ENGL 140A
Chaucer: "Canterbury Tales"
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisites: courses 10A, 10B. Introductory study of Chaucer's language, versification, and historical and literary background, including analysis and discussion of his long major poem, "Canterbury Tales." P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - Professor Fisher has a fair degree of knowledge within the field of medieval literature, however he treats certain students incredibly condescendingly, with precedent of expressing derision of mockery towards them in class for asking questions he considers too basic. Professor Fisher also struggles to effectively explain or couch core concepts to the English discipline like how to do a close reading or analyze/read Middle/Old English texts with students in office hours who are struggling with the course. He also generally has a disorganized lecture style. In general, Professor Fisher may be knowledgable about his specialization, but his professional demeanor and inability to effectively support students who are new/not naturally adept at tackling core texts/questions in the field decisively limits his capacity as an educator. Various students I know who took courses with him, alongside myself, found his teaching style to be discouraging, ineffective, and at times patronizing. Truly, raw knowledge is not at all enough to make one an effective or even respectful instructor, particularly for non-traditional and commuting students like myself and peers who succeeded in spite of him.
Winter 2017 - Professor Fisher has a fair degree of knowledge within the field of medieval literature, however he treats certain students incredibly condescendingly, with precedent of expressing derision of mockery towards them in class for asking questions he considers too basic. Professor Fisher also struggles to effectively explain or couch core concepts to the English discipline like how to do a close reading or analyze/read Middle/Old English texts with students in office hours who are struggling with the course. He also generally has a disorganized lecture style. In general, Professor Fisher may be knowledgable about his specialization, but his professional demeanor and inability to effectively support students who are new/not naturally adept at tackling core texts/questions in the field decisively limits his capacity as an educator. Various students I know who took courses with him, alongside myself, found his teaching style to be discouraging, ineffective, and at times patronizing. Truly, raw knowledge is not at all enough to make one an effective or even respectful instructor, particularly for non-traditional and commuting students like myself and peers who succeeded in spite of him.
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I took 140A this past summer (09) on a recommendation that Huehls was a good teacher. While I found the material to be difficult at some time, Huehl's teaching style made it much easier to comprehend the material. He won't try to impress you, but he is fair and can be funny and works hard to make sure everyone understands the concepts. It was often hard to capture my analysis in a one-page response (we had to turn in 4 for the 6 weeks), but I liked getting to discuss nearly every author, instead of only a few in one or two large papers. The final was very comprehensive, but quite fair. He will help you review and is very approachable in office hours. I highly recommend Mitchum Huehls as a professor. One of my favorites
I took 140A this past summer (09) on a recommendation that Huehls was a good teacher. While I found the material to be difficult at some time, Huehl's teaching style made it much easier to comprehend the material. He won't try to impress you, but he is fair and can be funny and works hard to make sure everyone understands the concepts. It was often hard to capture my analysis in a one-page response (we had to turn in 4 for the 6 weeks), but I liked getting to discuss nearly every author, instead of only a few in one or two large papers. The final was very comprehensive, but quite fair. He will help you review and is very approachable in office hours. I highly recommend Mitchum Huehls as a professor. One of my favorites
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - Everyone needs to stop listening to reviews about Jager. Everyone is scared off after 10A because his tests are so hard, and I believe my final will be very hard. That being said, he is so passionate, kind, understanding, and interesting. His classes were informative, funny, and interesting, and he gives you so many opportunities to do well in the class. He loves participation and meeting to discuss essays. His weekly quizzes are so easy in comparison to other reading quizzes, but you definitely have to read or at least heavily Sparknotes.
Spring 2018 - Everyone needs to stop listening to reviews about Jager. Everyone is scared off after 10A because his tests are so hard, and I believe my final will be very hard. That being said, he is so passionate, kind, understanding, and interesting. His classes were informative, funny, and interesting, and he gives you so many opportunities to do well in the class. He loves participation and meeting to discuss essays. His weekly quizzes are so easy in comparison to other reading quizzes, but you definitely have to read or at least heavily Sparknotes.
Most Helpful Review
After reading these evaluations I was disappointed to find myself regretting taking this class with Maniquis. The first class was intriguing I suppose, but Maniquis lacked energy and listening to him required extreme labor. Lectures were slow-paced which was fine, but drawn out with tangents. He spent more time talking about what we SHOULD know rather than what we did know, or came to learn. I found his lectures unorganized, unstructured, and often not worth the amount of time I put in. For the amount of reading assigned, very little of it was gone over. What is the use of encouraging us to be on our 3rd reading of XX if there is no incentive besides being lost in its own complexity? I also found Maniquis to be a bit condescending in answering questions or responding to comments. I didn't get his method of "pushing" students to higher limits of thinking, sorry. I am sure some students will like his teaching style, though from the amount of Facebooking and iChat-complaining I observed in class, I'm not confident a lot of other students will take another class with him.
After reading these evaluations I was disappointed to find myself regretting taking this class with Maniquis. The first class was intriguing I suppose, but Maniquis lacked energy and listening to him required extreme labor. Lectures were slow-paced which was fine, but drawn out with tangents. He spent more time talking about what we SHOULD know rather than what we did know, or came to learn. I found his lectures unorganized, unstructured, and often not worth the amount of time I put in. For the amount of reading assigned, very little of it was gone over. What is the use of encouraging us to be on our 3rd reading of XX if there is no incentive besides being lost in its own complexity? I also found Maniquis to be a bit condescending in answering questions or responding to comments. I didn't get his method of "pushing" students to higher limits of thinking, sorry. I am sure some students will like his teaching style, though from the amount of Facebooking and iChat-complaining I observed in class, I'm not confident a lot of other students will take another class with him.
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