Professor jennifer hurley
I am honored to present this wise essay written by my student, Bilkalpa Chakraborty. She writes that “Humans are known for their brains. When the education system does not respect the human brain, it is dehumanizing the students.” Read her full essay below.—Jennifer Hurley The …
I have probably said this too, at one time, though now I am ashamed to admit it. The educational system conditions us to think that students must keep pace—and that as good teachers, it is our role to must ensure that they keep pace. But …
More and more, I am coming to believe that school is a place that is, sadly, antithetical to learning. It is a place where students pretend to learn in exchange for a grade that certifies that they “learned,” and are thus qualified to move on …
Dear Readers, Please enjoy this insightful article written by my stellar student, Jieye Fang. Most of us are probably very familiar with the words “critical thinking.” We hear about it all the time, both in schools and outside of schools. Since people are constantly talking …
We must stop using rewards and punishments in order to motivate our students. I have believed this for years, but I have never felt it so strongly as last week, when I discussed intrinsic motivation with my community college English composition students. My Zoom class …
I used to have a folder on my computer called “rubrics,” which contained over a dozen variations of rubrics for each writing class I taught. Some were point-based, others descriptive, such as the one below. I worked hard to craft these rubrics, taking care to …
Like many teachers, I have spent countless hours trying to devise a perfect grading system, one that is equal parts fair and rigorous, that will reward students for hard work and punish certain behaviors that I saw as detrimental to my students’ progress. For twenty …
A few years ago, the California State University (CSU) system decided to drop Introduction to Literature as a graduation requirement for its students. Shortly thereafter, our college and many other California community colleges followed suit. As a consequence of this change, students would go through …
I share this essay written by my wonderful student Elisa Castillo so that we can learn from her wisdom how to be happy in these trying times. –Jennifer Hurley We were created to be happy. The whole purpose of our life journey is to find …
by Osvaldo Granados My student Osvaldo speaks truth to power in this extraordinary critique of grades. I am so proud to be his teacher. “…The absence of grades is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for deep thinking and desire to engage in it” (Kohn …