Reviews for ENGL301

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David Simon ENGL301 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/20/2023	Professor Simon is one of the best professors I've taken. If you pay attention to him and his mannerisms, you understand he's trying to listen to your comments fully (even if you bs them), and find some connection or help you expand that thought. There are weekly discussion boards due before class, which are easy to complete, some of the readings are long but you can get away with skimming some of them. Participate in his class! He's amazing and if you're an education major, observing him will help you understand how to help your students expand their thoughts. TAKE HIS CLASS! People take his other courses solely because he's amazing!
David Simon ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/25/2023	Professor Simon was the best. All of the weekly readings were interesting and prompted great discussions. He was very accommodating and gave excellent, in-depth feedback that definitely helped me improve as a writer.
Sara Wilder ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2023	I LOVE Prof. Wilder. One of my favorite professors so far. She is super understanding and her goal is so evidently to ensure that her students learn. Your grade is based on completion, so you get an A by completing 16/18 discussion posts, all four major assignments (2 papers, 1 zine, 1 presentation), and revising two of the major projects for the final. The lower grades are simply fewer assignments. This class is mostly discussion based, and every discussion is super open. She never presents her opinion as correct but rather pushes you to consider every idea. She does take some time to grade major assignments, but she is also giving you a wealth of feed, so it is understandable. Would 10/10 recommend this class with Prof. Wilder to everyone!!
Sara Wilder ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2023	Absolutely loved class with Professor Wilder! She always facilitated an open discussion and was genuinely interested in our opinions. She never presented an opinion as being wrong, but always pushed us to expand our thoughts further. The goal of this class is truly to have students learn. She did not assign grades or points, but rather the final grade was determined by the number of assignments completed which meant you got out of the course what you wanted.
Robert Levine ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2022	He is very easy to reach outside of the classroom and is super quick to respond to emails. He is unbelievably quick to grade papers and even gives detailed feedback going as far as correcting students' grammar. He is sweet and understanding of situations that might require an extension. You can tell that he genuinely likes teaching. After about 4-5 weeks in, it does focus heavily on Frederick Douglass and I can't say I'm personally interested in the topic but he's very enthusiastic about the subject and it makes up for it (a little). He appreciates students having their own thoughts and understandings of the work. Overall, I am very happy with the class. Would take again!
Robert Levine ENGL301 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/09/2022	Pretty harsh grader, classes are boring. The actual content is kinda interesting, but it feels more like American literature/a class on Frederick Douglass. He's not super personable, though he is quick to respond to emails and grade assignments. He likes to go on tangents and the majority of the class is on their computers definitely not paying attention to him. I don't know that I've learned much from this class and I honestly regret taking this section.
John MacIntosh ENGL301 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/19/2022	Really great guy! Dr. MacIntosh is incredibly nice and caring. He is very understanding and caring about his students and what they may be going through. He makes the classroom a very good learning environment for discussion-based classes and tries to engage meaningful conversations. He is thorough in the reviews of texts and makes sure that every students comprehends what they read. I found that he was a pretty lenient and easy grader. He leaves pretty good comments on essay assignments to know how to improve. The final was an accumulation of the semester, so it would be wise to take notes of keywords/concepts for the different units. Overall, he is a great guy that is a fantastic teacher! Definitely consider taking him.
Kim Coles ENGL301 Anonymous 05/05/2022	Kim Coles is an incredible, incredible professor! ENGL301 is a notoriously useless, disliked class, but Coles' version was my favorite class since starting at UMD. Professor Coles is incredibly knowledgable and passionate about what she teaches, and she is a very understanding professor. For example, I emailed her after the submission deadline had passed asking to redo a paper, and she allowed me an extension to improve it. She also pushed back the reading schedule when most of us had not done the reading one day, no penalization. She isn't an "easy" professor, but she understands being a student is hard, and she prioritizes learning and discussions over her pre-set format. Class is way more fun if you do the readings, which in my opinion were always very rich and interesting! (We read Love songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and Felon: Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts, for some examples!)
