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Area of Study: Belonging
This material was written by Melissa Giddins, Engadine High School
Introduction
Understanding the Syllabus Requirements
Breaking down the Rubric
Understanding the concept of belonging
Related texts
Six step analysis of texts about belonging
Example of analysed related text: Freedom Writers
Possible related texts list
Essay questions
Introduction
An Area of Study demands that you understand the concept, know your prescribed text well and
have a number of related texts to write about in the HSC. The first step then must be to
understand the concept.
Activity
1. Before you begin reading about and studying the concept, draw a quick mind map of your
current understanding of ‘belonging’, using only one colour of pen. (Warning: use a large
piece of paper – you will be adding to this mind map throughout this unit.) This exercise
is like a “brain dump” of all your current thoughts about what belonging means. Include
everything, however silly it may seem at the time.
2. Interview at least two people of two different generations about what they think
‘belonging’ means. Record this information onto the mind map using a different colour.
3. Has listening to other people’s ideas about belonging changed or broadened your own
ideas? Write at least one paragraph explaining your answer.
4. Add your new thoughts about belonging to your mind map, using a different colour.
5. Grab a dictionary and thesaurus and find lots of different definitions and synonyms for
‘belonging’. Add these to your mind map in a different colour.
6. Keep this mind map – you will refer to it many times when you are required to explore
what you have learned through studying the concept.
Understanding the Syllabus Requirements
The Prescriptions document states:
Area of Study
In the Area of Study, students explore and examine relationships between language and text, and
interrelationships among texts. They examine closely the individual qualities of texts while
considering the texts’ relationships to the wider context of the Area of Study. They synthesise
ideas to clarify meaning and develop new meanings. They take into account whether aspects
such as context, purpose and register, text structures, stylistic features, grammatical features and
vocabulary are appropriate to the particular text.
English Stage 6 Prescriptions 2009-2012 Board of Studies NSW, Sydney
Area of Study: Belonging
This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of belonging is
represented in and through texts.
Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary. These perceptions are shaped
within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts. A sense of belonging can emerge from
the connections made with people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. Within this
Area of Study, students may consider aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of
identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding.
Texts explore many aspects of belonging, including the potential of the individual to enrich or
challenge a community or group. They may reflect the way attitudes to belonging are modified
over time. Texts may also represent choices not to belong, or barriers which prevent belonging.
Perceptions and ideas of belonging in texts can be constructed through a variety of language
modes, forms, features and structures. In engaging with the text, a responder may experience and
understand the possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to, or exclusion fromthe text and
the world it represents. This engagement may be influenced by the different ways perspectives
are given voice in or are absent from a text.
In their responses and compositions students examine, question, and reflect and speculate on:
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how the concept of belonging is conveyed through the representations of people,
relationships, ideas, places, events, and societies that they encounter in the prescribed text
and texts of their own choosing related to the Area of Study
assumptions underlying various representations of the concept of belonging
how the composer’s choice of language modes, forms, features and structures shapes and
is shaped by a sense of belonging
their own experiences of belonging, in a variety of contexts
the ways in which they perceive the world through texts
the ways in which exploring the concept and significance of belonging may broaden and
deepen their understanding of themselves and their world.
Breaking down the Rubric
This is a massive amount of information to absorb in one sitting and yet it is imperative that you
know and understand this rubric, especially when it comes to choosing your related texts. So let's
break it down.
1. Belonging is a perception.
Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary.
2. Perceptions are shaped within contexts:
a. personal
b. cultural
c. historical
d. social
3. A sense of belonging can emerge from connections with:
a. people
b. places
c. groups
d. communities
e. the larger world
4. How do texts explore belonging?
Texts explore many aspects of belonging.
a. Texts explore the potential of the individual to enrich a community or group
b. Texts explore the potential of the individual to challenge a community or group
5. Texts reflect the way attitudes are modified over time.
6. Texts can represent:
a. choices not to belong
b. barriers which prevent belonging
7. Belonging is represented by, and perceptions of belonging are constructed through a
variety of:
a. language modes
b. forms
c. features
d. structures
8. In engaging with a text, the responder may experience and understand possibilities
presented by:
a. belonging to the text
b. exclusion from the text
c. belonging to the world the text represents
d. exclusion from the world the text represents
9. Engagement is influenced by the different ways perspectives are:
a. given voice in a text OR
b. absent from a text
Now for each of these sections of the rubric, let’s take the time to explore what they mean and to
complete activities that will lead to a deeper understanding of the concept.
