THET285 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/04/2024	Maybe I am just a biased theatre kid, but this was my favorite class this semester. I have always been terrified of public speaking and it shows on my face too. However, I was so comfortable, confident, and prepared whenever I had to stand in front of our class because of Prof Barker's help. I found him extremely funny and witty, but picture your average theatre teacher here. He does sometimes go into mini-rants, which are kinda passive-aggressive, but nothing crazy. I fully believe your attendance will benefit how he grades you, so make sure to go to class. When it comes to tech, he does not like it, so make sure you are not on your phone. But overall, he is an easy grader as long as it is clear you put in the work.
Eran Eads THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024	He's a chill, interesting, and inspiring professor. He values coming to class on time, and genuine participation. Would deff recommend him and would take him again if i could.
Robert Smith THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/19/2024	Loved Rob. Had him last spring and THET285 was the highlight of a tough semester. He makes the class feel small and gets everyone to know each other. There were 4 presentations and a final, spaced out with 1-2 lectures for technique and introducing the next assignment. You also get participation points by giving classmates feedback and "workshopping" your draft speeches that act as a grade booster. A 2 hour class may seem like a lot for a 3 credit comm class but trust me, you'll wish it was longer than that. Wouldn't take any other comm over this 👏
Jennifer Ring THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/29/2024	Easiest class I've ever taken. She will give you an A as long as you put effort into what you're doing. Pretty much no work outside of class. Just be careful though. I thought this was a public speaking class but it was more of an acting class. Get ready to do weird acting exercises and act.
Jennifer Ring THET285 Expecting an A turtleknight247365 01/23/2024	amazing class. take it
Marissa Kennedy THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/22/2024	Marissa is one of the best professors you can get. I took her over the winter and she did class every other day. Her work was easy and she is so kind. This was a OC class but it went by like nothing becasue she made it simple and straightforward.
Robert Smith THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/17/2024	Awesome teacher and very nice human being. This class actually made me better at public speaking, which doesn't seem to be the case for a lot of other oral comm classes. Only thing I didn't like is you need a 95 for an A, but that wasn't very hard to achieve if you listen to his advice. Make sure you participate as much as possible though to get feedback.
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/04/2024	prof barker was a really fun guy! although some might find his humor a bit annoying? either way, he's a really nice guy. always willing to help you improve and give you pointers with speeches if you just ask him. i almost got an A- because i lowkey didn't put in the work until the end, but he can tell you have given your presentations effort, he will give you a good grade on them. he's particular about being on your phone and being late, but if something comes up, he's super flexible if you let him know.
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/26/2023	Professor Barker's intolerance for phones and lateness made his class feel like a high school one. Regardless of this, he managed to make the class enjoyable with his witty remarks and interesting assignments. His class was one of my favorites, however, I felt he was a harsh grader. No one in my course ever received a 100% on a major assignment, even if they had done an excellent job. Besides being a somewhat harsh grader, Professor Barker is a nice guy whose passion for speech really shows.
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2023	Mr. Barker isn't a bad guy, but if you can take another professor, do it. The class itself is fairly easy, we had about 13/14 presentations, I believe, and he had us speak in front of the class at least once weekly. The presentations themself were probably more entertaining and fun than regular comm presentations, but the lectures were so boring. He doesn't allow any electronics, and drones on for the entire class period about useless information. The grading is so heavily up to his interpretation, and he seems to believe the information he teaches is the most important information ever. Prepare to participate and prepare to be bored.
Robert Smith THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	Fantastic supportive man and a fun class! I really learned a lot. Take this class for your comm credit, you won’t regret it.
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/24/2023	This class was so much fun to take! Professor Barker is very particular about some things like phone usage and timeliness, but he is also very willing to make accommodations or at least hear you out. He gives you ample time to complete assignments and is willing to take things late if you give him a heads up. No one in my class was a theater major, but we all learned something and improved our speaking skills.
Eran Eads THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2023	Discussion based class and he is fairly entertaining.
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2023	prof barker is just kind of a weird guy but like that's what i expected going into it because he's a theatre teacher. like he is a very generic theatre teacher guy. the assignments aren't super difficult, almost every speaking assignment you get to have your notes/script in front of you, there were like three things we had to memorize but they were all very short so those weren't hard. it is lame that he's having us do our final presentations during our final exam time like i wanna go home fr but it's whatever. he's a little weird about attendance/showing up late so i just sucked it up and tried not to be late/skip ever. if you email him/talk to him in advance and give him a reason tho then he's fine. there were a bunch of little homework assignments but those also were not bad. he was pretty nice despite his quirkiness. we all gotta get our FSOC credit and prof barker is not a bad choice to get it done with!
