ENGL487 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Sara Wilder ENGL487 Expecting a B+ blueterp310 05/08/2025	Wilder is a very sweet professor and very understanding and wanting to help her students in every aspect that she can when it comes to learning and understanding the lecture. There were a lot of readings, heavy ones too, as well as podcasts that we listened to so make sure you come to class prepared because sometimes there will be in-class discussions and activities but most of the time they're not graded but you will be observed for participation. You can miss a few of the discussions throughout the semester so it doesn't tank your grade too much if you miss a few! The class is very content heavy so make sure you're ready for the info and coursework.
Cecilia Shelton ENGL487 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/24/2024	She's an alright professor. While she has good course material, she can be lacking in other areas. For example, she is a little bit bad with technology and sometimes it takes her a couple minutes to get things rolling, or she will go about doing tasks in a roundabout way (i.e. peer reviews through ELMS groups instead of doing it through the assignment). Furthermore, sometimes during class, her explanations or questions can be quite longwinded and not concise, so it's difficult to understand exactly what she's looking for or what she wants. Also, ELMS didn't reflect our grades at the end of class and weren't finalized until a week after they were due which was quite frustrating. :/
Cecilia Shelton ENGL487 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/05/2023	Dr. Shelton is brilliant. Please, please, save yourself a headache with some other professor and take a class of hers! She is incredibly accommodating and supportive, which is hard to come by. The class is structured differently which takes a little getting used to, but that's only because she doesn't believe in traditional grading (which is a good thing!). She is also so personable and easy to talk to. Any English major or any non-English major would greatly benefit from her classes.
Cecilia Shelton ENGL487 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2021	I can’t believe more people haven’t reviewed her. She’s seriously awesome. Not a hard professor but you’ll learn a lot from her. She’s also so, so approachable and gives great feedback. The world would be a much better place with more people like Dr. Shelton
Vessela Valiavitcharska ENGL487 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2012	GREAT professor- I took this course as an upper level elective (I am a psyc. major), and expected it to be difficult. Though the material is challenging at first (she mostly assigns us primary texts to read; aristotle, Plato, Isocrates, and other prolific writers), Prof. Valiavitcharska is very good at breaking down the readings and discussing them in class (note- you MUST go to class to do well). She also assigns grades very fairly, is very responsive to student concerns, and if you put in the effort you will likely to well in this class. A great class and I would definitely recommend taking it - provides a great overview of rhetoric and way to improve your reading and writing skills (esp. if you're considering law school but aren't an english major) .

Sara Wilder
ENGL487

Expecting a B+
blueterp310
05/08/2025

Wilder is a very sweet professor and very understanding and wanting to help her students in every aspect that she can when it comes to learning and understanding the lecture. There were a lot of readings, heavy ones too, as well as podcasts that we listened to so make sure you come to class prepared because sometimes there will be in-class discussions and activities but most of the time they're not graded but you will be observed for participation. You can miss a few of the discussions throughout the semester so it doesn't tank your grade too much if you miss a few! The class is very content heavy so make sure you're ready for the info and coursework.

Cecilia Shelton
ENGL487

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/24/2024

She's an alright professor. While she has good course material, she can be lacking in other areas. For example, she is a little bit bad with technology and sometimes it takes her a couple minutes to get things rolling, or she will go about doing tasks in a roundabout way (i.e. peer reviews through ELMS groups instead of doing it through the assignment). Furthermore, sometimes during class, her explanations or questions can be quite longwinded and not concise, so it's difficult to understand exactly what she's looking for or what she wants. Also, ELMS didn't reflect our grades at the end of class and weren't finalized until a week after they were due which was quite frustrating. :/

Cecilia Shelton
ENGL487

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/05/2023

Dr. Shelton is brilliant. Please, please, save yourself a headache with some other professor and take a class of hers! She is incredibly accommodating and supportive, which is hard to come by. The class is structured differently which takes a little getting used to, but that's only because she doesn't believe in traditional grading (which is a good thing!). She is also so personable and easy to talk to. Any English major or any non-English major would greatly benefit from her classes.

Cecilia Shelton
ENGL487

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2021

I can’t believe more people haven’t reviewed her. She’s seriously awesome. Not a hard professor but you’ll learn a lot from her. She’s also so, so approachable and gives great feedback. The world would be a much better place with more people like Dr. Shelton

Vessela Valiavitcharska
ENGL487

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2012

GREAT professor- I took this course as an upper level elective (I am a psyc. major), and expected it to be difficult. Though the material is challenging at first (she mostly assigns us primary texts to read; aristotle, Plato, Isocrates, and other prolific writers), Prof. Valiavitcharska is very good at breaking down the readings and discussing them in class (note- you MUST go to class to do well). She also assigns grades very fairly, is very responsive to student concerns, and if you put in the effort you will likely to well in this class. A great class and I would definitely recommend taking it - provides a great overview of rhetoric and way to improve your reading and writing skills (esp. if you're considering law school but aren't an english major) .

Reviews for ENGL487