Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Confusion and Frustration

... but mostly frustration.

I don't think that I have ever hated a class or teacher as much as I do my English class this year. I'll take my 6th grade science teacher over her, and he threw stools and slammed doors. Anyway, contrary to belief, I like English; reading is one of my favorite pasttimes, and good literature never ceases to amaze me. I did not sign up for AP Literature and Composition simply because of the points it would add to my GPA (though, I admit, that definitely played a factor), rather so I could better myself in writing and possibly read some great books. Is that so much to ask? But I digress...

Today, my teacher (who shall remain nameless) decides to go over study questions (requiring much more analysis as opposed to "find the answer in the book" sort of stuff) for Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (not particularly interesting to me but I deal). For some reason unbeknowest to myself, this week she has been unmotivated to teach at all. Like yesterday, we went over questions without so much as a correction and then she gets annoyed when we don't have the right answer and has us do a writing assignment on something already correctly and thoroughly answered by a student. Moving on to today... The questions become more of a pop quiz: each of us is assigned 2-3 questions from the packet that should have already been filled out, and we present our answers for the class to take notes. Not only is that annoying (I'm not one for public speaking), but it is also no help what-so-ever. She did not make an effort to even correct us. One guy presents his answer and she says (and I quote) "Mhm... that doesn't seem right" and proceeds to type in his grade on the computer in front of her face. Would it have been stupid of me to ask her "Then what is the right answer?" Whatever, I can deal with that; however, with her following actions, I could not.

Another student proceeds to share his answer with the class. What he says never came across my thoughts as I read the book yesterday. So, I think to myself "Where did he find that? He's either looking way into the text or it's probably from Sparknotes". But it's really none of my business. Turns out, it's the latter, and our teacher goes insane. Not the overly dramatic, wild insane, but the quiet anger and frustration with wide eyes that stare at you as if it will melt the flesh off your face. She goes on a tangent about how we, as a class, are unable to think for ourselves and rely on other sources to tell us what we are reading... What.the.fuck. Just because one person shares outside information does not mean the entire class uses it as well.

And after her lovely speech, she tells us "I'm done for today," and goes to her desk to sit. Oh, but not before explaining that we have an essay tomorrow and that she will be scouring Sparknotes tonight to ensure that we do not plagerize.

The cherry on top of this is that after class, she holds back a group of students (myself included) telling us that we must attend an optional writing workshop to improve our essay writing skills. For the record, in this group of students, is one of the few people who holds an A in the class, and as for myself, she used my thesis paragraph as a good example not too long ago. Why the hell should I go to this shit when I fully know that I am a better writer than some not required to do so?

Enough of my ranting. Maybe a little "Open Happiness" will cheer me up...

Title Credit: Sum 41

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