Dear Freedom Writer: Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation

Beyond Bystanders calls for a shift in the professional self-image of teachers from agents of socialization to active advocates of human flourishing, social justice, and world betterment. The editors propose that it is irresponsible for teachers to posit themselves as bystanders and to conceive of globalization as something happening to them. Their role as educators in all disciplines must be to establish educational leadership that would empower students to critically evaluate developing global realities—mass migrations, socioeconomic inequalities, global warming, and the dehumanizing effects of submission to social media and consumerism—and achieve the overarching goals of humanization and facilitation of the fulfilling life.

Research on teacher-student relationships shows their impact on students. However, it typically focuses on teachers’ interactions and instruction, with less attention to motivations/feelings. Specifically, almost no quantitative research has focused on teachers’ caring for students, despite its potential importance. The present multilevel study, comprising 675 students in ages 15–17 and their 33 homeroom teachers, linked students’ feelings that their teacher cares for them

The study described in this paper explored the understanding pre-service teachers' have of PK-12 student needs (i.e. Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity) and the importance of meeting these needs in a climate of Invitational Education. 71 undergraduate teacher education candidates enrolled in a Classroom Management course at a mid-sized Southeastern university in the U.S, learned about the Circle of Courage. This included viewing the movie Freedom Writers to focus of on how this philosophy was incorporated ...

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to share the results of research into the experience of teacher risk-taking in the classroom. The development of children as risk-takers is featured prominently in curriculum documents and reports calling for the competencies of 21st century learning. Teachers are expected to become 21st century learners who model risk-taking.

The 2007 film Freedom Writers portrays the
real-life experiences of Erin Gruwell, a teacher at an inner-city high school in Long Beach, California. This article discusses the educational theories underpinning Gruwell’s pedagogical practice, as seen in Freedom
Writers, and identifies four themes—rewriting curriculum, treating students as creators of knowledge, creating classroom community, and teaching as selfrealization—that make Gruwell’s teaching successful.

The U.S.-Mexico borderlands are fraught with conflicts, metaphors, and euphemisms. As such, many students are cautious speaking to the complexities of the borderlands when they realize racist and anti-immigrant discourse are at its core. Borderlands pedagogy, however, can serve as a means of connectivity for social justice courses and for social and transformative justice curricula. This paper argues the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, as articulated through the citizenship regime, deals primarily in power and control; and those who have the power to define citizenship are those who have the control to claim citizenship. However, the transformative classroom can also help students articulate citizenship at various levels for empowerment and against the citizenship regime, and hence against racism. While scholarly focus on the borderlands has generally been on legalized notions of citizenship or on the border wall itself, borderlands pedagogy is useful in explaining and understanding the inherent racism of the citizenship regime; and especially how we as diverse learning communities can challenge it, and consequently tear down walls; starting in the classroom.