Understanding the concept of Belonging
Belonging is a perception.
Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary.
What does this mean? It means this concept is about what people perceive or think rather than a
‘truth’: the answer as to whether or not someone belongs is not found in a textbook, it differs
according to the person who is thinking about the concept. For example, an outsider driving past
your school may see a group of students in their school uniforms and their perception is that the
group belongs: the students belong to the school and the group that are together are probably
friends or of the same class or year group and therefore belong in one or more of those
categories. They are not right or wrong, this is their perception of how the students belong.
However, one of the students may be being bullied by the others and not feel as if they belong to
that group at all. This is their perception of how they belong or not belong – and it is still valid
even though it is different.
Activity
1. Explain the phrase “belonging is a perception” in your own words.
2. Give another example of different perceptions of belonging.
Perceptions are shaped within contexts:
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personal
cultural
historical
social
When you consider contexts you are looking at what surrounds the text, or what the text is
embedded in: the time it was written, the events in the life of the author, who was in their social
circle, what was happening in the world and in their local town, the ethnicity or culture of the
author, etc. This section of the rubric states that it is these contexts that shape our perceptions.
For example, rivalry between two schools may strengthen students’ sense of belonging to their
school due to the competition between the schools.
Activity
1. Give one example from your own life as to how your perception of belonging is shaped
by one of the four types of contexts listed in the rubric.
2. For each type of context, give an example of how a context can shape perception.
a. personal:
b. cultural:
c. historical:
d. social:
A sense of belonging can emerge from connections with:
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people
places
groups
communities
the larger world
Each person has a number of connections in their life: school, home, work, sport, performing
arts, family, friends, local town, region, country, etc. This section of the rubric suggests that our
sense of belonging can come from these connections.
Activity
1. For each of the categories stated in the rubric, explain how they affect your own sense of
belonging:
a. people:
b. places:
c. groups:
d. communities:
e. the larger world:
How do texts explore belonging?
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Texts explore many aspects of belonging.
Texts explore the potential of the individual to enrich a community or group
Texts explore the potential of the individual to challenge a community or group
In this section of the rubric we are investigating how texts can explore the concept of belonging,
looking at how individuals can enrich or challenge a community or group. For an individual to
enrich a group they will add value to it, make a difference to the people involved and make the
group richer or better off for their involvement. When an individual challenges a group, it can be
by the ways they do not fit in with the others, or upset the norm or make the group adjust, adapt
and grow in order to accommodate the ‘different’ individual.
Activity
1. Write a one-page narrative, depicting how an individual either enriches or challenges a
community or group.
Texts reflect the way attitudes are modified over time
The rubric here is reminding us that attitudes change and that these changes can be seen in
various texts. Sometimes in our contemporary lives it is easy to forget that not everyone has
always had the attitudes we have today. For example, there was a time when it was scandalous
for a woman to reveal her ankles in public and now we have the micro-mini that reveals the
entire leg. Not too many years ago men would always stand when a woman would enter a room
whereas now neither men nor women expect that behaviour.
Activity:
1. Pick a topic, such as fashion, dating, cars, teenagers, war, women, etc, and map out a
rough timeline showing how attitudes towards that topic have changed across time. Now
consider how attitudes to belonging have changed over time.
2. Interview an older person about his/her experience as a teenager of belonging and not
belonging. What factors contributed to this sense of belonging or not belonging? Now
compare this person’s experience with your own. What conclusions can you draw about
the impact of time-related context on experiences and perceptions of belonging or not
belonging?
Texts that represent:
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choices not to belong
barriers which prevent belonging
When we look at belonging, it is important to also look at the other side of belonging, which of
course is not belonging. This section of the rubric allows us to explore how texts show us people
making choices to not belong and how people experience barriers that prevent them from
belonging.
