Professor
Mark Gallagher
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Most Helpful Review
Mark Gallagher is a great instructor, one of the best I have had so far at UCLA. I had him for English 4w -- really funny and smart, very entertaining, too. He can be a bit intimidating because he teaches 4w like an upper level English course (lots of quoting and totally obscure literary references.) He has a tendency to talk a lot but you learn a lot from him, especially when he talks about Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau (which is all the time.) It's cool because he has this crazy Boston accent which makes everything he says sound even more intelligent. I don't think I can say enough good things about Mark. He's super passionate about literature and he is really serious about making you love it, too. Makes everyone in the class memorize a poem and recite it on the last day of class. He also is super helpful in his office hours. He pretty much is willing to go over every single one of your drafts and tell you what you are doing right and what you need to fix. I have had a few English courses since then and I have yet to find a more knowledgeable and dedicated teacher.
Mark Gallagher is a great instructor, one of the best I have had so far at UCLA. I had him for English 4w -- really funny and smart, very entertaining, too. He can be a bit intimidating because he teaches 4w like an upper level English course (lots of quoting and totally obscure literary references.) He has a tendency to talk a lot but you learn a lot from him, especially when he talks about Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau (which is all the time.) It's cool because he has this crazy Boston accent which makes everything he says sound even more intelligent. I don't think I can say enough good things about Mark. He's super passionate about literature and he is really serious about making you love it, too. Makes everyone in the class memorize a poem and recite it on the last day of class. He also is super helpful in his office hours. He pretty much is willing to go over every single one of your drafts and tell you what you are doing right and what you need to fix. I have had a few English courses since then and I have yet to find a more knowledgeable and dedicated teacher.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I took English 168 with Professor Gallagher but it's not listed and his reviews need to be updated. He might have been a good TA but as a professor this class was a mistake. In terms of the lectures, he would talk for most of the time, often reading long sections of the texts and then randomly ask a question for which he had a very specific answer in mind and then get frustrated when no one gave him that answer. Similarly with the essays he was looking for very specific answers and told us himself that we all did badly because we didn't answer the question the way we wanted him to. There was very little room for interpretation or discussion in this class, and all of that along with some pointless response assignments that didn't contribute to anything made this feel extremely like a high school class. This class was in person, and at the beginning of the quarter he said it wasn't mandatory to attend every class, but then when people started not showing up he made it mandatory to come in by withholding the second essay prompt and only having it on a piece of paper that he handed out and never posted it online. We were also immediately behind on the syllabus because of how long he took talking about each novel which made him have to assign an essay that should have been turned in during week 8 during finals week along with a lengthy take home exam. The class wasn't too difficult, Professor Gallagher was just incredibly frustrating and I didn't feel like I got anything out of attending class.
Fall 2021 - I took English 168 with Professor Gallagher but it's not listed and his reviews need to be updated. He might have been a good TA but as a professor this class was a mistake. In terms of the lectures, he would talk for most of the time, often reading long sections of the texts and then randomly ask a question for which he had a very specific answer in mind and then get frustrated when no one gave him that answer. Similarly with the essays he was looking for very specific answers and told us himself that we all did badly because we didn't answer the question the way we wanted him to. There was very little room for interpretation or discussion in this class, and all of that along with some pointless response assignments that didn't contribute to anything made this feel extremely like a high school class. This class was in person, and at the beginning of the quarter he said it wasn't mandatory to attend every class, but then when people started not showing up he made it mandatory to come in by withholding the second essay prompt and only having it on a piece of paper that he handed out and never posted it online. We were also immediately behind on the syllabus because of how long he took talking about each novel which made him have to assign an essay that should have been turned in during week 8 during finals week along with a lengthy take home exam. The class wasn't too difficult, Professor Gallagher was just incredibly frustrating and I didn't feel like I got anything out of attending class.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - I agree with the last commenter who said this professor needs more updated reviews. His class so far has been confusing and unorganized. The quiz questions are not based on the reading but rather on arbitrary things he says in lecture. It has been very annoying trying to keep up with this class when he's already changed the syllabus several times, and doesn't follow the reading schedule whatsoever. I find this unfair to students who take the time to complete long readings for class, only for it to be for nothing. Would not recommend taking, save yourself the stress. (unless you have a burning passion for Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Winter 2022 - I agree with the last commenter who said this professor needs more updated reviews. His class so far has been confusing and unorganized. The quiz questions are not based on the reading but rather on arbitrary things he says in lecture. It has been very annoying trying to keep up with this class when he's already changed the syllabus several times, and doesn't follow the reading schedule whatsoever. I find this unfair to students who take the time to complete long readings for class, only for it to be for nothing. Would not recommend taking, save yourself the stress. (unless you have a burning passion for Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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