Drew Barker THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/20/2022	Professor Barker was easily my favorite professor this semester. There were at least 6 different presentations to give throughout the class, however, we were given plenty of time to prepare and rehearse. He generally gives feedback on most assignments, whether that is words of encouragement or suggestions for improvement. For all presentations, he uses the same rubric which made adjusting based on feedback easier for future presentations. There were not many busy work assignments or things to turn in that I did not see a purpose behind. For every assignment that was given, I understood what I was supposed to be gaining from completing it. I am definitely a better speaker/performer after leaving this class.
Ronya Anderson THET285 Anonymous 12/14/2022	Prof. Anderson is very nice and clearly knowledgeable about public speaking, but she falls short as a professor. The class was very unorganized and was memorization heavy. We had a show and tell every Monday which was fine and I personally liked the idea of it. But we had to memorize what we say for the show and tell which we all felt derailed from the main purpose of the class, theatrical and presentation techniques. We also had to memorize a few speeches and recite it. And Wednesday classes were chill and had some writing exercises and for some weeks we did not have a Wednesday class at all. The class itself was pretty easy and straightforward. But not everyone is good at memorization and oral presentations and to make things worse, the professor was unorganized and we were left in the dark which was unnecessarily stressful. And she's not the best at replying to emails either which was annoying. Bottomline, find another professor.
Ronya Anderson THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/08/2022	DO NOT TAKE! I initially took THET285 because I was told it was the "easier" and "more fun" class that gave comm credit. Shortly after the class started, I realized it was completely memorization. Every week, we had to do a show and tell presentation where we had to write and memorize a short speech about an item. We also had to memorize a 6 minute poem (specifically the poem given at Biden's inauguration. Later on, we had to memorize poems, and other speeches we wrote. Yes, it's not super hard to get an A, but the class itself does not help much, especially not with writing or structuring speeches. We got almost no help writing our speeches, as the entire class was based around memorization. This is a common opinion among most students in the class, and all of us felt we would have been better off taking COMM107. This class caused us all a lot of stress and anxiety. Another thing that was really annoying was she would write while you are giving your speech, which was pretty distracting. The professor is pretty nice (but pretty intimidating) and was able to adjust to people missing class when they were sick. But overall, the class itself really was not worth it at all. Even people with a huge interest in theater in our class regret taking the class, it really was not theater related.
Fatima Quander THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/18/2022	Absolutely lovely. I adored her. Very easy course with her and I made some great friends because her environment was so wonderful
Jennifer Ring THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/31/2021	Professor Ring is super passionate about theater and knows a good deal about public speaking. The workload was also light, which made the class more enjoyable. There is a large participation grade, however, so be prepared to speak in class.
Jennifer Ring THET285 Anonymous 12/19/2021	Jen is a very nice professor who is definitely knowledgeable about public speaking, acting, and theatre in general. Her class is less hw but more reliant on participation (not that she gives participation points) so it’s important that you attend so you don’t miss important information and learning. She is very lenient and open to communicate with students. Though her methods can be a bit questionable, they are very engaging and can be helpful. I definitely recommend you take her!!
Jennifer Ring THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2021	really nice professor and very easy class. it actually teaches you to become a better presenter and i can definitely see my improvement in that aspect from the beginning of the semester. it's also a pretty interesting class with interesting conversations
Leslie Felbain THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/26/2021	Dr. Felbain is a very personable and understanding professor. Course materials were relevant to the course, and the assignments given were of an appropriate workload. Though my introverted self was uncomfortable at times (considering this is a more interactive course), the professor was very understanding and encouraging, which was much appreciated. I also liked how, despite being virtual, I got to get to know my classmates the same way I would have been able to if we were in person.
Tara Demmy THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/13/2021	Tara is the sweetest! She's always so enthusiastic and makes a genuine effort to get to know you as a person—really wants to help you improve your communication skills. We played a lot of theatre games in class. She draws a lot of inspiration from her background in comedy which is really cool.
Jonelle Walker THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/01/2019	Exorbitant amounts of work for a gen ed class. Assignments are flat out stupid. You aren't allowed to have notes for most speeches. I'd avoid this one.
Jonelle Walker THET285 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2019	Jonelle is one of the most enthusiastic professors I've ever had. She is a really cool person who teaches by involving the students in almost every process. Her warm demeanor helps encourage the students to participate; if you have her for THET285, you are guaranteed to make friends due to the number of fun group projects and activities.
Mitchell Hebert THET285 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/15/2018	i learned so much from Mitch this semester. could have been the most useful course I'll ever take at the university honestly. highly recommend Mitch. You will learn really cool things.
Fraser Stevens THET285 Anonymous 12/11/2018	His grading policies are kinda strict, but as long as you show up you'll be fine. He's really friendly and approachable too.

