(This touching story is inspired by the Netflix movie Freedom Writers.)
Carlos was nervous over the interview to be a high school substitute teacher. In desperation for a job, he lied about having teaching experience. He was accepted right away, because the school had no one else. Carlos knew that the school was a dumping ground for drug addicts, drop outs, angry children from broken homes and broken families. He was scared to face the class.
eastwind journals
March 27, 2025, Archives tr625
By Bernie V. Lopez, eastwindreplyctr@gmail.com / www.eastwindjournals.com
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On the first day of class, he ignored a crumpled paper that hit him in the head while he was writing his name of the board. Everyone laughed. Everyone was speaking out of turn. Without a word, he smiled, and left the classroom, standing outside. The class became even more rowdy. After 5 minutes, he went back in and said, “If you do not quiet down, I will have the whole class suspended. Try me, I can do it.” The silence was deafening. He was nervous because he was bluffing.
Carlos spent sleepless nights listing down creative ways to control the class. It was not just control. He had to learn to reach out and touch them. That was the challenge.
On the second day of class, he brought blank notebooks with titles “My Diary”, gave them out them, and told them to put their names on the front cover.
CARLOS – Now, you have a voice. You can write anything in your diary. Your pains, your joys, your loves, your hates, no censorhip. Only I can read your diaries. I will lock them in this cabinet. You can ask for your diary anytime.
It took two days to break the ice. Raffy, a noisy notorious leader, ask for his diary.
RAFFY – May I suggest, Sir, that we have the option to read our diary to the class. (Everyone agreed. Raffy was the first to read out his diary.) I hate school. I don’t need an education. If I don’t go to school, my dad will throw me out of the house. He did that to my older brother, who now stays with homeless bums in an abandoned warehouse. I have no choice and I hate it.
CARLOS – But why do you hate it?
RAFFY – Why am I being forced? It’s just a job for teachers. Most of them hate teaching. I don’t learn anything.
CARLOS – I promise to change all that. Now that you have a voice, pour your heart out to your classmates. Don’t keep it inside, else you explode. That’s our first goal. I don’t care if we delay lessons in history or math for a while. Get grudges out of your system first. Speak out through your diaries.
JESSICA – (Reading out her diary.) I like Sir Carlos, our new teacher. The chance to talk relieves us a lot of our hatred inside us. I think Sir Carlos is different. He cares about us.
CARLOS – Raffy, what did it feel like speaking freely.
RAFFY – Great. I have less sleepless nights.
And so, the diaries changed the attitudes of the students. They stopped talking out of turn. They started looking up to Sir Carlos. The tone of the diaries also changed. There was less of hatred and more of learning to change for the better. They began listening to each other through the diaries. They shared their pains and suggestions how to deal with their pains. The diaries changed their lives and healed their emotions.
At the end of the course, Carlos suggested to have the diaries published as a book, secretly without the school knowing, as they might start controlling and censoring it. There were screams of delight. For the first time, the students adored their rebel teacher who cared for them more than the school did. The book, entitled “Our Diaries”, became a best seller. Other schools started doing the same.
The class asked the school that they wanted Carlos as their teacher in the next school year. When the school objected, as it might invite jealousy among teachers, the two classes of Carlos with a total of 110 students threatened to drop out. The school gave in because they would lose a lot of unpaid tuition balance income.
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Author’s Credentials. Blogger – ex-Columnist (Inquirer) – Healing Ministry – ex-Professor (Ateneo University) – Documentary Producer-Director (freelance, ex-ABS-CBN, ex-TVS Tokyo) – ex-Broadcaster (Radio Veritas) – Facebook “Bernie V. Lopez Eastwind” / Pages “Eastwind Journeys and Journals” and “Mary Queen of Peace”.
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