Teach With Your Heart, pg. 36-61

Abstract:

This chapter starts with a controversial articles about students from a neighboring high school who laughed while watching "Schindler's List." Mrs. G was astonished by this happening and decided to discuss it with her students, since they had talked about the Holocaust in detail. Mrs. G decided to take to students to see the movie in her town of Newport Beach; the complete opposite of the neighborhood her students were from. During the movie and at dinner afterwards, her students were discriminated against. 'Their kind' was not welcome them and it was obvious. Tipped off by the manager of the theater, a reporter interviewed Mrs. G's class about their experience in Newport Beach. Each student describe the discrimination they encountered that evening. The newspaper article caused a huge ruckus in Mrs. G's community. She received many threats from many racists in the community. She was also contacted by her former professor Ron from UCI. Having heard about the situation at hand, he invited her class to the college for a tolerance conference at which Thomas Keneally, the author of Shindler's Ark, who'd be giving a talk. He arranged a meeting with Keneally and Mrs. G's class. During the meeting, the students were very intrigued. The asked many question, then Keneally asked them many questions. Hearing their stories of discriminations and acts of racism they had encountered, he suggested that Erin contact Steven Spielberg with the stories of her students. Erin was speechless when Spielberg's assistant contacted her. She wrote a letter about her students, which Spielberg loved. At this time, he invited her to meet with him at his office. After their meeting, Spielberg requested to meet Mrs. G's students. She didn't know how she would be allowed to take another field trip but she knew she must do it for her students.


Reflection:

Holy cow! That situation escalated quickly. Although the chapter doesn't actually reveal the amount of time the elapsed through all of this, it was still a lot to handle. Mrs. G only wanted to give her students the opportunity to see Shindler's List. She didn't expect it to turn into a big ordeal.
I especially liked the part in this chapter were she talked about writing the letter to Steven Spielberg. She discussed the techniques she used to get her students past writers block. And then there she was, stuck in her own case of it. The idea she did come up with, describing her students as Crayola Crayons was a good idea. I liked it because although the majority of her students were black, they each had different experiences, different views and values, different lives that made them all extremely different. Therefore, saying that they were each a different color packed into one box was a very accurate metaphor for their classroom.