I have been deadly sick over the past few days so it was the perfect excuse to lay in bed and watch movies. One of my favorite movies, Freedom Writers (2007), was on. If you have not seen it (which I highly recommend you do), it is about a white, first year teacher named Mrs. Gruwell tasked with teaching integrative writing to underprivileged kids. The movie reminded me of this week’s lessons on contingencies theories. Contingencies theories are dependent on the situation and the behavior of the leaders and followers (PSU WC, L. 6). In the following case, Mrs. Gruwell exemplifies the situational theory, a kind of contingency theory where leaders change their behavior to be more effective (PSU WC, L.5). On the other hand, she does not illustrate Fiedler’s Contingency Model because in that model, leadership behavior remains consistent (PSU WC, L.6).
In the beginning of the movie, Mrs. Gruwell tells the students to journal, which will be ungraded and unread unless otherwise desired. Students roll their eyes, put in headphones, and completely dismiss Mrs. Gruwell, to them they have much more to worry about and what is a journal going to solve? There are kids dying on the streets and gangs forming everywhere. Mrs. Gruwell is constantly shut out by the students and even hated because she just does not understand what it is like to be them. Whatever she is teaching is just not clicking with the students and the class is extremely divided due to racial tension.
Mrs. Gruwell decides that something in her leadership style needs to change starting with her behavior, or otherwise known as using the situational approach. The situational approach focuses on directive and supportive behaviors and finding which one works best in what situation (PSU WC, L.5). In the beginning, Mrs. Gruwell’s main goal was to teach, she had high directive behaviors. Knowing she needed to adapt, she reaches out to the students and tries to understand them better, she worries about their home lives and their safety. This demonstrates high supportive behaviors. By the end of the movie, she becomes an effective leader through the coaching style by having both high directive and supportive behaviors (PSU).
The situational approach also stresses that leaders adapt to the competency and commitment of their followers (PSU WC, L.5). In the beginning, the students were neither competent nor committed, most had never even heard of the Holocaust. Knowing this, Mrs. Gruwell realized her students were developmental level two (D2), because they were both unwilling and unable to learn (PSU WC, L.5). She breaks down the information in her teaching lessons and makes it relatable to the students, teaching about the Holocaust and other ethnic violence. The students quickly realize what hate can do in the world and they begin trusting each other more and more. They also grow very fond of Mrs. Gruwell, who is constantly challenging them to do better. The students begin writing in their journals and find that is a perfect outlet for what is going on in their lives, they even trust Mrs. Gruwell enough to read them. By the end of the movie, the students moved up to developmental level four (D4), the most competent level, where there is little leadership intervening (PSU WC, L.5).
According to lesson 5, “to be effective, a leader must change his/her style to fit the demands of different situations” (PSU WC, L.5). Mrs. Gruwell may have been an effective teacher at any other school, or even teaching the senior honors class. But as we have seen, leadership is situational. By recognizing her students’ commitment and competency levels and becoming supportive, she adapted her leadership style to empower and educate “unreachable” students.
Citations:
LaGravenese, Richard, director. Freedom Writers. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2007.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Style and situational approaches. Retrieved from 12 February 2019 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1975088/modules/items/25786805.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 6: Contingency and Path Theories. Retrieved February 12, 2019, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1975088/modules