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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is a student asking the question, "To sign or not to sign"?

2. What does the student who used to play park league and Pop Warner football receive?

3. Why does Gruwell feel guilty when she drives students home if they stay late after school?

4. Why do the students have a particular place they want to visit after walking down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial?

5. Who helps Gruwell get permission to teach the seniors?

Short Essay Questions

1. After the students walk down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, what does someone suggest?

2. Why are little kids bad in the projects?

3. Why is it difficult for Gruwell to get permission to teach the students their senior year?

4. Why does the character Celie in "The Color Purple" remind a student about her Uncle Joe?

5. Why is getting kicked off the basketball team eventually a positive thing for Joan?

6. Why did a student charge a Coke machine when s/he was young?

7. What magical event occurs at the Lincoln Memorial?

8. Why it Christmas Eve so difficult for the student who writes Diary 113?

9. What does Gruwell do after the student's graduate?

10. What do the Freedom Writers want readers of their book to do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Diary 74, a student's mother tells him/her that "One person can make a difference that can change the world." Why does the student find that statement unbelievable? What are some examples of people the student remembers making great changes? Does the student begin to believe that one person can make a difference that changes the world? Does the student believe that s/he can make that kind of difference or that his/her fellow students can make that type of a difference? Why or why not? Provide examples from the book.

Essay Topic 2

The students study Ralph Waldo Emerson when learning about self-reliance. What does this quote by Emerson mean: "Who so should be a man, must be a nonconformist"? How does the quote relate to self-reliance? From their diary entries, list examples of how the students are becoming more self-reliant. How is Gruwell helping the students become more self-reliant? How are the circumstances in their daily lives making the students more self-reliant?

Essay Topic 3

Write why Gruwell decides that she is being hypocritical at the beginning of the sophomore year. What is hypocrisy? How is Gruwell being hypocritical? How is Gruwell using labels to describe people? What is the danger of stereotyping? How many of the teachers actually are out to get Gruwell? Who helps Gruwell understand her hypocrisy?

(see the answer keys)

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