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Rebecca Stanton MASTERPIECES OF WESTERN LITERATURE
AND PHILOSOPHY C1002 COLLATED STUDENT EVALUATIONS
----------------- "Rebecca was... hard; in a great, demanding, intellectual way. She expected much and might or could improve in terms of de-difficultying the work or making the lit more "commonly" available, if that makes sense. However I found her "teaching style" (online discussions, more-deeper reading/probing of all ideas) perfectly in sync with what I expected from a lit course at Columbia University. She responded to our online discussions and clearly covered most of the points in two hour slots two times a week." "The instructor's teaching style was excellent, a perfect balance of allowing students to develop our own relationships with the work and guiding us through her own expertise." "I really liked Professor Stanton's teaching style and I have rarely enjoyed and other class as much as I enjoyed hers. I feel I could not have found a better teacher. She was always available to help on any problems that anyone had and gave so much time and attention to everyone. I doubt if there is any area where she needs to improve. She is a really great teacher." "Rebecca allowed for discussion in class, yet didn't let it get "off track." She was very good at asking pointed questions which required us to think and follow an intelligent and critical path. She also was very effective in presenting the "right" ideas that each book has- without limiting us to those." "The best aspects of Rebecca's style was her thoroughness in class, her attempt to attack the books from new angles, and her website (which was extremely helpful and well-thought out)." "Rebecca's teaching is great- she is extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic and leads the class without setting out a specific daily outline. She encourages class participation." "I really enjoyed how Rebecca taught the class. She really knows how to keep the class engaged in discussion. The best aspects of her teaching are how comfortable she is in letting her students direct where class will go via their contributions to class discussions." "The best aspects of Rebecca's teaching style were her emphasis on class discussions and allowing her students to gain knowledge of the Lit Hum books through their own self-interpretation of them, and not what she or others think to be the "right" answer." "The best aspects of Ms. Stanton's teaching style were the encouragement of class discussion and her attentiveness to individual students." "The best aspect of Rebecca's style is her ability to keep a discussion going without any of the awkward pauses. She always brings up interesting topics that at least one person in the class can speak upon." "She is a master of the Socratic method - she encourages stimulating discussion among students. Moreover, even when she doesn't know the exact answer to someone's question, she does research and attempts to answer it. She is very clear and concise when she speaks." "Very satisfying combinations of student input and instructor guidance to make sure that the most important -- of the text are outlined, even with the limited time available. The website is a big help and gives students an opportunity to voice their opinions which might not relate to the specific discussion raised during classtime." "Energetic, friendly (in person), ends up drawing you into even the most boring of material. However, has a tendency to assume that everyone has a functional knowledge of literature prior to taking Lit Hum." "Rebecca was - is - obviously very intelligent. Unfortunately some of my classmates are less so, and she allowed them to go on and on for ages saying nothing much of importance. Lit Hum is about class participation, but this got annoying a lot, a firmer hand would have been appreciated from the other students. Rebecca tended to talk at great length too but at least what she said made sense, and she consistently tried to curb her wordflow. That was appreciated." "Ms. Stanton's style is inviting and active. I haven't cause for complaint." "I like it. We talk about a lot of aspects of each of the books, but sometimes I think we might spend too much time on some of those aspects and not get to the others. But then she covers those in the review sessions so it's okay. The best aspect is that she encourages participation and always seems, no matter how out there a comment may be, to get something out of it and make it applicable to the class." "My instructor generally allowed us to discuss. She normally introduced themes and ideas, and allowed the students to hash them out. Overall, I thought she did an excellent job in class, and left very little to be desired."
