The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Students in Ms. Gruwell’s class frequently describe the violence they encounter at home and on the streets.

• How does violence affect the students, and what are the strategies used to cope with it? (topic sentence)
• Provide two examples of students who experienced violence and explain how the violence affected their learning environment.
• In your concluding sentences, explain how the students learn to cope with violence to succeed in the classroom.

2. The diary entries in The Freedom Writers are anonymous rather than attributed to any particular student.

• Why do you think the book is structured to maintain anonymity for the students? (topic sentence)
• Explain why the diary entries are anonymous in the book, what affect it has on the reader, and how the book would be different if the entries were not anonymous.
• In your concluding sentences, explain whether you believe the authors made the correct choice to remain anonymous.

3. The school administration and other teachers are often represented as being skeptical of Ms. Gruwell.

• What concerns might other educators have about Ms. Gruwell’s classroom approach? (topic sentence)
• Explain why Ms. Gruwell’s colleagues may have been concerned, what sacrifices Ms. Gruwell made to help her students, and whether you believe Ms. Gruwell’s classroom approach is sustainable in a teaching career.
• In your concluding sentences, explain whether you believe the veteran teachers are justified in their concerns.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. The Freedom Writers, under Ms. Gruwell’s guidance, use writing as a tool to learn and connect with others. How do the students use writing as a tool to cope with difficult problems in the text? In what ways do the students use writing to effect political change? How is the students’ writing used to relate to people around them? What is the ultimate impact of their writing on others?

2. When the Freedom Writers return from Washington, D.C., they find TV cameras at their school. The students think perhaps the media is there to cover their trip, but instead, they have come to report on a student who raped and murdered a young girl. How do the students react to the media in this instance? What do the students attempt to do to counteract the violence? How does this event with the media compare to other interactions with the media the students experience in the book?

3. The Freedom Writers become dedicated to change, but some of the entries recall moments where the students did not stand up for something they knew was wrong. Compare two moments in which one or more students had to make a difficult decision. What factors impacted the students’ decision making? Did either of the students suffer for making the right decision? If so, how?