Activity
1. Think of a time in your own life when you have felt that you did not belong, or when you
have witnessed someone else experience not belonging. Write a quick recount of that
event.
2. Write a list of reasons why people might choose to not belong.
3. Time to add more to your mind map. Using another different colour, add onto the mind
map as many ways of not belonging as you can think of.
4. Grab a dictionary and thesaurus and spend some time adding definitions and words about
not belonging to your mind map, using a different colour to your definitions and words
about belonging.
Perceptions of belonging are constructed through a variety of:
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language modes
forms
features
structures
This section is where you are looking at the techniques the composer has used to compose the
text. It is important that for each of the texts you use for belonging you take the time to record
the type of text it is, the form of the text, the structure and the features. This is the core part of
your ability to show the examiner that you understand how a composer has constructed a
perception of belonging, through the techniques they have used.
In engaging with a text, the responder may experience and understand possibilities
presented by
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belonging to the text
exclusion from the text
belonging to the world the text represents
exclusion from the world the text represents
When you engage with a text you enter the world of that text for a short time. The rubric
suggests here that in entering this world you may then experience and understand the
possibilities presented by either belonging to, or being excluded from, the text and the world the
text represents. For example, the online computer game World of Warcraft allows responders to
interact in a virtual world with both the computer players and real players. When playing the
game you belong to the online gaming community of players, your character belongs to a guild
and you can set a home base or area to which your character returns or belongs. Due to the very
interactive nature of this text, it is easy to understand how you can belong to a text.
An example of not belonging can be reading a text where the composer assumes that you have
knowledge of a topic, culture or religion that you do not and thus you may find it difficult to
understand and experience the world of the text, perhaps experiencing a sense of exclusion from
the text. A simple example of this is a person who is not an engineering student or engineer,
reading a university textbook on engineering. The assumed knowledge and the jargon in the
textbook would exclude all but those associated with the field.
It is possible, however, to feel a sense of belonging to a text which deals with people and worlds
beyond your experience. You can use your imagination to connect with such people and worlds,
and thus belong to the text. Consider the techniques used by the composer which enable you to
belong to the text - or alternatively, which excludes you from the text. If you do not feel a sense
of belonging to a text, reflect on whether it is your prejudices or failure to empathise which have
excluded you or whether your alienation has been deliberately manipulated by the composer for
a particular purpose.
Activity
1. Create a short piece of writing that is designed to deliberately exclude readers of some
type and to explicitly make some readers feel they belong. For example, a piece of
writing with all the latest teenage slang talking about a topic you study in class may
exclude your parents or grandparents while being very inclusive and accessible to your
friends.
Engagement is influenced by the different ways perspectives are:
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given voice in a text OR
absent from a text
How well you engage with a text is often determined by whether you feel you can relate to, or
belong, to the world of the text. As we explored in the previous section of the rubric, this can be
influenced by the way a text is written. This final section of the rubric reminds you that voices
can be absent from a text or depicted in a particular way and that this can influence the way you
engage with a text. For example, The Footy Show had an episode called ‘Women in League’,
which looked at how to make Rugby League more inclusive for women. This shows that they
recognised that the female voice is often absent in their text The Footy Show and the wider world
of Rugby League that it represents.
Activity
1. Create a short narrative where one perspective is either absent or depicted in only one
specific way.
Related Texts
The next step is to find your own related texts and analyse them. Remember that your related
texts should have an aspect of belonging as expressed in the rubric and be able to be compared to
your set text.
Activities
1. Start the process of finding related texts by doing a quick brain ‘dump’ onto a mind map
of all the texts that could show perspectives of belonging. This can be a new mind map or
in a different colour on your existing mind map. Then ask everyone you know for their
ideas as well and add them to the mind map. You should end up with a big list of texts
that may or may not be suitable, but it is a good place to start.
2. Using the breakdown of the rubric in this resource, find 9 texts that depict belonging in
each of the nine ways stated in the breakdown (one text for each section of the rubric).
This may not be something you can complete in one session but may need to keep going
back to as you have further ideas or come across new texts.