David Simon ENGL301 Expecting an A efriedm3 12/07/2021	David Simon is a good human being. He is empathetic, thoughtful, and cares about his students. However, this class was required and painfully boring to me. I didn't care for the reading or Shakespeare, and I really worked on other classes in this class. The papers were easy for me, and as long as you do the readings and you contribute in a thoughtful way you'll do well overall. Simon really is a great professor. Very bright and compassionate. He's a bit more reserved and rather dull in tone, but you're making a good choice if you choose him as your professor.
Robert Levine ENGL301 Anonymous 04/21/2021	I really like Professor Levine, he truly is a good professor and engages with his students. He has a witty sense of humor too, and is open to all perspectives. I do think the readings are a bit dry like others have said, but he always makes it interesting when we talk about it in class by pointing out some things. If you participate more in class I think it's more interesting, so maybe it depends on who you are. However, I will say that for ENGL301 you're basically taking a version of american lit, and sometimes feels like a class about Frederick Douglass (I'm assuming bc that's what he studies and enjoys). I wish there was a bit more variety, even though we do study various things - they're shorter than the Douglass topics.
Scott Trudell ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/26/2021	Never before have I had a professor who prioritized the wellbeing of his students as Dr. Trudell. You could tell he really cared about us and wanted us to learn and succeed. Make no mistake though, he expects a lot from his students, so you'll have to work hard throughout the semester. But taking a course with him was definitely worthwhile.
Blake Wilder ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2019	Pros: Knows his stuff, approachable, isn't berating, has reasonable standards. Great course materials. Runs pretty productive and respectful classroom discourse. Cons: Like another reviewer said, takes forever to get feedback and grades to students. Granted, he has some extenuating circumstances rn but final grades have been due for a while and no major grades have been released, even for things from September. This didn't ruin my ENGL301 experience, but for people with grade anxiety, strict parents, or financial aid this may be a huge issue.
David Wyatt ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/16/2016	Professor Wyatt is an incredible teacher. He is so engaging and passionate about writers it is impossible not to become passionate about his class. He supports all of his students to do their very best. He is so educated and reminds me of why I love to learn.
Laura Rosenthal ENGL301 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/31/2015	Honestly, she's fine. Like she isn't the best but isn't the worst. I feel like i didn't learn much in the class and she's boring and drones on but she isn't hard. Had daily readings, class exercises, 1 paper, 4 quizzes, a research project, and a final exam. Wasn't too demanding or difficult just a bit boring she talks for the entire class
Christina Walter ENGL301 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/05/2012	I'm taking ENGL301 right now with Christina. She is really easy to talk to, and more knowledgable than any other professor I've known. That said, she is a fair ("hard") grader and doesn't hand out As. This class also focuses a lot more on critical theory than most other 301 instructors. If you want to have a good base for future literary studies, take this class with Christina.
Jane Donawerth ENGL301 Expecting an A twd123 01/28/2012	I just took this course and I have to say I'm shocked by how positive the reviews for Donawerth are. This class is one of those classes where every student in the room bonded because of the mutual annoyance felt for the teacher. I honestly feel like I didn't learn anything that will help me succeed in my upper level English courses. Everyday in class she would simply blather on and on about topics that no one understood. Then she'd ask questions that, due to her poor teaching skills, no one knew the answers to. This lead to an incredibly awkward, silent class in which only one or two people would raise their hands if only to break the tense silences. She does not assign adequate point values to assignments. An extremely draining 30-minute group presentation ended up being worth only a part of the 10% participation grade. And when adding up the percentages on her syllabus my friends and I realized that she was grading out of 102%, not 100%. I received an A in the class and did not read a single thing book/article/short story that she assigned. So, getting an A is not a problem if you're good at spinning BS. But if you actually want to learn something and have a good time, take this class with someone else! Honestly, the only good thing about this class was all of the inside jokes that we all made about her.
