Nothing could have prepared Erin Gruwell for her first day of teaching at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. A recent college graduate, Erin landed her first job only to discover many of her students had been deemed "unteachable". As teenagers living in a racially divided urban community, they were already hardened by first-hand exposure to gang violence, juvenile detention, and drugs. Gruwell transformed her students' lives, encouraging them to rethink rigid beliefs about themselves and others, reconsider daily decisions, and rechart their futures. By fostering an educational philosophy that valued and promoted diversity, she helped them become critical thinkers, aspiring college students, and citizens for change. They even dubbed themselves the "Freedom Writers" -- in homage to civil the rights activists -- and published a book, which has now been made into a movie.