3. Choose four or five of the texts that you have come up with so far and complete a Venn
diagram for each text, comparing it to your prescribed text.
Now take some time to look at the texts that you have compiled and decide on at least three texts
that will allow you to write about belonging from most of the perspectives in the rubric and will
link well with your set text.
Each of these three texts should now be analysed thoroughly. It is important that you understand
that your related texts have about the same value or weight when answering the HSC
examination question as does the prescribed text. When you are asked to write using a related
text it is expected that you will spend a substantial amount of time discussing the related text. So
it is vital that you have analysed your text and understand it well.
An excellent tool for analysing related texts is the Six Step Analysis Tool. Answering this series
of questions will give you a thorough analysis of your related text.
Six step analysis of texts about belonging
1. List all the different examples of belonging evident in the text, using these categories as a
starting point:
o A person belongs / does not belong to another person
o A person belongs / does not belong to a group
o A person belongs / does not belong to society
o A person belongs / does not belong to a place
o A person belongs / does not belong to the world at large
Possible Answers
2. Choose three interesting, possibly contrasting examples of belonging / not belonging, not
all from the same category.
For each example, build up a set of notes in response to these questions:
a. Describe the person and the other person or group or society or place or the world
as depicted in the text.
b. Describe the connection between the person and the other person or group or
society or place or world in terms of belonging.
c. How does the person’s context influence his/her experience and sense of
belonging (or lack of it)?
d. What other factors impinge on the person’s experience and sense of belonging (or
lack of it)?
e. How do the person’s experience and sense of belonging (or lack of it) affect
his/her self-concept and world-view?
f. Do the experience and sense of belonging change through the course of the text?
If so, explain why.
Possible Answers
3. What techniques does the composer use to represent belonging in particular ways in the
text? Consider:
o structure
o language
o other textual forms.
Focus in particular on how the composer has exploited the particular features of the
medium or type of text. For each technique:
o
o
o
identify example(s)
explain the effect
evaluate the effectiveness of the techniques used by the composer.
Consider the medium and technology in which the text was created. How do these factors
affect the meaning and impact of the text?
Possible Answers
4. Overall, what ideas about belonging are presented in the text?
Use your mind map to guide you in analysing the ideas about belonging in the text.
How is the concept of belonging represented in the text? Identify the main techniques
being used across the whole text.
Possible Answers
5. How are you, as reader or audience, positioned to view the representation of belonging?
Are you encouraged to identify or empathise with a character or person in the text (i.e. to
“belong” to the text)? How is this achieved? Or alternatively, are you encouraged to take
a more distant, even critical, perspective (i.e. alienated from the text)? How is this
achieved?
Consider the composer’s purpose for positioning you in particular ways.
Does your perspective change through the course of the text?
How is your response also partly influenced by your own personal context?
Possible Answers
6. Earlier you considered the context of the character/person within the text and in the
previous question you considered your own context as audience. Now consider the
context of the text itself.
When and where was the text composed? What were the social/political circumstances of
this context? What do you know about the composer’s personal context?
How does an understanding of context help us to understand the views about belonging
and the ways these views are presented in the text?
Possible Answers
Now here is an example of a possible related text, Freedom Writers, which has been analysed
using the Six Step Analysis Tool.
Example of analysed related text: Freedom Writers
Information for locating the text: Freedom Writers
The movie Freedom Writers (2006) directed by Richard Lagravenese, and starring Hilary
Swank, has been released to video/DVD by Paramount and MTV. The movie should be available
at most video stores, or can be purchased through websites that sell videos and DVDs. It is also
available for purchase in all the major department stores.
Possible answers for Six Step Analysis of Freedom Writers
1. List all the different examples of belonging evident in the text:
The students are clearly identified as belonging to an ethnic group, based on colour, race and
ethnicity, e.g. the Cambodians, the Latinos, the African Americans and the ‘whites’. They also
identify themselves as being gang members and belonging to the gang, including having territory
and ‘protecting your own’. The majority of the students live in an area called the ‘projects’ and
belong to the area of Longbeach. As students, they belong to Woodrow Wilson High School and
by being placed in Miss Gruwell’s class they identify themselves as belonging to the ‘dumb’
class. Then, as the movie progresses, the students clearly see themselves as belonging to Miss
Gruwell, the class and the classroom Room 203.
