Linda Kauffman | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Linda Kauffman Expecting a B Anonymous 12/17/2013	I highly recommend not taking this class. While Professor Kauffman is very passionate about what she teaches, she could care less about her students. At the beginning of the semester she specifically asked us to "not email her" because she received so many emails a day she doesn't have time to answer our questions. The midterm and final exam are ridiculously hard and I don't feel they are fair examinations based on what we learned in the course. After reading 4 novels, and over 20 other pieces of literature, more than 60% of our final exam was based off of one sentence quotation identification questions. The quotes chosen were so ambiguous it made this section of the exam nearly impossible. It is not a fair test of what has been learned in the course. While I feel Dr. Kauffman is very intelligent and does have passion when it comes to teaching, this course is not one to be taken. I would most likely not take another class with Dr. Kauffman if given the option. Without the help of the amazing TA's I would not have succeeded in this class what so ever.
Linda Kauffman Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/09/2011	While Professor Kauffman is brilliant and truly cares about the material that she teaches, she is not responsive to student concerns. She belittles students publicly, both in class and on the online class discussion board. She has unrealistic expectations for the amount of minute details we will pick up on from each 20+ essay we are assigned in her class. Honestly, the class did enhance my critical thinking and critical reading skills, but it was a ton of work.
Linda Kauffman Expecting an A Anonymous 08/24/2011	Kauffman is definitely a bit nutty, as many professors tend to be. But her course was very engaging and I enjoyed it immensely. It is true that the essays she assigned were difficult - sometimes they were graduate-level. Her book choices were occasionally odd - not classic or even highbrow works of literature, like one would expect, but modern plays and novels. I didn't like some of them. But I did like many of the themes: we explored marginalized populations of the US, dissected American colonialism without colonies, and probed the military-industrial complex. The lectures were sometimes random, but as I studied for my final, I saw how all the readings and movies related. I may not have agreed with her all of the time, but she is brilliant, a fine writer, and caused me to more critically confront the world I live in. If you are an avid learner who enjoys reading, synthesizing complex themes, and world events, try taking a class with Kauffman.
Linda Kauffman Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/22/2011	Easily one of the WORST classes I have ever taken in the University of Maryland. Worst professor. She expects you to be in LOVE with english and doesn't realize half the people are taking it as an elective. Requires too much from students and literally gave more work than my other 4 classes combined. She expects you to read 1 novel a week and doesn't care that you may have other, more important, classes. Her teaching style is awful since she just talks about other outside sources that may relate to the book, having nothing to do with her exams. She'll talk about everything but the themes and important aspects of the books which she tests on. Moreover, her tests are just a bunch of memory games since she'll pull quotes from all the novels, supplementary readings, essays, and movies that she assigns. IT'S TOO MUCH AND GRADING IS UNFAIR. THE TEACHER AND T.A.'S PICK FAVORITES IN THIS CLASS AND MAKE IT VERY CLEAR. DO NOT TAKE IT IF YOU ARE NOT AN ENGLISH MAJOR. IT'S HORRIBLE.
Linda Kauffman Anonymous 01/16/2011	Easily the worst class I have ever taken in my life, high school included. I did not enjoy a single aspect of the material. The workload for this class was unbelievable. I absolutely do not recommend even THINKING about taking this class. Thank me later.

Linda Kauffman

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/17/2013

I highly recommend not taking this class. While Professor Kauffman is very passionate about what she teaches, she could care less about her students. At the beginning of the semester she specifically asked us to "not email her" because she received so many emails a day she doesn't have time to answer our questions. The midterm and final exam are ridiculously hard and I don't feel they are fair examinations based on what we learned in the course. After reading 4 novels, and over 20 other pieces of literature, more than 60% of our final exam was based off of one sentence quotation identification questions. The quotes chosen were so ambiguous it made this section of the exam nearly impossible. It is not a fair test of what has been learned in the course. While I feel Dr. Kauffman is very intelligent and does have passion when it comes to teaching, this course is not one to be taken. I would most likely not take another class with Dr. Kauffman if given the option. Without the help of the amazing TA's I would not have succeeded in this class what so ever.

Linda Kauffman

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/09/2011

While Professor Kauffman is brilliant and truly cares about the material that she teaches, she is not responsive to student concerns. She belittles students publicly, both in class and on the online class discussion board. She has unrealistic expectations for the amount of minute details we will pick up on from each 20+ essay we are assigned in her class. Honestly, the class did enhance my critical thinking and critical reading skills, but it was a ton of work.

Linda Kauffman

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/24/2011

Kauffman is definitely a bit nutty, as many professors tend to be. But her course was very engaging and I enjoyed it immensely. It is true that the essays she assigned were difficult - sometimes they were graduate-level. Her book choices were occasionally odd - not classic or even highbrow works of literature, like one would expect, but modern plays and novels. I didn't like some of them. But I did like many of the themes: we explored marginalized populations of the US, dissected American colonialism without colonies, and probed the military-industrial complex. The lectures were sometimes random, but as I studied for my final, I saw how all the readings and movies related. I may not have agreed with her all of the time, but she is brilliant, a fine writer, and caused me to more critically confront the world I live in. If you are an avid learner who enjoys reading, synthesizing complex themes, and world events, try taking a class with Kauffman.

Linda Kauffman

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/22/2011

Easily one of the WORST classes I have ever taken in the University of Maryland. Worst professor. She expects you to be in LOVE with english and doesn't realize half the people are taking it as an elective. Requires too much from students and literally gave more work than my other 4 classes combined. She expects you to read 1 novel a week and doesn't care that you may have other, more important, classes. Her teaching style is awful since she just talks about other outside sources that may relate to the book, having nothing to do with her exams. She'll talk about everything but the themes and important aspects of the books which she tests on. Moreover, her tests are just a bunch of memory games since she'll pull quotes from all the novels, supplementary readings, essays, and movies that she assigns. IT'S TOO MUCH AND GRADING IS UNFAIR. THE TEACHER AND T.A.'S PICK FAVORITES IN THIS CLASS AND MAKE IT VERY CLEAR. DO NOT TAKE IT IF YOU ARE NOT AN ENGLISH MAJOR. IT'S HORRIBLE.

Linda Kauffman

Anonymous
01/16/2011

Easily the worst class I have ever taken in my life, high school included. I did not enjoy a single aspect of the material. The workload for this class was unbelievable. I absolutely do not recommend even THINKING about taking this class. Thank me later.