Ms. Pyles and the Freedom Writers

On Friday, September 16th, our class had Ms. Pyles come in and speak. Ms. Pyles has taught at the Portage-Geauga County Juvenile Detention Center. She really told some fascinating stories about her experiences there. Ms. Pyles appeared to have had an amazing time there. She talked about really connecting with the kids and caring for them. At the same time, her job seems very tough. There are kids constantly coming in and out of her class and there are fights. Although her job seemed tough, she was still able to gain her students respect. One way she did this was through journaling. She provided her students with journals in which they could write down their thoughts and feelings. She kept these journals private. No other teacher, administrator, or parent was allowed to read them. This helped her students to really feel like they could be honest and truly write about how they felt. I think that journaling is a great concept that should be incorporated into classrooms. If a student is having a particularly good day, they can write about it. If a student is having a bad day, they can vent about it.

Aside from journaling, Ms. Pyles provided useful teaching tips on her PowerPoint that can be used in any surrounding, whether it be a detention center or a typical school setting. For instance, I really liked the Peanut Game! I think that this game could be used in so many situations. She used it to teach about respecting others, but I think that I would use it with creative writing. In order to write creatively, it helps to use as many details as possible. This activity could help by providing students with lists of adjectives that they could use in their writing.

I also enjoyed her discussion about her experience at the Freedom Writers Institute. She provided some interesting information about the Institute. For example, there are only 150 original Freedom Writer teachers because that was the number of students that Erin Gruwell had. Ms. Pyles also read a few excerpts from the book, Teaching Hope. I thought that some of the excerpts were really good, but by the third one I was ready to move on! Overall, I thought the presentation was put together really well. She not only discussed the Freedom Writers Organization, she also included her real life classroom into the presentation.