Back
2. Choose three interesting, possibly contrasting examples of belonging / not belonging,
not all from the same category.
For each example, build up a set of notes in response to these questions:
a. Describe the person and the other person or group or society or place or the
world as depicted in the text.
b. Describe the connection between the person and the other person or group or
society or place or world in terms of belonging.
c. How does the person’s context influence his/her experience and sense of
belonging (or lack of it)?
d. What other factors impinge on the person’s experience and sense of belonging
(or lack of it)?
e. How do the person’s experience and sense of belonging (or lack of it) affect
his/her self-concept and world-view?
f. Do the experience and sense of belonging change through the course of the
text? If so, explain why.
Example 1 At the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Eva and given an understanding of what it is
to belong to the Latino group. We hear it from her perspective and see both the danger and the
security that comes from belonging to a gang.
Eva’s father is well-respected in the Latino world. However, he is sent to prison for a crime he
did not commit when a member of a rival gang/ethnic group identifies him as the perpetrator.
Eva’s father taught her to fight and to be proud to be Latino. He taught her to always ‘take care
of her own’.
Eva’s father’s experience influences the family, and particularly Eva, into believing that it is
more important to support your fellow gang members than to tell the truth or see justice done. It
is all about the victories of the gang and not about the ‘right’ or ‘moral’ act. When Eva witnesses
one of her gang members commit murder, she is encouraged to blame it on an African American
boy who was also there at the scene, rather than tell the truth. She is told to protect her own and
to blame the rival gang. After all, that is what happened to her father, and it is time for them to
win a victory.
At first Eva is willing to do this, but as time goes on and she begins to belong more consciously
and willingly to Miss Gruwell’s class, she realises that to blame someone else is not the right
thing to do. The lessons she is learning in Erin Gruwell’s class are now causing an internal
conflict for her as she struggles to work out what to do in court.
By the end of the movie, Eva makes the decision to do the ‘right’ thing rather than to blindly
‘protect her own’, and identifies her fellow gang-member as the murderer. Her life is then in
danger from the gang she belongs to, but she belongs now even more firmly to Miss Gruwell’s
class, and believes that she can make a difference and have a life better than the one she has led
thus far.
Initially, her sense of belonging only extended as far as her family, her gang and her ethnic
group. Ultimately, her sense of belonging expanded to include those members of her class and
Miss Gruwell, and the learning that took place changed her self-concept and her world view.
Example 2 When Erin Gruwell arrives for class on the first day, it is clear that she does not belong to the
same social class or ethnic group as her students. She is in a business suit with pearls and appears
naïve and idealistic about the class she will shortly face.
The class arrives and settles into various groups within the classroom – clearly divided
boundaries separate the different groups of students. Erin Gruwell belongs to none of them. Nor
can she identify with them – she does not know their world or their experiences, and has no
understanding of their world-view or their lives.
Erin’s father had been involved in the Civil Rights Movement and Erin had been inspired by that
and wanted to make her own difference in the world. Knowing that Woodrow Wilson High
School was an integrated high school, she chose to work there, hoping to be an instrument for
change.
Clinging to the belief that she can make a difference, Erin proceeds to learn about her students
and their lives, and to use that knowledge to make their learning relevant and worthwhile for
them. In the process the students come together as one group, her class, rather than the
conglomeration of separate groups in the one room that they had been in the beginning.
Over time, the students begin to feel that they belong to her, and she to them, referring to
themselves no longer as just a class, but now a ‘family’. They fight to keep her as their teacher
when she would normally have passed on to teaching other classes.
Once Erin has an understanding of her students and the lives they live, she is even more
determined to do whatever it takes to give them a better future. She takes on two additional jobs
to fund resources and excursions for the students. Erin’s understanding of the Holocaust allows
her to open a new world for her students, where they grow to understand that children were
persecuted and killed in another country during the Holocaust due to the same type of intolerance
they themselves are perpetrating. As they begin to widen their own world-view, they change
their initial sense of belonging, widening it from the restrictive narrowness of their ethnicity.