Randy Ontiveros ENGL301 Anonymous 08/15/2011	Great great teacher! I will admit at first I signed up for his class because he had the highest percentage of A's AND best reviews, but after the first essay, you find that he has made his engl301 class more difficult. It really is not an easy A. After my first submission, I was sorely tempted to drop the class, but he promised to teach us a lot, so I stuck with it. Best decision ever. He taught me so much in one semester and made it seem as though the grade really wasn't important. If a teacher can make students care more about learning than what they got in the class, then that's just amazing. I highly recommend this class! By the end, you will have improved your writing and come out still loving English.
Randy Ontiveros ENGL301 Anonymous 05/13/2011	Ontiveros is a fantastic teacher. Be warned, though, he has made his 301 class a bit more difficult, so don't expect an easy A (the grade breakdown is therefore inaccurate, as he will warn the students on the first day of this.) I still don't regret taking this class (even though I might not get an A) just because I have learned a great deal about writing from him. He's super knowledgeable and a great teacher.
David Wyatt ENGL301 Expecting an A- ycha 12/01/2010	I loved Dr. Wyatt! Everything he said sounded quotable; this was the most (dare I say it?) life-changing course that I've taken here at College Park. He's extremely intelligent and insightful. Many English majors are cocky, thinking they have nothing to improve on when it comes to their writing. This class proves otherwise. I have no doubt that he will make you a much better writer by the end of this course, and perhaps, a deeper, independent thinker as well--not a mere "repeater" of the cliches. That's not to say this class is easy. He is an incredibly hard grader on the papers--he gives you the grades he thinks you rightfully deserve. There are approx. 5 papers total (interesting topics), a group discussion panel on Hamlet, and NO EXAMS. All the books we read were interesting under his analysis. Be warned though: if you miss a class, you have to write a two-page paper to make up for it. All in all, I would recommend his class to any English major!
Randy Ontiveros ENGL301 Expecting an A Allie Jandro Gibeily 08/02/2010	Professor Ontiveros is by far one of the best professors i have had at UMD. He seriously cares about his students, and LOVES when people come to office hours. In the Literary subculture, I have found that many people take themselves too seriously and would rather hide behind a facade of intelligence than actually explain the things they think and believe -- Ontiveros is everything BUT that. He never tries to intimidate students, and seems to really love what he teaches. That said, 301 being a gateway course, he couldn't take that much liberty with the curriculum... but when he could, he did (making literary comparisons to Eminem and The Hills... unheard of, but AWESOME). Take any class with him you can, I absolutely plan on it.
Robert Levine ENGL301 Expecting a B- banders8 03/26/2010	One of the best professors I've had at Maryland. He's open to his students prospectives. The material he chooses is not the most interesting but he makes it entertaining.
Melanie Faith ENGL301 Anonymous 12/30/2008	I had a horrible experience with Dr. Faith. First day, she started class early and she assigned work based on books that weren't in any of the three stores near College Park for the start of term. I wrote her a polite email asking about the class time and the assignments, and she was extremely rude in response. She told me I had a faulty watch and that I would just have to deal with what happened if I didn't do the work because it wasn't her fault the bookstores in the area didn't have her books. I was appalled and dropped her class immediately after receiving her entirely obnoxious and unsympathetic response. I went out of my way to research and find a 301 teacher with a more reasonable attitude for this coming term.
Kari Kraus ENGL301 Expecting an A BleakHarvest 11/18/2008	Kari is as intelligent as she is enthusiastic. Her projects are interesting, her book selections are excellent and there is a scholarly atmosphere in all she teaches. Her field of study is wide ranging and if you give her a chance, she'll find a way to get her hook into you so that you'll find them fascinating too. Quick note: Participate if you wish to get a high grade!!
Jane Donawerth ENGL301 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/30/2008	I was nervous about this class at first because there's so many different things to cover, but it was actually fun! Don't skip any classes because it hurts your grade. If you don't do all the short packet readings, Professor Donawerth is pretty good at recapping them but you should still skim them because they're usually really important in using for your papers. If you have trouble with your papers, go in and talk to her! She helps so much & has a rewrite for almost every paper. It was definitely a substantial amount of work to get an A, but if you try hard & make appointments with her for your papers, it's definitely doable.