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/04/2024

Maybe I am just a biased theatre kid, but this was my favorite class this semester. I have always been terrified of public speaking and it shows on my face too. However, I was so comfortable, confident, and prepared whenever I had to stand in front of our class because of Prof Barker's help. I found him extremely funny and witty, but picture your average theatre teacher here. He does sometimes go into mini-rants, which are kinda passive-aggressive, but nothing crazy. I fully believe your attendance will benefit how he grades you, so make sure to go to class. When it comes to tech, he does not like it, so make sure you are not on your phone. But overall, he is an easy grader as long as it is clear you put in the work.

Eran Eads
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2024

He's a chill, interesting, and inspiring professor. He values coming to class on time, and genuine participation. Would deff recommend him and would take him again if i could.

Robert Smith
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/19/2024

Loved Rob. Had him last spring and THET285 was the highlight of a tough semester. He makes the class feel small and gets everyone to know each other. There were 4 presentations and a final, spaced out with 1-2 lectures for technique and introducing the next assignment. You also get participation points by giving classmates feedback and "workshopping" your draft speeches that act as a grade booster. A 2 hour class may seem like a lot for a 3 credit comm class but trust me, you'll wish it was longer than that. Wouldn't take any other comm over this 👏

Jennifer Ring
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/29/2024

Easiest class I've ever taken. She will give you an A as long as you put effort into what you're doing. Pretty much no work outside of class. Just be careful though. I thought this was a public speaking class but it was more of an acting class. Get ready to do weird acting exercises and act.

Jennifer Ring
THET285

Expecting an A
turtleknight247365
01/23/2024

amazing class. take it

Marissa Kennedy
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/22/2024

Marissa is one of the best professors you can get. I took her over the winter and she did class every other day. Her work was easy and she is so kind. This was a OC class but it went by like nothing becasue she made it simple and straightforward.

Robert Smith
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/17/2024

Awesome teacher and very nice human being. This class actually made me better at public speaking, which doesn't seem to be the case for a lot of other oral comm classes. Only thing I didn't like is you need a 95 for an A, but that wasn't very hard to achieve if you listen to his advice. Make sure you participate as much as possible though to get feedback.

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/04/2024

prof barker was a really fun guy! although some might find his humor a bit annoying? either way, he's a really nice guy. always willing to help you improve and give you pointers with speeches if you just ask him. i almost got an A- because i lowkey didn't put in the work until the end, but he can tell you have given your presentations effort, he will give you a good grade on them. he's particular about being on your phone and being late, but if something comes up, he's super flexible if you let him know.

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/26/2023

Professor Barker's intolerance for phones and lateness made his class feel like a high school one. Regardless of this, he managed to make the class enjoyable with his witty remarks and interesting assignments. His class was one of my favorites, however, I felt he was a harsh grader. No one in my course ever received a 100% on a major assignment, even if they had done an excellent job. Besides being a somewhat harsh grader, Professor Barker is a nice guy whose passion for speech really shows.

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Mr. Barker isn't a bad guy, but if you can take another professor, do it. The class itself is fairly easy, we had about 13/14 presentations, I believe, and he had us speak in front of the class at least once weekly. The presentations themself were probably more entertaining and fun than regular comm presentations, but the lectures were so boring. He doesn't allow any electronics, and drones on for the entire class period about useless information. The grading is so heavily up to his interpretation, and he seems to believe the information he teaches is the most important information ever. Prepare to participate and prepare to be bored.

Robert Smith
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2023

Fantastic supportive man and a fun class! I really learned a lot. Take this class for your comm credit, you won’t regret it.

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/24/2023

This class was so much fun to take! Professor Barker is very particular about some things like phone usage and timeliness, but he is also very willing to make accommodations or at least hear you out. He gives you ample time to complete assignments and is willing to take things late if you give him a heads up. No one in my class was a theater major, but we all learned something and improved our speaking skills.

Eran Eads
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/23/2023

Discussion based class and he is fairly entertaining.

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/09/2023

prof barker is just kind of a weird guy but like that's what i expected going into it because he's a theatre teacher. like he is a very generic theatre teacher guy. the assignments aren't super difficult, almost every speaking assignment you get to have your notes/script in front of you, there were like three things we had to memorize but they were all very short so those weren't hard. it is lame that he's having us do our final presentations during our final exam time like i wanna go home fr but it's whatever. he's a little weird about attendance/showing up late so i just sucked it up and tried not to be late/skip ever. if you email him/talk to him in advance and give him a reason tho then he's fine. there were a bunch of little homework assignments but those also were not bad. he was pretty nice despite his quirkiness. we all gotta get our FSOC credit and prof barker is not a bad choice to get it done with!

