I took Professor Jager for his Early Medieval Lit class. I must admit, I was extremely hesitant going into this class because the subject area was so foreign to me; however, I am so happy I took this class with him. I went from having no interest in the literature to being extremely interested and excited to learn thanks to Professor Jager!

He makes you feel really comfortable with your interpretations and never shuts anyone down when they share their views in class. He created a wonderful learning environment; I never felt intimidated or afraid of sharing my ideas. Professor Jager grew on me so much that I'm genuinely interested in taking another class with him for my elective!

The grading for his class was also fair (but I definitely had to work hard for the A)
20% of our grades were based on 7 quizzes
40% midterm
40% final research paper.

He does not take roll in class, but it does say on his syllabus that class participation will make a difference on your final grade if you're borderline.

Anyways, if any of you are considering a Medieval Lit class, I highly recommend taking Professor Jager. He is so passionate about the material, it'll rub off on you too :) not to mention he's hilarious (in a cute nerdy professor kind of way haha)

I was recommended Jager by a UCLA alumni who had taken his Chaucer class 6 years before I did. He claims Jager was what finally convinced him to be an English major. He is a GREAT professor. Chaucer is known to be one of the toughest and most dreaded classes of the English major, but Jager REALLY makes it doable. Granted, the Canterbury Tales aren't the easiest things to read, but if you power through them and attend lecture, Jager will make everything so much clearer.

The class has a quiz, a recitation of the first 15 lines of the Canterbury Tales, an essay and a final.

Honestly, the recitation is NOT BAD AT ALL. He gives you 4 weeks to prepare for it and you can redo it if you flub the first time. He also sends an audio clip of himself reciting it so you can practice with it. And it's really just like memorizing anything else, not as bad as people make it out to be.

JAGER IS MY FAVORITE PROFESSOR. At UCLA. In the English Dept. EVER. I first took Seminar 180 "Trojan Stories" with him and loved it. We read the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Orestia. I'm into the Classics so the texts were very enjoyable and easy, especially with the translated versions. Each week only consisted of a one page analytical summary on a short passage of your choosing. He also brings COOKIES to each weekly seminar for the class to pass around and eat! Final consisted of one long 10-12 page paper with the topic of your choice.

The second class I took with Jager was 141A, Chaucer. Again, enjoyable. I read everything and loved going to lecture. Like other professors, he makes you memorize the proem in Middle English so be prepared for that. He's very lenient with it though and you can do it in several tries if you must. There is a midterm and final with IDs and short essays and one paper. All very doable. There are very little people who can say they love Chaucer but I am one of them because of Jager's teaching of Canterbury Tales.

I am taking my third class, English 150, with him this coming Winter. Jager is a gem in the English Dept. He is passionate about his work, knowledgeable beyond measure about all things medieval, and genuinely cares about his students. Go to his office hours! And take Jager if you can! Trust me.

I forgot who I had for taking Chaucer in the previous term but it was horrible... So, re-taking this class I was expecting something gruesome but Jager proved me wrong. Although he can be a little boring at times, he does know his stuff about Chaucer. A 1500 word paper, midterm, final and recitation in Middle English for the first 18 lines of the General Prologue. I don't know what I'm going to get in this class since I'm not a Chaucer fan but he made it easier than the other professor I had so, I hope I pass!

I will re-evaluate this professor for you because it seems these kids are retards and don't know a lick about professors at UCLA. Coming from a previous college with experience Chaucer, I came in expecting a lot of hell and work. Turns out...I was wrong. He merely gave quizzes, a midterm, and a final. Then I questioned his authority and how ENGLISH MAJORS can not do writing and he said because it's a 6-week course. Now, this is the typical community college mentality, but we're at a university. I personally disfavored that, but I also went to his 150 A lecture once and in that class, I do believe there was only a paper and a final. I was shocked.
For his actual teaching of the course, it's medicore or a little above average, but here's where my second-half of non-critque of Jager comes in. All professors at UCLA pressure you to know history and will tie in particular parts of their lectures into socio-political problems of the 21st century. Now back to Jager himself, he is more a friend than professor and getting to know him is good, but I would not to take a short term with him again. Rather I encourage all of you to take the real Jager in Fall, Winter, or Spring.

This is a class on Chaucer, this is also a class with readings in Middle English rather than translated English. I took him in the summer and felt that...this class could have been better in a longer semester and I sort of regret not taking it in a longer semester because there was NO paper involved although this class was pretty easy despite that. I feel his class had lots of busy-work and he even told me it's much different than his Medieval class, which I wanted to take, but decided to wait. He's a funny guy and likes to see his students around once in awhile, and if I had to say anything about his class it's this: if you're interested, take it in a long semester but if you're not, take it in summer.