Example 3 –
The white boy in class, Ben, clearly does not belong. He is scared at having to be in the class
with all the other ethnic groups and gangs. Ben does not want to be a part of them and clearly is
not affiliated with any one gang or ethnic group. He is the only white student in the class. At one
stage Eva declares that she hates white people, and when Miss Gruwell then asks Ben if he
would like to respond to that, his only answer is ‘Can I get out of here?’
Over time, as the learning in Miss Gruwell’s class begins to overcome the clear boundaries of
each ethnic group, Ben begins to become an accepted member of the class and to clearly belong
with all of the students.
His world-view changes as he begins to understand the lives his fellow-students live, and he
stops being afraid of them and starts to identify himself as belonging to them. Initially Ben’s
only sense of belonging to the rest of the class was that he was ‘dumb’ enough to belong in that
class. Eventually he is an accepted part of the class and clearly belongs.
Back
3. What techniques does the composer use to represent belonging in particular ways in
the text?
The composer begins with the voice-over narration of Eva, reading what turns out to be sections
from her diary. We are shown a glimpse of the events she is recounting and then taken to the
present day. In this way, we are encouraged to identify and empathise with Eva, and clearly
understand her strong sense of belonging to the Latino group.
The music played throughout the film is usually rap, hip hop and R&B, clearly connecting the
audience to the world of the youth in the film. The lyrics of the songs often reflect the events of
the students’ lives, despite their youth. The use of a soundtrack that appeals to a youthful
audience will draw the younger audience to watch and relate to the movie, and hopefully inspire
them accordingly.
A large part of the movie is filmed within the classroom or grounds of Woodrow Wilson High
School. Throughout the movie, we see the transformation of the barren environment of Room
203 into one with bright posters, functioning equipment and a welcoming atmosphere. The
transformation of the set echoes the transformation of the students and their attitudes. As
progress is made with the students, we see it reflected in the way the room looks. This assists the
audience to see the personal growth and change that is occurring in the students, in a quick,
visual way without needing lengthy explanations or dialogue.
There are a lot of close-up shots used to show the audience the students’ facial expressions. We
are guided to focus on their emotions in order to truly understand what is taking place within the
classroom. It is rare that we are focused on their books or the board (in fact, there are a number
of continuity errors that involve the blackboard so it was clearly not designed to be our focus). In
other movies about teachers and students, there is often a lot of focus on the equipment of their
learning for instance in ‘Stand and Deliver’, the movie depicts the students’ struggle to learn
advanced calculus and thus more camera time is spent focusing on the tools of their learning. In
‘Freedom Writers’, the learning is not primarily about English, though English is taught and
learned also, and therefore the camera focuses on the faces to show us that it is in the students
and their emotions and understanding of the world that the vital learning is taking place.
Back
4. Overall, what ideas about belonging are presented in the text?
The text begins by showing the dangers and benefits of belonging to a gang. These gangs are
based on racial groups and thus you can be clearly identified as belonging merely by the colour
of your skin. By the end of the text, the responder has been shown that belonging only to one
group can result in a dangerous narrowing of your worldview. The students in the text discover
that belonging to a wider group, that of their class and teacher, has exposed them to greater
understandings of what it is to belong to the world. The concept of belonging is represented in
the text through the use of racial groups and gangs, and the teacher, Erin Gruwell, who is outside
these groups, challenging the students to belong to each other, and the world, in a way that will
open up a better future for them.
Back
5. How are you, as reader or audience, positioned to view the representation of
belonging?
The responder is clearly positioned at the beginning to see the benefits of belonging to a gang,
including security, affection, friendship and support. However, the composer has also shown the
more dangerous side of this type of belonging, including being shot at and beaten up for
belonging to a particular racial group.
The continual use of excerpts from the students’ diaries, usually narrated by the students in a
voiceover and combined with a visual impression of the event, positions the responder to
understand and empathise with the world of the students. We are encouraged to see the students
through Erin Gruwell’s eyes – sympathetically, with an enthusiasm to affect change and a belief
in the students’ ability to have a better future. The responders are encouraged to ‘belong’ to the
text through their glimpses into the personal lives of the students and the teacher, as well as
seeing some of their classroom experiences.