Drew Barker
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/20/2022

Professor Barker was easily my favorite professor this semester. There were at least 6 different presentations to give throughout the class, however, we were given plenty of time to prepare and rehearse. He generally gives feedback on most assignments, whether that is words of encouragement or suggestions for improvement. For all presentations, he uses the same rubric which made adjusting based on feedback easier for future presentations. There were not many busy work assignments or things to turn in that I did not see a purpose behind. For every assignment that was given, I understood what I was supposed to be gaining from completing it. I am definitely a better speaker/performer after leaving this class.

Ronya Anderson
THET285

Anonymous
12/14/2022

Prof. Anderson is very nice and clearly knowledgeable about public speaking, but she falls short as a professor. The class was very unorganized and was memorization heavy. We had a show and tell every Monday which was fine and I personally liked the idea of it. But we had to memorize what we say for the show and tell which we all felt derailed from the main purpose of the class, theatrical and presentation techniques. We also had to memorize a few speeches and recite it. And Wednesday classes were chill and had some writing exercises and for some weeks we did not have a Wednesday class at all. The class itself was pretty easy and straightforward. But not everyone is good at memorization and oral presentations and to make things worse, the professor was unorganized and we were left in the dark which was unnecessarily stressful. And she's not the best at replying to emails either which was annoying. Bottomline, find another professor.

Ronya Anderson
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/08/2022

DO NOT TAKE! I initially took THET285 because I was told it was the "easier" and "more fun" class that gave comm credit. Shortly after the class started, I realized it was completely memorization. Every week, we had to do a show and tell presentation where we had to write and memorize a short speech about an item. We also had to memorize a 6 minute poem (specifically the poem given at Biden's inauguration. Later on, we had to memorize poems, and other speeches we wrote. Yes, it's not super hard to get an A, but the class itself does not help much, especially not with writing or structuring speeches. We got almost no help writing our speeches, as the entire class was based around memorization. This is a common opinion among most students in the class, and all of us felt we would have been better off taking COMM107. This class caused us all a lot of stress and anxiety. Another thing that was really annoying was she would write while you are giving your speech, which was pretty distracting. The professor is pretty nice (but pretty intimidating) and was able to adjust to people missing class when they were sick. But overall, the class itself really was not worth it at all. Even people with a huge interest in theater in our class regret taking the class, it really was not theater related.

Fatima Quander
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/18/2022

Absolutely lovely. I adored her. Very easy course with her and I made some great friends because her environment was so wonderful

Jennifer Ring
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/31/2021

Professor Ring is super passionate about theater and knows a good deal about public speaking. The workload was also light, which made the class more enjoyable. There is a large participation grade, however, so be prepared to speak in class.

Jennifer Ring
THET285

Anonymous
12/19/2021

Jen is a very nice professor who is definitely knowledgeable about public speaking, acting, and theatre in general. Her class is less hw but more reliant on participation (not that she gives participation points) so it’s important that you attend so you don’t miss important information and learning. She is very lenient and open to communicate with students. Though her methods can be a bit questionable, they are very engaging and can be helpful. I definitely recommend you take her!!

Jennifer Ring
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/09/2021

really nice professor and very easy class. it actually teaches you to become a better presenter and i can definitely see my improvement in that aspect from the beginning of the semester. it's also a pretty interesting class with interesting conversations

Leslie Felbain
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/26/2021

Dr. Felbain is a very personable and understanding professor. Course materials were relevant to the course, and the assignments given were of an appropriate workload. Though my introverted self was uncomfortable at times (considering this is a more interactive course), the professor was very understanding and encouraging, which was much appreciated. I also liked how, despite being virtual, I got to get to know my classmates the same way I would have been able to if we were in person.

Tara Demmy
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/13/2021

Tara is the sweetest! She's always so enthusiastic and makes a genuine effort to get to know you as a person—really wants to help you improve your communication skills. We played a lot of theatre games in class. She draws a lot of inspiration from her background in comedy which is really cool.

Jonelle Walker
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/01/2019

Exorbitant amounts of work for a gen ed class. Assignments are flat out stupid. You aren't allowed to have notes for most speeches. I'd avoid this one.

Jonelle Walker
THET285

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/10/2019

Jonelle is one of the most enthusiastic professors I've ever had. She is a really cool person who teaches by involving the students in almost every process. Her warm demeanor helps encourage the students to participate; if you have her for THET285, you are guaranteed to make friends due to the number of fun group projects and activities.

Mitchell Hebert
THET285

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/15/2018

i learned so much from Mitch this semester. could have been the most useful course I'll ever take at the university honestly. highly recommend Mitch. You will learn really cool things.

Fraser Stevens
THET285

Anonymous
12/11/2018

His grading policies are kinda strict, but as long as you show up you'll be fine. He's really friendly and approachable too.

Reviews for THET285