Gonzales1

Nickolas Gonzales
English 101
Harvey
7 October 2014
The Change
School has always been a struggle for me; I have never been truly motivated
academically. I took longer than most students to read even the simplest of sentences.
Growing up, I attempted to be involved in class discussions and would volunteer to read
aloud. I knew that I was bad at reading and felt scared when the teacher would call on
me. I could say that I was a fix-minded person because I shut down and quit trying
entirely simply because I did not want people to think that I was dumb. I am fortunate
enough to have had people in my life that helped me overcome that stage and push me to
do my best at everything.
Throughout my school years I have always played sports and remained active. I
was known for being a jock and that did not care much about anything besides sports.
The person who pushed me to do my best and to go to college was my mother. My
mother played a grand role in my life and was a big inspiration for me because she was
the first one out of her family to graduate from college. This also made me feel as if I
needed to follow into her foot-steps. Now that I am in college, I am determined to step up
my work ethic and not be lazy when it comes to academics as I was all throughout high
school. I was excited when I discovered that we were going to read the book Freedom
Writers because I think it is a great movie and the book might be even better. I love the
idea that one person is capable of changing so many lives. I think that if I would have

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went to Wilson High School I would have been placed into classes with the freedom
writers.
The diary that I can relate to the most is diary entry four because it is about a girl
that gets into trouble for her friends actions. This girl hung around with the wrong
people. I can relate to her because when I was younger I loved to skate board and would
skate everywhere. However, I became acquainted with some bad influences.
Most people tend to make friends with others that share similar ideas or do things
that they do also. My skate friends were bad influences on me because they would
constantly get into trouble with the law. Suddenly, I also became known for being a bad
kid and always getting into trouble. I stopped skating because I was tired of being
stereotyped and labeled badly simply because I was a skater. I began to take sports
seriously because I realized that I was one of the better players on my team. I was no
longer the skater that got into trouble. I had become that athlete that every coach admire,
There was however a downfall to this change. I stopped caring about academics and
focused only on my sports. I was told that high school was going to be easy and fun, but I
did not put into consideration that there would be also be a lot of school work to take
seriously along the way.
Going into high school I joined the ACE program which is a program at my high
school for at risk students. I have no idea why I was put in to this program but as I looked
around in the classroom I saw chaos. In my classroom there was a bunch of gamers and
graffiti taggers and even a pregnant girl. There were a few people that I knew because I
used to hang out with them and others that I met in summer school. There were two
teachers in the ace program, known for creating it, Mrs. Gonzalez and Mr. Padilla. All of

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the students in the ACE program were split into two groups. We each had two English
classes taught by Mrs. Gonzalez and two math classes taught by Mr. Padilla. My math
class was very strict, quiet, and often felt like being locked inside of a prison cell. Mrs.
Gonzalez's class was more of an open discussion course. In only a few weeks my math
and English skills improved greatly and I became one of the top students in the entire
program. I was no longer shy to volunteer and share my opinion openly with the class.
During my freshman year I really wanted to improve and if I got an answer wrong
I would ask my teacher what I could do to improve. I later adapted to having a growthmindset. Being in the ACE program kept me on track and made school more interesting
for me. I admired Mrs. Gonzalez because she made me become more motivated and
helped me read at the level that I was supposed to. I completed my freshman year with all
A and B grades which was shocking and new for me. As Zinsser writes But the
pressure on students is severe. They are truly torn. One part of them feels obligated to
fulfill their parents' expectations; after all, their parents are older and presumably wiser.
Another part tells them that the expectations that are right for their parents are not right
for them. (Zinsser.)
I was glad that I had earned good grades but I hated the fact that I had also raised
my parents standards for me by a lot. When the problems were made somewhat easier
again, students praised for intelligence did poorly, having lost their confidence and
motivation (Dweck.) Before, if I were to earn bad grades my parents would simply tell
me to bring them up. Now, if I get anything lower than a B I get punished. I became so
motivated to do better in school only because of the ACE program. I am in no position to
speak badly of the Freedom Writers because I too was at risk of earning very low grades,

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However; I was fortunate enough to have worked with teachers similar to Mrs. Gruwell
who changed her students life for the better.
I believe that most people read for fun. Every book that I have ever read was
either because it was for a class assignment or because my mother would make me. There
is only one exception that where I actually enjoyed reading a book. I once read the book
Precious by Sapphire. This book was very interesting and rather violent. I truly fell in
love with it. Precious was the first book that actually motivated me to read the entire
book. I was highly disappointed when I watched the movie because I learned a lot more
within the book that was altered or different than I had imagined in the movie. I also felt
that the book Precious, related to diary entry 32 because Precious chooses a path for a
better life when she decides to take care of her baby on her own rather than rely on her
mother to help her.
Without education people would not be able to communicate as well as they do
with each other now. Literacy is a big key in our society. Being literate means attaining
the ability to read and write. This ability gives people the power to possess effective
communication skills and express oneself. Slave owners did not let their workers
communicate and made sure that the slaves remained illiterate so that they would have a
hard time communicating with each other secretively in attempts to escape. Effective
literacy skills are attained when people utilize their abilities to the fullest extent. People
do not only need reading and writing abilities to communicate. A plethora of ways for
expression exist such as music and arts. In Freedom Writers, the students learn to
successfully express themselves more formally with the help of Mrs. Gruwell, as well as
remain true to themselves and display elements of their personalities that make them who

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they are. Ive been through and overcame struggles in my life like Mrs. Gruwells
students. I am a freedom writer.

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Works Cited
COLLEGE PRESSURES William, Zinsser. The Norton Reader, Norton-Simon
Publishing. 1978. Print.
Dweck, Carol S. The Perils and Promises of Praise. Early Intervention at Every Age. 65.2
(2007): 34-39
The Freedom Writers Diary. New York: Broadway, 2007. Print.