Pages 62-103

In this section of Teach With Your Heart by Erin Gruwell, she feels the struggles of being a teacher as well as an adult. She writes, "In the past, when I felt such a void, I could turn to my siblings for support. Unfortunately, in my new marriage, my husband didn't understand my feelings of emptiness or my attachment to my students. When I was teaching, my life seemed to make sense. I felt fulfilled. In the classroom I felt useful, but at home I felt inadequate." (75.) When the new school year begins again, Erin once again has a classroom full of the unwanted "B-A-D" students. She starts the school year off dealing with a lot of the same struggles that she had faced the previous year. She also helps some of her former students apply for college.
I absolutely love the part about the "ten former students crammed into two cars and made the pilgrimage to my apartment," (75.) When writing this novel, Erin has a way with words that makes you laugh. This act showed the attachment and dedication that these students had to the one teacher who gave them a chance; they appreciated everything that she did for them. I think that it was a really good idea for Erin to invite her brother to the class as a guest speaker, because the students seemed to really enjoy it and Erin finally got the response out of her new class that she was looking for. Her decision to deal with "real issues" was a good one, because she finally was able to connect to her new class in a way that she hadn't been able to before.