Michael Kolakoski

This professor has taught: ENGL101, ENGL101H, ENGL101S, ENGL132, ENGL222, ENGL313, ENGL344, ENGL379Q, ENGL395

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Michael Kolakoski ENGL101S Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/11/2023	There was a decent amount of homework but its graded on completion so its manageable. For the major writing assessments, I don't believe he was a harsh grader. As long as you try your best and put in effort you'll do well. And if you have a question about something, go to his office hours because he recognizes the students who go above and beyond. Also, class was canceled pretty often which was nice. Overall really nice professor.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101H Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/22/2023	I could talk about his teaching (he's pretty good! I'm not a humanities kid, but I enjoyed his class), but I will say if you can take his 101H class instead of a regular 101 class (with him or someone else), take it. I looked at the grade statistics for the essays/major assignments - Essay 1: 94mean, 95median. Essay 2: 92mean, 93median. Etc. etc. If you're not a big ENGL kid but you need a 101 professor who is kind, friendly, and understanding (gives extensions as much as you need without fuss as long as you don't push it), Kolakoski's great. Only downside is that I had him early in the morning and he called to cancel class all the time but only told us the day-of. This would be an upside, if I was more attendant to my emails in the morning and saw he cancelled before walking halfway across campus lmfao.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101H Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2022	In my opinion, he is a great option, since he's very accommodating and lenient on deadlines and clear what he expects from assignments. He gives a lot of options before the final deadlines to get help on assignments and get peer review and his review. To me, it wasn't a ton of work, but there are 4-5 major assignments between 5-10 pages each during the semester, so can see how it would be a lot of work for some people. I didn't think he was a super harsh grader, as long as you follow the rubric.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101 Anonymous 12/09/2021	Okay, I don't really understand where all these stellar reviews for Kolakoski are coming from. I took several classes that were 400-level or supposedly much more difficult, but Kolakoski's ENGL101 assigned more work than all of them combined. The sheer amount of work he assigned was plain unreasonable - there was something due almost every single day. Sure, he's lenient with deadlines and grades on effort for most of the assignments, but the overall quantity of assignments began to feel like a backlog eventually. He's a pretty harsh grader on the major writing assignments too, of which there are about four or five during the semester. Avoid Kolakoski, take a different professor that won't assign more work than all of your other classes combined.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101S Expecting an A Anonymous 04/25/2021	Great professor, told you exactly what he expected on all assignments and although the curriculum restricts him, he does a great job keeping students engaged.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101S Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/26/2020	I'm not sure how he is in-person but I felt like I didn't learn much from his class online. However, this may just be the strict ENGL 101 curriculum and not his fault. There are a lot of busy work participation assignments and then a few major writing assignments which make up the majority of your grade. He is an extremely generous grader so long as you follow his assignment sheet closely and pay attention to the rubric. He is very lenient on due dates and offered extensions to anyone who needed it on almost every major assignment. Unfortunately, he's a bit of a slow grader and it'll take a few weeks for you to receive your grades on the first few major assignments. Overall, not the best teacher in my opinion but a really nice guy who cares about his students. If you put in even a bit of effort, you'll do fine in his class.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/13/2019	Very good teacher. His expectations are clear, he responded to emails quickly even when having a baby, and his feedback is very helpful. He definitely helped me improve my writing skills. Also I was scared that he would be a tough grader, but he really wasn't?
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101 Expecting an A ChrisPBacon 01/09/2019	Mike's a great professor. He is very clear about his expectations for each essay, and he gives very detailed outlines/examples of what he wants to see in the assignments. Make sure you attend lecture regularly to catch his notes and helpful tips when writing essays. MAKE SURE YOU GO TO OFFICE HOURS FOR EVERY LITTLE QUESTION. I cannot stress this enough. Mike cares a lot about the effort students put in. You can be an amazing writer, and the kid next to you might be an average writer, but if Mike sees the other kid put more work in, regularly attend lecture, go to office hours, etc, then that kid will get the higher grade. Mike is very friendly and gives great feedback at office hours and it is your one-on-one time to really improve your essay. With that being said, he is a hard grader, but if you put the work in and actively engage yourself in class as much as possible, you will be successful! Mike may seem intimidating at first, but don't let that scare you. Side note for all professors of ENGL101: if you go to the writing center for help, they will email your professor letting them know you can came in. This is a great way to show your professor that you are putting in solid effort outside of class for a big assignment.
Michael Kolakoski ENGL101S Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/14/2018	He was a pretty good professor. He made his expectations clear and was always available to his students. Make sure to go to lectures regularly because he does give pop quizzes on the readings. Also, make it a point to go to the writing center. He can see which students have gone and he takes that into consideration when grading assignments sometimes! Overall, great professor and pretty funny!