Donna Monahan

I am not a big fan of most English classes, but I liked this class. The papers she assigned were FUN to write (satire, analysis of a cartoon, analysis of an advertisement). When I struggled on papers, she was always available in her office to help for extended lengths of time, up to an hour. On several occasions, she read and constructively criticized my papers. Due to her diligence my abilities as a writer dramatically improved. Also, she runs lively class discussions based on assigned readings. She has an excellent grasp of the English language and speaks eloquently. For example, she described something "as distasteful as maggots on a wedding cake."

Monahan tends to play favorites. If you're not her favorite, you're not very respected.

The assignments were "ok" I suppose, but it comes back to the above issue: if you're not her favorite, don't expect a high grade.

Donna Monahan was one of the two worst teachers I had in my college career. I am about to get my Masters Degree so I have had a few teachers. Donna had her favorite students by the second week of class. The rest of us did not have much a chance. She and the favorites would carry on with discussions only occasionally seeking input from other class members. Most of the time we were simply observers. I left Donna Monahan's class vowing to never take English again. Admittedly my first paper was not high quality, written hurriedly. I received a C+. I worked diligently on the next three major assignments. I got the second paper back with a C+. I was surprised, but did not think much about it. However, on the third paper I worked myself to death. I had two counselors, one other English teacher, and several educated friends read it. They all basically said It's great, don't change anything. Monahan gave it a C+. I believe she pigeon-holed me as a C+ student after my first paper. Again on the final assignment I spent four weeks writing and refining. I had ten scholarly people read it. Again, they all said it was wonderful. By the way, I was a psychology major, so English was not my forte. I got another C+ and in big letters across the top of the paper Monahan wrote VAPID. I was in shock. No teacher should ever write anything like that even if it is true. I really doubted my writing ability after that comment. A wise teacher at Sonoma State encouraged me to take another English class so that I would leave college with a positive view of the subject. I took a 400 level class in Postcolonial Literature and was the only non-English major in the group. I learned to be a better writer, I learned to think critically (something I did not get from Monahan's class) and I realized that I do not write VAPID papers. By the way, I showed that paper to my English teacher at Sonoma State. This woman has a Ph.D. in English. She read it and wrote only positive, constructive comments. What a difference! Kathy Cortez M.A. candidate in Psychology