Michael Israel

This professor has taught: EDSP652, ENGL280, ENGL282, ENGL383, ENGL384, ENGL385, ENGL482, ENGL484, ENGL489C, ENGL489E, ENGL489N, ENGL489R, ENGL605, ENGL779B

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Michael Israel ENGL383 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/14/2024	Incredibly hard to follow and easily the worst professor I've ever seen. Do not take any class by this professor, you are wasting your time and money. If you want a free A go for it because he does not really care about the assignments
Michael Israel ENGL282 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2023	Professor Israel's classed lacked structure and he often went on tangents that left us feeling like we hadn't learnt much. There are a lot of readings and it's important to keep up with these as they are tested on in the midterm and the final exam. It often felt like we didn't really learn much in class. I can't say I'd recommend this class to someone in the future.
Michael Israel ENGL282 Anonymous 12/15/2022	Incredibly confusing to follow, would go on tangents and then never teach us material that he expected us to know for the exams
Michael Israel ENGL282 Anonymous 12/12/2022	Very hard to follow and got sidetracked often, there were not really any notes (which is hard to prepare for exams, etc.) for students to use because he would get so sidetracked
Michael Israel ENGL280 Anonymous 05/19/2022	Easily the worst class I've taken at this institution. Professor Israel is a very unprepared and unorganized instructor. Classes had no structure and literally no one ever showed up (there were maybe 4 or 5 people who came to class consistently). Professor Israel would get so sidetracked and ramble about the most irrelevant topics, leaving us with no actual notes or useful information pertaining to the planned topic for the week. I couldn't tell you a single thing I learned about linguistics, which sucks because this class was a major requirement for me and because the subject is fairly interesting. If you show up to class and participate kind of regularly, you should be fine. He says himself that grades aren't too much of a worry, though he is prone to harshly criticizing your work but still giving you a decent grade (make it make sense). Ultimately, do not take this class with this professor unless you ABSOLUTELY have to.
Michael Israel ENGL384 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/05/2022	This was the most utterly pointless class I have ever taken. I feel bad for Professor Israel because he seems so interested in a subject nobody else cares about in the slightest. This class supposedly had a whopping 5 students, although only 1-3 ever showed up. Do NOT take this class unless you have a keen interest in grammar as it relates to linguistics, otherwise it will do more harm than good. If for some reason you do take this class, be warned that the assignments are extremely tedious, take hours, are under-explained in class, and have very little to do with what you actually discuss in class. The assignments are torturous, the lectures are incomprehensible, and my life is no better off having taken this course.
Michael Israel ENGL384 Anonymous 12/09/2015	You should definitely take ENG384 if you hate yourself. Nothing against Professor Israel. He's an ok guy and I guess he does what he can to teach such an awful subject but the class is probably the equivalent of torture. Concepts of Grammar is the biggest waste of time I have ever sat through for an entire semester. I've never hated linguistics more than I do after completing this course. Not that I ever liked linguistics, but I didn't really have a problem with it until now. Let me be clear, you think you know grammar but you don't. I promise you that. This class isn't just commas and apostrophes, it's words I've never even heard of in my life. Sentence constructs that even google can't explain. Unless this all sounds super fun to you (I could never understand why), do NOT take this class. Trust me, you will regret it.
Michael Israel ENGL385 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/13/2012	I refuse to believe that anyone but Israel himself wrote the reviews below me, because no one in my class save maybe 4-5 people (it's a 30 person class) would say these things, ever. To start with, Israel, while a nice guy, cannot explain anything to save his life. Our class gets sidetracked so horrendously by RANDOM subjects that by the end of the class we'll have gone from point A and end at point 8g9b. Does that make sense? No? Well that's my point. Most students realize that going to his actual class is a waste of time since nothing is explained well at all, and so the 30 person class has about 50% attendance at most at any given day. You're required to turn in a written assignment every week, but he takes them late at full credit so most of the people around me in the class are behind by about 2 or 3 assignments at any given time. You can also turn them in via email, which doesn't exactly motivate anyone to show up to class either. The person a few comments below me stated that the assignments take around 6 hours long. Child, if you spend 6 hours on these writing assignments you're doing something wrong. 1 hour tops, and that timeframe includes skimming the book because you didn't go to class and need to know the basics of whatever you need to write about. To put it bluntly, don't take this class. Teacher isn't helpful, class is useless, and it's not an easy A so there's no point in suffering through it for an entire semester.
Michael Israel ENGL385 Anonymous 11/01/2011	I love Prof. Israel! He is so intelligent and an expert in his field. He works hard to clarify topics for his students. He expects you to come to class prepared but honestly, what professor doesn't? The class is very thought provoking and challenges you, but Prof. Israel is always available in office hours and he is SO HELPFUL especially in one on one setting. Overall, really interesting class, and Prof. Israel is great! He does have a nervous twitch/cough which drives some people crazy but I think it just comes with being a genius (since he is one)
Michael Israel ENGL385 Expecting a B jwade2011 04/22/2011	Mr. Israel is an excellent professor. he keeps the class engaged and he does his best to explain things that i can imagine some other professors screwing up terribly. He makes the class interesting by drawing evidence and info. from other academic fields as well as movies and other social situations that students would be familiar with. HOWEVER, this class is tough and the homework(s) will take A LONG TIME.(minimum 6hours) each. I do not recommend this class for your senior year and you should take this class if you are planning on having 12/13 total credits for the semester. If you take this class and your total credits is 15+, you WILL be EXHAUSTED.