Now, as president of the Freedom Writers Foundation, Gruwell raises awareness by traveling nationwide to speak inside large corporations, government institutions, and community associations. Gruwell also travels to schools and juvenile halls.
The Freedom Writers Foundation also provides educators with transformative methods to “engage, enlighten, and empower at-risk students to reach their full potential,” according to the foundation.
By increasing teacher retention and fulfillment, lowering dropout rates, and creating classrooms with an atmosphere of cultural inclusion and acceptance, the foundation hopes to improve the quality of life in the community it serves.
The foundation also has published a book titled Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writers Teachers (Broadway Books, August 2009), with the help of donated tools and support from HP and Microsoft.
The foundation brought together 150 teachers from across the U.S. and Canada last summer to jointly compose the book, which “unites the voices of these Freedom Writer teachers, who share uplifting, devastating, and poignant storied from their classrooms–stories that provide insight into the struggles and triumphs of education in all of its forms,” said Gruwell.
Because many teachers came from poor socio-economic communities, many did not have the technology necessary to publish their stories.
HP and Microsoft decided to donate HP Mini netbooks and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 software to all 150 teachers who participated with the foundation, allowing them to access information, collaborate in real time, and communicate via eMail, instant messaging, and blogging with the integrated wireless technologies. Office OneNote 2007 is a “digital notebook” that gives users a single place to gather, edit, and share notes and other information.
“Thanks to technology, our 150 teachers have successfully authored and completed a new book that is sure to have a lasting impact on today’s and tomorrow’s teachers,” said Gruwell. “We wouldn’t have collaboratively composed and edited the book without HP’s and Microsoft’s involvement, ongoing support, and training, which allowed us to write, edit, and virtually collaborate, anytime and anywhere, as if we were all sitting in the same room.”
“Given the immense inequity in skills and access to technology going into writing this book, we were worried true collaboration would be next to impossible,” said Zachary Chase, a Freedom Writers teacher. “Our new tools leveled the field for technophobic and technophile teachers alike. We were able to work together across a common platform. I hope this unified and connected spirit comes through for everyone who reads Teaching Hope.”
Beyond the book, some of the Freedom Writers teachers also are using the technology in their classrooms and to share with colleagues in their districts. This next school term, Christine Neuner, a Freedom Writers teacher, plans to use the Office OneNote to give students a chance to send drafts of their works for peer editing.
Link:
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