Erin Gruwell made a difference through her persistence and hard work, and the audience is
positioned to see the same hope for change and promise of a better future that Erin Gruwell
works towards. The movie is designed to inspire and educate, and the responder is positioned to
leave the movie theatre happy and keen to make a difference in their world.
Back
6. Earlier you considered the context of the character/person within the text and in the
previous question you considered your own context as audience. Now consider the
context of the text itself.
The movie ‘Freedom Writers’ is based on the true story of Erin Gruwell and her class. The
movie is set in 1994 and was released in cinemas on January 12th, 2007 in the USA and 22nd
March in Australia. In Longbeach, California in 1992 they experienced the Rodney King Riots
and racial tensions were still high two years later.
‘Following the Rodney King Riots and the O.J. Simpson trial, the mood in our city was
unsettling, and on our first day of high school, we had only three things in common: we hated
school, we hated our teacher, and we hated each other.
Whether it was official or not, we all knew that we had been written off. Low test scores, juvenile
hall, alienation, and racial hostility helped us fit the labels the educational system placed on us:
“unteachable,” “below average,” and “delinquents.” Somehow, Ms. G recognized our
similarities, and used them to unite us. She gave us books written by teenagers that we could
relate to, and it was through these books that we began to realize that if we could relate to a
little girl who lived on the other side the world, fifty years before we did, we could certainly
relate to each other.’
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The Freedom Writers, http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org
The class produced a book entitled The Freedom Writers Diary, and the Freedom Writers official
website (http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org ) gives information about the context of the
book and the movie, and goes on to tell of the experiences of the group after the events in the
movie.
This excerpt from the website provides more information about the context of the film:
‘The Freedom Writers Diary is the amazing true story of strength, courage, and achievement in
the face of adversity. In the fall of 1994, in Room 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long
Beach, California, an idealistic twenty-four-year-old teacher named Erin Gruwell faced her first
group of students, dubbed by the administration as "unteachable, at-risk" teenagers. This group
was unlike any she had ever interacted with.
The kids took bets on how long their new teacher would last in their classroom. Then a pivotal
event changed their lives forever: when a racial caricature of one of the African American
students circulated the classroom, Erin angrily intercepted the drawing and compared it to a Nazi
exaggeration of Jews during the Holocaust. To her amazement, the students responded with
puzzled looks. Erin was appalled to discover that not one child in her class knew of the
Holocaust and its unspeakable horrors. When asked how many had been shot at, however, all
raised their hands, and a battle-scar show-and-tell began that shocked Erin even more.
Erin Gruwell had touched a nerve, and she ran with it. Knowing that her students were all too
familiar with violence, she introduced them to Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and
Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo. Reluctant at first to read the strange texts, the students
of Room 203 soon paralleled their lives to those of Anne and Zlata- teenagers also surrounded by
violence- and could not believe their intense connections to the stories. Each student began to
keep his or her own anonymous diary, recording tormenting stories of drug use, struggles with
physical and mental abuse, reaction to Erin and her unconventional teaching methods. The
results were the foundation of a life-changing, spiritually enriching journey that began with a
symbolic "toast for change," and has not stopped since.
From the moment they named themselves the "Freedom Writers," the students of Room 203
changed from a group of apathetic delinquents to a closely knit, motivated family with Erin
Gruwell as their guide. The Freedom Writers worked extremely hard to bring their first
influences off the page and into their lives, with funds raised from a "Read-a-thon for Tolerance"
set up by Erin, as well as endless moonlighting jobs that Erin worked, they arranged for Miep
Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California.
Soon after, Zlata Filipovic responded to the Freedom Writers' many letters inviting her to Long
Beach, and she spent five days with them, allowing the Freedom Writers to compare notes with
her. This reinforced to the Freedom Writers that voices are heard, change is possible, and a
difference can be made in people through the power of words.
