Teacher brings Freedom Writer method to Lincoln

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BY KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star

Paul Smith faced a dilemma: Should he tell police what he knew about a friend suspected of assaulting a woman and risk losing his friend or should he keep quiet?

Recently, the Lincoln Southeast High School teacher asked his ninth-grade English students what they would do in that situation.

But first he offered them a prompt, reading a passage from the book “The Freedom Writers Diary:”

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Southeast High School English teacher Paul Smith talks about the lessons his ninth-grade students have learned through their reading of "The Freedom Writers Diary." (Eric Gregory)

Throughout my life I’ve always heard the same thing: “You can’t go against your own people, your own blood.” It got so engraved in my head that even as I sat on the witness stand, I kept thinking of those same words.

Like the girl who wrote about testifying against her boyfriend in the book, Smith chose the truth.

“Would you put a friend in jail?” Smith asked his students last week. “I did — 8 to 16 years for a total stranger. I did not ask for that. It just happened.”

This isn’t your typical ninth-grade class conversation.

But Smith’s students wouldn’t have it any other way.

Since the start of this school year, Smith has been using the Freedom Writers Method, a teaching approach inspired by the story of a California teacher who motivated her students in 1994 by having them write journals about themselves.

Erin Gruwell’s efforts to force her students to rethink their rigid beliefs and become critical thinkers led her and her students to publish “The Freedom Writers Diary,” a compilation of the students’ journals.

The book served as the basis for the 2007 movie “Freedom Writers,” starring Hilary Swank as Gruwell.

All of Gruwell’s students went on to graduate from high school and most attended college.

Wanting to help others, Gruwell and her students founded the Freedom Writers Foundation, an organization that seeks to reduce high school dropout rates by replicating the Freedom Writers Method. To that end, the foundation invites teachers to attend a five-day training workshop at the Freedom Writers Institute in Long Beach.

That’s where Smith, along with nearly 150 other teachers, spent five days in late July.

“Quite frankly, I didn’t know much about it,” Smith said of the Freedom Writers Method.

On the advice of a friend, he went anyway.

While there, the 25-year veteran teacher found a method that he said has proven more effective in reaching students than any he’s ever tried. And as far as he knows, he’s the only teacher in Nebraska using it.

“This is the greatest thing I have ever done in my professional career,” he said. “There’s no comparison.”

Just listen to what his students say about the class:

n Emily Hruza, 15: “It’s life-changing to have a class where you’re friends with everybody and you can trust anyone with anything you need to tell them.”

n Sophia Wennstedt, 14: “This is kind of what I’ve been waiting for: the opportunity to make a difference and do something meaningful.”

n Paige Murphy, 14: “We’ve known each other for like four weeks and we already share a bond.”

The class is trying to raise money to bring two of the original Freedom Writers to Lincoln Southeast. Their goal: $4,000. They’re writing letters to organizations seeking the money.

In the meantime, they’re getting to know each other better. They’ve held three social gatherings outside of school as a class.

For Smith, seeing his students spend time together as a class after school is the greatest compliment.

“You are building trust,” he told them last week. “I have never in my life seen a group of kids take the initiative to do that.”

A big part of Smith’s class involves reading from “The Freedom Writers Diary” and discussing it in class. Students also keep journals of their own.

Smith said he’s worked to create a classroom environment that allows his students to feel comfortable sharing anything with each other.

On an afternoon last week, that’s exactly what they did.

Sitting on a swivel chair before his students, Smith led the class in a conversation about the truth.

“Let me ask you this: Do you always tell the truth to your parents?” Smith asked the class.

“No,” several students answered.

Why do you lie to them? he asked.

“If you do something to disappoint them, it will be harder,” said Juan Paez, 14.

What about your friends? Is it harder for you to lie to them? Smith asked.

“A lot of times we won’t lie to people we don’t know as well because we don’t know how they’ll react,” said Nic Torraco, 14.

Not light conversation, but the students in Paul Smith’s ninth-grade English class wouldn’t have it any other way.

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.