Reviews for ENGL398A

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Dennis Winston ENGL398A Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/29/2024	Very fun class, be aware this class is structured around art-related assignments, so this class will be a bit more challenging if you are not some sort of artist. Professor loves teaching, but I wish he did teach more about writing as that's what we're being graded on, but the discussions he holds are engaging and entertaining.
Caroline Wilkins ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 04/18/2024	i think the highlight of this class is in its discussions. the energy is rarely ever low, and the readings she chooses are interesting, insightful, and leave a lot of room for conversation. i would often find myself still talking about the things discussed in class well after it was over because of how invested i was. the professor herself often has a lot of interesting things to say, and can be very funny and lighthearted in a way that keeps peoples’ attention even early in the morning. i can understand people who don’t like a professor who has a lot of anecdotes or “talks too much,” but if you’re taking this class early in the morning it’s kind of necessary to have a bit of idle talk to keep people awake. however, in terms of being a class for improving your professional writing skills, it’s not the strongest. for one, none of the assignments get graded until finals week. most of your feedback is going to come from other students during group workshops, but you get maybe about ~10ish minutes each to read anywhere between 4-8 pages of content you’ve never seen before from at least two other people, which leaves very little time for genuine critique (especially because your discussions are graded, you’ll often have situations where you write total nonsense just to have something written down). when i did get my work graded at the end of the semester, i got high marks, but the critiques from the professor felt too vague to really be helpful, so i never really learned how to improve. it’s not the worst class. the professor is flexible with due dates, responsive to questions, and generally tries to create a welcoming environment. she can be a bit blunt and gossipy, but she does try to be kind in most cases. there’s around 5 papers and a presentation, but these all tend to be catered to writing to your personal interests and don’t typically feel too much like busy work (except for the grant proposal). overall, it’s not overly difficult and she tries to not make it boring.
Dennis Winston ENGL398A Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/03/2024	This professor gossips too much about hip-hop music and spends literally 1 hr of class every time that is completely irrelevant to the class. Also, there's a lack of peer critique and feedback on writing. This is supposed to be a writing class. I have no problem getting good grades but I am not learning anything from this professor. I strongly regret taking a class from him.
Caroline Wilkins ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2023	Positives: Professor Wilkins is very passionate about English and writing and she has good course materials for us to learn about how to be a good professional writer. She is willing to work with you and make accommodations and extensions as needed. The assignments and work themselves are not bad at all, and you get to write about things that you are passionate about. There was a lot of peer editing which was helpful. There were 2 great TA's who were very willing to help with any questions we had. We also got to learn about our classmates and their connection to the arts throughout the semester which was really cool! Negatives: Professor Wilkins talks a lot during class, which does not give us much time to participate (and participation grade is very much enforced). She also often makes a lot of inappropriate and just unnecessary comments for our classroom setting, including sharing a lot of personal opinions and talking about students without their knowledge. It just didn't seem very kind and I was worried that at some point in the semester I would become a talking point just for sending in an email. However, my absolute biggest complaint is that I received no grades at all for any of the major assignments until the end of finals week. The end of finals week! This is really unacceptable and I'm not sure if this is even allowed. So if you are someone who wants to know how they are doing in their class throughout the semester, this is not the professor for you. I was very diligent with the work I put into this class, never missed a class except for being sick, and never turned in an assignment late. So I'm just a little disappointed that I'm only now finding out I didn't do as well on some of the major assignments as I thought. With 2 TA's in the class, it's really not good that we didn't get any major assignment grades (besides participation and some hw's) until the last minute. If we don't get feedback throughout the semester on our writing, how are we supposed to learn how to be "professional writers?" The class would have been perfect if it weren't for these 2 things and I really wish it could have been different. Overall, if you're involved in the arts, this is an awesome and enjoyable professional writing class to take, provided you are okay with the negatives I mentioned above.
Caroline Wilkins ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2023	Kind of a harsh grader, very loud and lively even early in the morning. Not super available on email. She will tell you that she ignores emails from students if they are stupid questions. Also makes out of pocket and braggy comments. The TAs are great though. I wouldn't recommend taking this section with her.
Caroline Wilkins ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2023	She's a good professor in terms of knowing a lot about the arts. She's well versed and it definitely shows. She can be a bit snarky and even offensive at times. I really only took the class because I needed it. Unless you are really involved in the arts, I wouldn't take the class. A lot of the work relates to the art you produce. She also doesn't put in grades for major assignments until the last minute, so I don't really know what grade I'm going to get. I don't think I would take a class with her again.
Sara Faradji ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2023	I am not in the arts but decided to take this for my professional writing course, and I do not regret it at all! Prof. Faradji genuinely wants everyone to succeed. Her suggestions helped me improve various aspects of my writing while also improving my resume and portfolio. Would definitely recommend to anyone taking this course or others.
Mark Fitzgerald ENGL398A Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/03/2023	If you're artsy and don't want to take a professional writing course that's stale, take this class. His lectures are definitely easy to be distracted from and class is skippable at times. All you have to do is 3 major assignments, write 2 paragraphs about a reading passage every week and do a few peer reviews that require low effort. You get enough time to turn in assignments and he's flexible in terms of turning in assignments late and extending work. Class discussions are nice discussions about art that you can follow and contribute to and I can say my writing has improved from this course.
Thomas Earles ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2022	Took this class for professional writing, specifically for the arts. This was a really good class. We had 5 main assignments: manifesto, press release, long review, grant paper, and e-portfolio. And also a few smaller assignments. All the main assignments felt practical and important for a working creative person / arts adjacent career. He's a really nice person. I found him to be an easy grader, but I already came in with good writing and grammar skills. He also left comments back on my papers, which I appreciated.
Peter Witte ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/02/2020	I really enjoyed this class, probably because Peter was such a great professor. He's super understanding, outlines assignments in a really thorough and helpful way, and conducts peer review so that everyone gets both positive and constructive feedback. I definitely recommend taking this class, especially if you're an artist or enjoy interested in art.
Dennis Winston ENGL398A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2018	Awesome professor, really chill and down to earth. Also a big hip hop fan if you're into that.
Caroline Wilkins ENGL398A Expecting a B? Anonymous 05/05/2012	I have no idea why there are no reviews for Wilkins. She's a fantastic professor, and makes English interesting. She has high expectations, but is still fun and understanding. The papers you write are about stuff you care about, and about 5 response papers on some readings. One kinda bad thing is that she doesn't hand back papers in a timely fashion, and I have only one grade currently on ELMS, so I'm not exactly sure what my grade is.