Read more about our English department!

By ADRIAN HERNANDEZ

STAFF WRITER

Mrs. Arteaga

What is the best encounter that you have had with a student?

“After so many years, it is hard to pick just one. [However], one good encounter I have had with a student [happened] mid-way through my teaching career. There was a student who was struggling in his classes and he was failing classes, but after he transferred to my English class, he was able to become successful. He finished up his credits and he was able to graduate, so that was a very rewarding encounter.”   

Mrs. Casey

What do you love the most about teaching?

“What I love most [about teaching] is that every day [poses] new challenges, but also [fun] surprises.”

Mr. Gomez

What is one of the funniest things you have witnessed while teaching?

“A few years ago during sixth period, the door was open and a bee [flew in] into a girl’s hair. She was going ballistic! She was running back and forth, so one of her friends had to go out there and pull the bee out of her hair. Then the whole class was in an uproar and it took about fifteen minutes to calm everybody down. It was funny. She [did not] get hurt and was even laughing afterward.”

Mr. Barragan

What made you want to become an English teacher?

“I always loved books and stories. I remember the wonderful magic of discussion about books in my middle school classroom.”

Ms. Leung

What do you love the most about being a teacher?

“My favorite part of being a teacher is being able to meet such wonderful students.”

Mrs. Piner

What is the hardest part of being an English teacher?

“[When you are a teacher,] you really have three jobs: planning, the actual teaching and the grading—especially the grading for English because there is a lot. [We have] to read every essay and give feedback. To make it a worthwhile experience takes a lot.”

Mrs. Robles

What is your favorite memory while being a teacher?

“One of my favorite memories as a teacher was during my first couple of years of teaching. I met a young man who was in a gang and through our conversations and him being in my class with me, he shared that he made the decision to get out of the gang life and to turn his life around. That, for me, is one of the most powerful moments I have had as a teacher.”

Ms. Rouw

What is your favorite college memory?

“My favorite college memory is from the University of La Verne, and I belonged to a study group where we were all taking the same classes together. [It is] not one specific event, but we would go to somebody’s house, bring food and we would hang out and study together, which felt like the most amazing studying brainstorming session ever. The group that did this did very well in our classes and we bonded really well with the teachers. What was really cool was that at the end, when we graduated, we threw a combined graduation party and all of our English teachers went to our college graduation party.”

Mrs. Santos

What is your most memorable high school moment?

“One of my most memorable high school moments was getting first place on an essay contest during my eleventh-grade year. [Another memorable moment was] having my mom at my graduation because she passed shortly after.”

Mr. Valentine

What made you want to become an English teacher?

“I loved my Russian literature class because of how different it was from all the other forms of literature that I had studied. Up to that point, I had already studied a whole lot of the world’s literature, but it was Russian literature that I found very interesting and most rewarding.”

Ms. Yep

What is your favorite college memory?

“It would be graduation–I was excited and nervous. [During the ceremony], my dad jumped over the rope and kissed me on the cheek as I was walking up to the graduation platform. He was so proud that he was crying and that was something super memorable.”