Stories of The Semester: Engl17 - Children's Literature and Story Telling

The words "every rose has its thorn" applies to this subject. While I wanted to enjoy a subject that seemed highly interesting, I couldn't do that with an instructor who has awful teaching strategies.

Allow me to paint a picture of how ninety-five percent of the class went this past semester: she (our instructor) required us a book, divided us into groups during prelims, midterms, and finals and asked us to report on a topic found in the book. She would give us quizzes and she wouldn't return our papers as soon as she finished grading them. We would go through each term almost clueless of our academic progress.

By the time midterms came, through the initiative of a brave student, we signed a petition letting the Dean of the School of Humanities become aware of our classroom situation. We had enough of our instructor's absence, unprofessional utterances towards some students, lack of actual teaching, habit of asking our Korean classmates to express themselves in their native tongue and having another Korean student translate for the rest of the class (an insult, I must say, since these Koreans come to the Philippines to learn English), and so much more. There was also this incident where she failed to show up on the scheduled date for the midterm exams.

Thankfully, though, our voices were heard by the Dean and during the last three weeks of the semester, our instructor was replaced by one of the finest teachers in the English Department. For three weeks I didn't find Children's Literature to be wasteland.

While some students were jubilant that our original instructor was asked to step down, some students didn't feel so good, knowing that that instructor was a working mom with two daughters in college and a rumored estranged husband. Now,you may call me mean or heartless, but she had it coming. Her home life does not excuse her lack of professionalism and poor teaching.

I also hear that she's holding a grudge against our class because she think it's our fault she's where she's at right now. But things happen for a reason, even the bad ones. She blames us, but has she blamed herself too? It sucks to be in her place right now, but what she needs to do is rise from her ashes brought by this debacle. Let this experience be a lesson to her.

And let this also be a lesson to any student bullied by a teacher: don't be afraid to stand up against your tyrant. Don't be afraid that standing up for yourself will affect your academics because the teacher might take revenge against you by failing you. It's about standing for what's right. It's about standing up for yourself.