so thank you.
Because I know this child and how she speaks in run on sentences, it meant a lot to me. The point of the assignment is to get them thinking while letting go of pressure. I really feel like she was working out her problems on paper–a sign of growth and maturity. Other students during this journaling assignment have worked out their problems or addressed them in these journal. One student discussed why he and another student were contemplating fighting.
One of the things that Marcia Tate has said in her book, it that classes should be low stress, but high thinking. I hope that the students feel this way and in this atmosphere that I try to create. One of my other student’s (an honor student) stated that she felt like the pressure is somewhat off when she comes to my class. In reflecting, I’m asking myself: How do I ensure that learning is taking place in this environment, since my tests reveal so little? Does this model of learning build good citizens (one of the most important themes in social studies)?
So, I am still doing the “Freedom Writers Journal.” Even after my last run in. However, I have disclaimer on the powerpoint, that says “anything revealed that is a danger to yourself or others must be reported.” Most of the kids laughed. They thought it was funny. I also asked them to put a star in the upper right corner if they wanted me to respond. Here is one journal that I thought was funny. The kid was mad a me for making her change her “outfit” after she’d spent a lot of time getting dressed that morning.
I really don’t the like “My School’s” uniform poicy. I don’t think it matters what we wear to school The soul purpose of uniforms, is to get us focused on our work instead of what we wear. Who says we can’t focus on both. I am the quintessence of a fashionable student who is focused on their grades. I am often out of uniform, but I do manage to keep all A’s on my report card, and I have a 4.0 grade point average. Focusing on one thing doesn’t keep you from focusing on another thing. Uniforms should be banned. They trap us, the students, in a world of dullness. If we didn’t have to wear uniforms we could be free to let our imagination roam.
The spelling and grammatical mistakes are hers, not my typos.
My response:
I agree that uniforms do limit your creativity, but they also enhance it. Think of all of the imaginable ways you guys have come up with to get around it. However, uniforms were also implemented to keep students safe–to keep gang members from overtly identifying themselves–which could harm us all. Not every student is as quintessential as you–they can’t handle grades and being fashionable.
After chatting with a colleague online and reading some of your comments about teaching strategies etc, I realized that maybe I’ve been to restrictive with my students. Maybe I haven’t been providing them with the inspiration and motivation they need to be successful in my classroom. So, a couple a weeks ago, I started having inspiration Monday. I usually provide some song, some video clip or some art or cartoon and allow them to write about it in their journals. I don’t think they have been “truly” inspired, yet. But, I think they find some freedom in this.
Well, to add to this, I decided on Fridays that I would institute the a “Freedom Writers” journal in which they can write about anything they want. Initially, when someone suggested I do this with my class I thought, “No Way, this isn’t English class, it has no relevance.” But the more I thought about it, we are supposed to be focusing on getting our students writing and thinking. I thought, I could do this; maybe, eventually they would start writing about some of the stuff we were discussing in class.
The following were their guidelines: They must write a complete page to receive credit, they may NOT write using text language. Immediately, I was asked: Can we write curse words? I told them they could write anything they want; however, expletives should not be their main words of expression. They seemed satisfied and went to work. What did I realize as a result of reading their writings?
- These students have too much drama in their lives. How can they concentrate on school? Many of them had lost loved ones in the past year–close friends, siblings, parents. And they didn’t lose them to illness. They lost them to shootings, drunk drivers, accidents. One that I read, I remembered seeing on the news and thinking, oh that is horrible and saying a prayer for that family.
- Many of these kids want to be successful they just don’t know how. They need help and don’t know how or where to get it. Or their personal & home circumstances are a huge challenge to their dreams.
- They hate school. They hate their teachers. They hate me. They think school is boring. One student even said that he would learn more in study hall with the book than he would in class with me.
- They have relationships with that are waaaaayyyy too adult. As I read about their boyfriends and girlfriends, many of them are faced with decisions and problems that I never faced or even imagined. Some of their stories sounded like something on Days of Our Lives. Again, I can see why they can’t concentrate.
I have not determined whether or not I should respond to these writings. My best friend said I shouldn’t. Her thoughts were that then they would then concentrate on the fact that I was reading and not the freedom of writing. She said that I should put a check mark on them, so that they see that they are getting credit and give them back the next day. I wonder if they want me to respond.
*In the future, responses that are not sensitive and humorous, I might share here–of course with no names or identifying characteristics.
FW Journals, students | Miss Teacha | 
January 30, 2009 10:07 pm | 
Comments (2) 