The Freedom Writers have since continued to spread their story and message throughout the
world. In 1997 they held an "Echoes of the Soul" fund-raising concert to help pay for a trip to
Washington, D.C., where they toured the Holocaust Museum and presented their diary to
Secretary of Education Richard Riley. This trip also allowed them to emulate their heroes, the
Freedom Riders, by holding a peace march and prayer vigil for victims of intolerance at the
Washington Monument. In 1998 they won the Spirit of Anne Frank Award- the Freedom Writers
traveled to New York to accept the award. Most recently, in the summer of 1999, one of their
most far-reaching goals was achieved. The Freedom Writers and Erin visited Anne Frank's house
in Amsterdam; the concentration camps Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Chelmno in Poland; and
visited Zlata in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Most important all 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from
High School and are attending college.’
Back
Possible Related Texts List
Sometimes, it can be difficult to start thinking about related texts, so to help the thought
processes start flowing, here is a list of possible related texts for Belonging. Please note that this
list is meant to be the beginning of your search for related texts and is by no means offered as an
exhaustive list.
Movies:
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Freedom Writers
Grease
Saved!
Mean Girls
300
Remember the Titans
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
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Clueless
Babel
Happy Feet
Pan’s Labyrinth
Children of Men
The Lives of Others
Water
Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
Donnie Darko
Monsoon Wedding
Legally Blonde
The Talented Mr Ripley
The Last Samurai
West Side Story
Save the Last Dance 2
Ice Age
Prose Fiction:
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Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo by Tim Winton
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Child of Time by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
Havenstar by Glenda Noramly
The Rouseabout by Rachael Treasure
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
Multimedia
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World of Warcraft (online computer gaming community)
Second Life (online virtual world)
Exhibition on belonging in Australia - http://www.belonging.org/
Talk it Up Chalk It Up: Peer Culture and Belonging http://www.abc.net.au/talkitup/chalkitup/peerculture.htm
Online article: Transformasia: A Sense of Belonging –
http://www.transformasia.com.au/article-028.html
Article on the need for belonging:
http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/belonging.htm
Article in the Medical Journal of Australia citing that boys need a sense of belonging:
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/185_08_161006/phi10330_fm.html
Film Australia Digital Learning: Sense of Belonging http://dl.filmaust.com.au/module/361/
Philia: A dialogue on caring citizenship: Belonging and Inclusion –
http://www.philia.ca/cms_en/page1342.cfm?&presto_format=print
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The Belonging Initiative article: Loneliness can take toll on health –
http://www.plan.ca/belong/2007/11/loneliness-can-take-toll-on-health.html
Article from The Age (online): Sudanese settlers feel ‘thin sense of belonging’, October
13, 2007 – http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/12/1191696174833.html
Article/paper from Southern Cross University Coffs Harbour: Ecologies of Care:
Belonging in Un/Australia by Kim Satchell http://www.unaustralia.com/electronicpdf/Unsatchell.pdf
Song Lyrics:
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‘She’s Leaving Home’ – The Beatles
‘Englishman in New York’ – Sting
‘Youth of the Nation’ – P.O.D.
‘We Belong’ – Pat Benatar
‘The Beautiful Letdown’ – Switchfoot
Poetry:
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We Are Going by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Essay Questions
Here is a series of essay questions that will help you to more thoroughly explore the connections
between belonging, your prescribed text and your related texts.
1. How do composers show that belonging can emerge from connections with people,
places and communities? In your answer, refer to your prescribed text and at least TWO
related texts of your own choosing.
2. ‘Hypocrisy is the essence of snobbery, but all snobbery is about the problem of
belonging.’ Alexander Theroux
Discuss how this perspective of belonging is present in your prescribed text and at least
TWO related text of your own choosing.
3. How do composers construct perspectives of belonging in texts? In your answer, refer to
your prescribed text and at least TWO related texts of your own choosing.
4. Discuss what voices are present and absent in the texts and how this influenced your
engagement with the text. In your answer, refer to your prescribed text and at least TWO
related texts of your own choosing.
5. Discuss how the text explored the potential of an individual to enrich or challenge a
group or community. In your answer, refer to your prescribed text and at least TWO
related texts of your own choosing.
6. How does the text represent barriers which prevent belonging or choices not to belong?
In your answer, refer to your prescribed text and at least ONE related text of your own
choosing.