Cruz, Rita Mae

Lecturer

English language and literature (English as a Second Language, teaching language and literacy education, food and literature, diaspora literature)

Career

Lecturer, Ateneo de Manila University · Department of English · current

Recent courses

ENGL 11
ENLIT 12

Hidden Heron

A-able if you show interest and take her comments

CourseENLIT 12

hi! i had her for ENLIT 12 last sem. not sure how she handles ENGL 11, but here’s my experience with her: pros: > she’s vv caring towards her students! we had two sync sessions where instead of having a lecture, she checked in on how we were doing. she prepared prompts for each of us to answer (e.g., what made you happy this week?), which not only allowed us to de-stress but also helped us get to know our classmates better. > she’s SUPER responsive to any questions or concerns! i was her beadle, and she would always respond quickly (within a few minutes or hours) and have very clear answers. > deadlines for minor reqs (e.g., discussion boards) were flexible! they would show up on the canvas calendar to guide us in our pacing, but they wouldn’t mark as missing if we weren’t able to do them on time. there wasn’t any penalty for submitting late. however, major reqs (e.g., midterm paper) had strict deadlines, although she would still accept late submissions (with deductions). > recordings of synchronous sessions were always posted within the same day. sync sessions were mostly for clarification of instructions, discussion of async readings, and breakout rooms with groupmates. > for our midterm paper, she allowed optional consultations if we submitted a draft early (either through written comments or a synchronous meeting if you wanted more guidance). she also gave an initial grade on our first draft. her comments were super helpful—she’d give us points for improvement without being too harsh and leave notes of encouragement where she thought we did well :)) i was surprised that she bumped my initial grade of 92 to 100 after i incorporated her suggestions haha, following her advice really helps a lot! cons: > she only graded our outputs during midterms / advisory period, so until then we didn’t really receive any feedback (except for the midterm paper as stated above). after that point, our other scores on canvas weren’t returned. we received grades on aisis but didn’t get to see the breakdown for the second half of the sem. idk what happened here, but just note that people were also dealing with covid + odette at that time. overall, A-able, especially if you show her that you’re interested in learning + if you take her comments and suggestions into consideration! i genuinely enjoyed the class and having her as a prof sm, you’d be in good hands :))more

Anonymous

No quizzes; consult her and scores stay high

positive

CourseENLIT 12
LeniencyYes
WorkloadMedium

Hello! I had Ma'am Cruz two years ago, so I'm not sure if all of this still applies, but from what I remember, we didn't have any quizzes. The readings were fairly short and easy enough to understand, as ENLIT 12 focuses more on literature. We had to write a reflection essay for the midterm and a proposal essay for the final (find a problem, discuss it, and suggest a solution for it). As other comments here have said, you have the option to consult with Ma'am beforehand, and it's highly advisable that you do so; she's pretty detailed with her feedback, and you can score high so long as you follow her feedback. Besides the midterm and finals, she has a lot of group activities (for which the groups are randomly selected); so the workload can be a bit hectic sometimes, but is still manageable all in all. All in all, I would say she's a pretty good prof, very easy to talk to and consult with, and clear with what she wants from your work. The only downside is that she takes a long time to return work, but she does grade high (mid-90s is definitely doable), especially if you follow her comments. I'd say easy B+, A with moderate effort. Good luck,!more

Anonymous

Writing-heavy, grades late, take every consultation

mixed

WorkloadHeavy

For my class, I don't recall being marked late (our beadle was always absent). I always came around 30 minutes after and I would still recite. She doesn't really give you back your grades until the end of the semester. At most, she would give 1-2 grades back. When I asked her once about it, she told me to guess my grade based on the assessments 😭 I also just do consultation because she offers it for every assessment so take that opportunity to do so. You can gauge what she wants from you because she gives constructive feedback! She doesn't have quizzes or long tests but she did do a surprise quiz once, super short lang tho! Her course is writing heavy, we had 2 personal papers along with 2 groupworks. But in keep in mind this might be different because I had her for purposive communication. Personally I got an A but I would say shes an easy B/B+more

Golden Heron

Easy B if you consult; grades run low

negative

LeniencyNo
WorkloadHeavy

also she grades quite low. Like not bagsak levels but lower that u would expect ur output to be. She has very specific things that she looks for in ur output, so consulting with her while making it would rlly increase ur grade (papers which i asked her to give comments on got a b+). Finally, expect to do a lot of group presentations and discussion boards on canvas (these don’t notify in the assignments or canvas at all so make sure to check every week). Overall an easy Bmore

Jolly Egret

Considerate if you communicate; strict on late and traffic

positive

LeniencyYes

Idk if the same rule applies but she usually tells the beadle to mark u late if u arrive after the prayer. She was my first class kasi but the prayer usually starts 5 mins after the class bell. She’s pretty considerate (example is she allows u to submit late outputs) so i assume she’ll be lenient if ure coming from another building. She wasn’t very lenient with students who said they were stuck in traffic, so that’s something to keep in mind. Overall, just communicate ur circumstance w her and she’ll most likely give u a bigger grace period esp if it’s a valid enough reason:))more

Lively Yak

Easy B/B+, A with moderate effort

positive

4.0 attainableYes
LeniencyYes
WorkloadMedium

Solid prof IMO, easy B/B+, A with moderate effort. She has a gentle, accommodating personality, but she gives quite a bit of groupwork and will make you work for an A. Still, the tasks are reasonable, especially if you get good groupmates, and an A for your papers (which make up most of your grade, I think) is definitely on the table if you write with good grammar and a logical flow. All in all, I'd say her standards are reasonable.more

Daring Quail

A-able ENGL 11 if you write well

positive

CourseENGL 11
4.0 attainableYes
WorkloadMedium

Had her also for ENGL 11, and I don't remember whether or not she had a grace period, but she seemed fairly understanding all in all (like with late submissions), so I think she'll understand if you explain your circumstances. Like the others said, easy B/B+, A with moderate effort. She gave a lot of activities for ENGL 11, but the workload was fairly manageable with good groupmates (I do think she grades a bit strictly for groupwork, though). Still, A-able if you write well.more

Happy Crane

I haven’t seen reviews on them yet e. Tyia!

Hidden Heron

A-able if you show interest and take her comments

CourseENLIT 12

Anonymous

No quizzes; consult her and scores stay high

positive

CourseENLIT 12
LeniencyYes
WorkloadMedium

Anonymous

Writing-heavy, grades late, take every consultation

mixed

WorkloadHeavy

Golden Heron

Easy B if you consult; grades run low

negative

LeniencyNo
WorkloadHeavy

Jolly Egret

Considerate if you communicate; strict on late and traffic

positive

LeniencyYes

Lively Yak

Easy B/B+, A with moderate effort

positive

4.0 attainableYes
LeniencyYes
WorkloadMedium

Daring Quail

A-able ENGL 11 if you write well

positive

CourseENGL 11
4.0 attainableYes
WorkloadMedium

Happy Crane

I haven’t seen reviews on them yet e. Tyia!

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Cruz, Rita Mae

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