WOMEN SHAPING HISTORY: Freedom Writers: Erin Gruwell

From: Education Update
Recently, at the Hilton Hotel, the AACTE (American Association for Colleges of Teachers Education) kicked off the opening night of their annual meeting of administrators, principals, and teachers, and its “Challenge for Change” with the inspiring and heartfelt words of Erin Gruwell. Jeff Gorrel, chair of the Committee on Membership Development and Capacity building of AACTE, introduced the keynote speaker as a “teacher who valued and promoted the diversity of her students who had been hardened by exposure to gang-violence and drugs, triggering unfathomable change. She inspired her students to see themselves and to act as creative and responsible citizens who could build community and thrive as members of that community.”