The Freedom Writers Diary: Sophomore Year

by Erin Gruwell
When English teacher Erin Gruwell intercepted a racist note in her Long Beach, California classroom, she designed a curriculum to promote tolerance that she hoped would connect her students to each other, to literary characters, and to the larger world.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Freshman Year, Sophomore Year, Junior Year, Senior Year–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. unorthodox
    breaking with tradition or typical norms
    According to them, I was too enthusiastic, too preppy, and my teaching style was too unorthodox.
  2. animosity
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
    All my suppressed animosity came to the surface, and I decided it was time for me to leave Wilson.
  3. reiterate
    say, state, or perform again
    Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone reiterated my point by telling my students, “Don’t let the actions of a few determine the way you feel about an entire group. Remember, not all Germans were Nazis.”
  4. congeniality
    a pleasant and agreeable disposition or attitude
    Besides, I didn’t become a teacher to win any congeniality contests.
  5. perpetuate
    cause to continue or prevail
    So I decided to stay at Wilson and devote my energy to teaching literature, rather than perpetuating petty rivalries.
  6. fatalistic
    accepting that everything that happens is inevitable
    To some of these kids, death seems more real than a diploma.
    Their fatalistic attitude influenced my literature choices for this year.
  7. segue
    proceed without interruption, in music or talk
    Since the incident with the racist note segued into a unit on tolerance, I’m going to revisit and expand on that theme.
  8. uncanny
    surpassing the ordinary or normal
    It’s uncanny how many similarities my students have with Anne and Zlata. Since many of my students are fifteen, and Zlata is fifteen and Anne Frank was fifteen when she died, I think the parallels between age, alienation, and teenage angst will really hit home for them.
  9. monotonous
    sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
    Why can’t she talk monotonously through the whole class period? Why couldn’t she just be boring like my other teachers?
  10. belittle
    express a negative opinion of
    It’s wonderful to feel like a real person and not just someone for my teachers to belittle.
  11. incentive
    a positive motivational influence
    I think Ms. G saw our initial lack of interest, so she decided to add a little incentive in order to get the class to participate a little more. She announced that once our lesson was finished and the class took “the test,” all the students who passed the exam would be eligible to attend a field trip to the Medieval Times restaurant.
  12. blatant
    without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious
    Even though the teacher eventually apologized to me for his blatant discrimination, I forgave him but didn’t forget.
  13. ruthless
    without mercy or pity
    I even begged my mother to let me change schools because people made fun of me too much. Their ruthless comments shaped my personality and turned me into a shy, insecure, quiet girl.
  14. gullible
    naive and easily deceived or tricked
    After reading this book, I realized how teens are very gullible; getting tricked into doing things against their will because they want to fit in and be popular.
  15. sentimental
    marked by tender, romantic, or nostalgic emotion
    James doesn’t allow us to call him “dad” or “father” or any of those other sentimental, lovey-dovey names. He says the titles aren’t his name so we can’t call him that.
  16. commiserate
    feel or express sympathy or compassion
    I can, however, commiserate with them on the situations they were forced to endure.
  17. atrocity
    an act of shocking cruelty
    After reading the article about the atrocities in Bosnia, my memory returned and made everything seem like it happened yesterday.
  18. epiphany
    a usually sudden insight, perception, or understanding of something
    After our “toast for change,” my students experienced an epiphany.
  19. apathetic
    marked by a lack of interest
    My once apathetic students seemed to transform themselves into scholars with a conscience.
  20. conscience
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    My once apathetic students seemed to transform themselves into scholars with a conscience.
  21. voracious
    excessively greedy and grasping
    Grounded or not, they’ve all become voracious readers. They even carry around the plastic Barnes & Noble bags to show off their new books.
  22. genocide
    systematic killing of a racial or cultural group
    I wanted to put a face on the genocide in Bosnia.
  23. logistics
    supplying an operation with labor and materials as needed
    Without really thinking about the logistics, I foolishly suggested that we write letters to Zlata and invite her to our class.
  24. ploy
    a maneuver in a game, conversation, or situation
    It was a ploy to get them to write letters, but I didn’t think they’d take me so seriously.
  25. compelling
    tending to persuade by forcefulness of argument
    Their letters were so compelling that I took them to the school’s computer lab to type.
  26. casualty
    someone injured or killed in a military engagement
    A casualty of war—be it at the hands of a Nazi soldier, a sniper in Sarajevo, or a gang-banger on the streets of America—is a universal tragedy.
  27. entourage
    the group following and attending to some important person
    Would we have to bring her parents, a translator, or an entourage?
  28. onus
    a burdensome or difficult concern
    In a feeble attempt to squelch the idea of inviting her, I put the onus back on them. “If you want her to come, then you have to raise the money to get her here.”
  29. solicit
    request urgently or persistently
    I got quotes on airline tickets, solicited local restaurants to donate gift certificates, and my hotel even offered two rooms if she accepted our invitation.
  30. commemorate
    mark by some ceremony or observation
    While anxiously awaiting a response from Zlata, a wonderful woman named Gerda Seifer, a Holocaust survivor from Poland, called to tell me that Miep Gies was actually coming to California to help commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Anne Frank’s diary.
  31. itinerary
    a proposed route of travel
    He offered to change Miep’s itinerary so she could come meet my students.
  32. legacy
    anything handed down by someone or something in the past
    Most people will probably never have the opportunity to hear her story in person like we did. A legacy left by one girl, carried by one woman, was passed on to a new generation of teens who have the chance to make a difference like Anne’s diary did.
  33. candid
    openly straightforward and direct without secretiveness
    I can candidly say that in the back of my mind I didn’t think Zlata would actually respond to our invitation.
  34. preoccupied
    having excessive or compulsive concern with something
    I was upset that instead of getting the message that she was trying to convey, they were too preoccupied with what nationality she was.
  35. ghastly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    When I saw Tony, I was grateful my family made it out of Peru before we were harmed—or worse, killed. I thought of my three-year-old brother, and pictured him standing in Tony’s place, telling this ghastly story.
  36. turmoil
    a violent disturbance
    She grabbed me, shaking the ringing from my ear. I heard the turmoil in my neighborhood.
  37. monumental
    of outstanding significance
    The local newspapers have actually done stories about us bringing Zlata here and how we’ve made monumental changes in our lives.
  38. humane
    marked by concern with the alleviation of suffering
    But I also want to thank you for doing what you are doing today for my country, for children and young people who truly need people like yourselves, who will unselfishly and in a 100% humane way do something for them.
  39. surrogate
    providing nurture though not related by blood or legal ties
    I wanted to rely on Ms. G’s class to be my surrogate family, but I’m slowly finding out that it might not be a good idea because we may not be a family next year.
  40. headway
    forward movement
    Ms. G did what she does best; she talked to anyone who would listen to her about our accomplishments until we had made some headway. They were talking about letting us have our own class.
Created on Thu Oct 08 19:28:39 EDT 2015 (updated Thu Jun 29 12:04:20 EDT 2023)

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