Freedom Writer Teachers to Write Follow-Up to New York Times' Best Seller

Educators from across the United States and Canada will come together this Friday in Newport Beach, California for the 2008 Freedom Writer Teachers Workshop. Last year, following the success of Paramount Pictures' "Freedom Writers," starring Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell, based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary, by Erin Gruwell and her students, the Foundation launched a teacher-training program to provide best practice and collaboration opportunities for teachers whose students span demographic lines.

Southwest Airlines donated 150 roundtrip airline tickets for educators across the country to attend the Institute and learn innovative techniques to take back to their classrooms.

"This will be a powerful and unifying event for the Foundation, our teachers, their schools, and -- most importantly -- their students. The Summer Workshop is an opportunity for all Freedom Writer Teachers to build on all the strategies we have taught them," said Erin Gruwell.

With their editor's help, the Freedom Writer Teachers will begin editing and collaborating on their collective classroom stories, set to be published by Broadway Books in the upcoming The Freedom Writer Teachers Diary. With assistance from Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, each Freedom Writer Teacher will be surprised with a HP Mini-Note PC loaded with Microsoft Vista Business, Microsoft Office Ultimate with OneNote and Windows Live, to use for their writing and collaboration.

The network of 150 educators has proven to be an invaluable resource for teachers like Connie Heerman, a Freedom Writer Teacher who was suspended for a year and a half for passing out copies of The Diary to her students in Indiana. Recent coverage of Heerman's case on CNN and Newsweek has prompted a grassroots movement to get The Freedom Writers Diary on approved reading lists across the country. "We are inspired by the outpouring of support from people across the world," said Gruwell.

John Tu, CEO of Kingston Technology, was so impressed by the Freedom Writer Teachers network that he is sponsoring the July Workshop hosted at the Newport Beach Marriott this weekend.

Website: http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org