"The written assignments Rebecca gave covered a lot of topics and allowed the freedom of choosing which subjects we wanted to cover. Each essay had 6 questions including the choice to make your own. The comments were very thorough and consisted of writing as well as content critique. Tough grader." "We were given plenty of time to prepare for our essays-- topics were well-stated and interesting and covered a broad spectrum of topics. It really felt like Rebecca spent a lot of time looking at our essays. Rebecca encouraged us to use her as a resource when writing our papers-- allowing us to submit prelim. thesis statements, etc." "The essay questions were great. They allowed students to write about what they were most interested in. The comments were good, too. I actually looked back at them for my later papers (I don't normally do that)." "Rebecca wrote paper topics very carefully, making sure that we would have to synthesize thoughts on our own in order to write them and think about the objectives of the course. Her comments were very helpful, in terms of writing & content. The papers definitely make me think beyond our classroom discussions." "I thought that Rebecca provided us with an excellent list of topics for every assignment. Rebecca's comments were extremely helpful and in-depth. I truly believe that the assignments added to my enjoyment and understanding of the works we read and of the class as a whole." "Excellent paper assignments that promoted critical thought. Rebecca spent a great amount of time grading our papers, as evidenced by the extensive comments at the end of all of our essays. These comments were extremely helpful, increasing my writing ability." "Very useful comments that pay emphasis on grammar and general writing style as well. This emphasis is important for a freshman. A good companion to L[ogic] &R[hetoric]. Extensive comments, also probing and challenging." "Written assignments were excellent critical challenges. The instructor's comments were helpful in improving analytical thinking and expression of argument." "Professor Stanton assigned very nice and interesting assignments that were really enjoyable and useful at the same time. I learnt a lot and developed reading and writing skills." "The assignments given as papers along with the online dicussions allowed one to gain a better knowledge of the work, as well as, through her comments on both, a better way to write and/or think about the works." "I've only written one essay this semester, and one more is in the works. Her questions were fair, and thought-provoking. She encouraged us to mail her preliminary thesis statements, and would reply with extensive comments/guidance/advice that she evidently put a lot of effort into. They were helpful, too." "All of the essays required for this course had a variety of topics of which I could always choose one. The grading was very fair and all the comments were helpful." "The written assignments were acceptable. As for my instructor's comments, I have the minor quibble that she tends to make more stylistic than substantive critiques of my work. Whereas I am acutely aware of my many weaknesses in style, the weakness (of strength) of my ideas often elude me. On my best paper, a good deal of the comments focused on word choice, my excessive alliteration, etc….Nonetheless, Ms. Stanton provided my papers with much more criticism than all of my other Columbia professors. And, she has a point about my style." "The questions themselves were always well-organized and thought-provoking. Responses, though, were sometimes sarcastic and always increased my already deathly fear of submitting anything for Prof. Stanton to scrutinize." "We as a class so exhaustively analyzed and discussed the texts (largely dur to the required online discussions) that the papers are an opportunity to explore more theoretical, individual takes on the literature. Therefore, the comments are always… expected since Rebecca prompts us in class to respond and explicate significant online contributions." "Written assignments were pretty standard. Posting on-line was an excellent idea, providing a good forum for discussion out of class." "The written assignments, as a whole, were very reasonable. We had the option of writing two 6 page papers or three 4 page papers which I think was good. The comments were pretty useful and instructive."
"Maybe I'm crazy, but Lit. Hum. has been my favorite course so far at Columbia, and Rebecca has been my favorite instructor. Because of how much I have enjoyed this course, I am strongly considering a major in English or Slavic literature. I only hope that I enjoy C[ontemporary] C[ivilization] half as much as I enjoyed this class." (Contemporary Civilization is the second year-long seminar in the Core Curriculum, normally taken in the sophomore year.) "Rebecca is a really inspiring teacher and an incredibly smart and helpful person. She has made Lit. Hum. one of my favorite classes, and I think I may want to teach now." "I think Rebecca should teach CC." "Rebecca's Lit. H. homepage is BRILLIANT! It is flawlessly constructed, VERY informative, & a great forum for loose/informal class discussion about the books. Before each reading she gave us study guide questions posted online, some bkgrd/bio info, historical context, etc. that really shed some meaning on the works. All the links to other sites worked, and it was updated regularly. The amt. of time she must have spent w/the website must have been enormous." "The ODC's (online discussion [contributions]) that we were required to submit before 12:00AM the day before each class really helped. They allowed all the students in the class to see what others thought and noticed about the books, which further added to the students' knowledge and helped them grasp the works." "This has been a very rewarding class, due very much to the excellent job done by Rebecca Stanton. She works very hard for her students and the Core Office will be worse off for losing her as an instructor next year." "Prof. Stanton frequently organized outside events/trips, which were really helpful." "Rebecca's addition of Lolita provided a perfect ending to the course." "Overall, a wonderful course." "Due to its intimate setting, a course like this very much depends upon the charisma and character of its instructor. A dry dogmatist would pinion the class from its start. In this, I believe that my section was more than fortunate in having Stanton as our professor. I must admit that, at first, I was skeptical for some fairly shallow reasons. 'A grad student,' I thought, and my memory recalled past courses that were undermined by professors who were less than competent. Stanton is anything but, and what she may not have in experience and time she more than makes up for in enthusiasm. She guided the class in a manner that, for me, truly emphasized the joy of reading. In all, I honestly believe that Columbia has done well to attract such an intelligent and passionate person to its faculty. The class is a success." |