Why Learn?

By Kayla B

ELA is a core course of instruction where students learn to develop speaking and writing skills. To some, English is a wearisome and boring subject. However, instead of essays and busy work, one teacher makes an effort to make English more engaging.

Jennifer Alrushaid passionately teaches as an English teacher at Yerba Buena High School, and has been helping students grow for six years. Despite being an English teacher, Alrushaid wasn’t always a writer.

Ms. Alrushaid: “I don’t think I enjoyed writing until I was later in high school, when I became involved in journalism and debate and that kind of thing, where I was thinking critically and using language to consider what my opinions about the world were.”

Alrushaid believes that the ability to articulate your thoughts about the world properly is important. To her, reading and writing can open our minds to realities we may have not seen before.

Ms. Alrushaid: “I think mostly it happened in college. I started reading a lot of history and writing that was focused on civil rights, on feminism, and kind of power and changing society’s cultures, laws, in a way that made me think, 'oh wow!' There's so many really important ideas that can change the way people think, and then I started seeing these ideas expressed in poetry and that became really powerful for me.”

As a teacher, Alrushaid works hard to constantly improve and connect student’s learning to not just the standards, but to their interests as well. Alrushaid is always actively working towards better understanding her student’s needs.

Ms. Alrushaid: “I'm constantly evolving because I'm constantly reflecting. From one period to the next, I'll have different things to talk about or share and as you can see in this class, there are so many different personalities; and I think that as a teacher, we have to recognize who we are and grow in order to be, as a person, a better teacher. So some ways I have evolved as a teacher since I started are that I've come to understand the psychology of education better, like what motivates us. What is learning? What is important for us to learn? How do we best learn?“

Alrushaid is also not a huge fan of assigning letter grades, as she believes that all students have their own strengths, weaknesses, and unique skill sets.

Ms. Alrushaid: “I have a problem with grades in general. Grades are putting a label on someone and I think a narrative grade would be more meaningful because I can write about the strengths and the areas for growth for each student. Because everyone is learning at different times, different things.”

Alrushaid never stops looking out for better ways of teaching, and has zero plans of retiring anytime soon. Alrushaid puts in the extra time and effort to make sure all students can have an engaging learning experience.