Kann, David  

Dr. Kann has good intentions, but his way of following through with those are not the best. He loves to patronize, presenting a know-it-all attitude trying to convince students that there is no other set of beliefs about writing than his own. He is not open to new ideas, and it seems very easy to get on his bad side. He has no sympathy for tardy or absence, and will drop your grade entire letter grades if you miss certain days. My alarm failed to go off on the day of an essay exam worth 10% of our grade and when I woke up I went straight to his office to apologize and see if I could make it up right then during his office hour, which wouldn't have inconvenienced him at all. Not only was he unsympathetic, but rude. Kann seems like he wants to make people better writers, but it's his way or nothing. Stubborness is not a good quality for a teacher. His grading system is fucked up too - you turn in two papers at the end of the quarter worth 40% of your grade each, with no indication of what you're getting unless you visit him during office hours, where I simply felt disrespected. He does not give the impression that he sincerely wants to help students, and in being disrespectful, he does not make himself very open to his students. I could have gone to him for more help but from my previous encounters with him, I felt like I'd get more ridicule than help from him.

Don't be scared...I was scared at first and I ended up with an A. He came off as rude, cocky, and sarcastic in the first couple weeks, but when I started ignoring his comments and took on the challenges of his class, I felt that he was much easier to handle. He is really smart and has good advice for improving your writing. If you ask him to fully explain the assignments, it will be easier. And you don't need to go to class on any days that don't have to do with essay writing.

I agree with many of the postings here--this guy seems really interested in students and capable of teaching us, but just can't see past his own ego to fairly convey his skills.

I thought that Dr. Kann was a wonderful professor. Anyone who says that he is arrogant is just too arrogant themselves to accept the fact that he actually knows more than they do. He knows how to write, and how to read critically, and he knows how to convey those skills to his students. He was always happy to help me with any questions I had. He was also a pretty fair grader, and when i say that, I mean that I always got the grade that reflected my effort. So, if you listen to his lectures and put some thought and effort into the class, you'll probably learn a lot.

Basically, Dr. Kann has an ego the size of Texas. If he could get over himself for just a brief moment, he might actually have some sympathy towards students and just maybe be an enjoyable person to know. Instead, he spends his time gloating in a pool of his own intellect. Poor guy is too self-absorbed for his own good. I don't recommend going out of your way to know him-- he won't help worth a damn if you need it.

Just like others have said about CHAIRMAN KANN....he

BORING IS ALL I COULD SAY ABOUT THIS CLASS....

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Dr. Kann wastes students time. He spends hours asking pointless, meaningless questions, and every answer you give him he says "WELL WHY?" I wanted to shoot my brains out. Also, if you do not say HIS opinion on essay tests you will not do well. He cannot recognize anyone else's logic besides his own. Also, he makes it clear that it does not matter what you put on his eval, bc as he puts it "he's Teflon-Man" since he is dept chair and tenured. Very arrogant.

This guy is just horrible. He is willing to help you if you have trouble but he is an extremely hard grader, cannot recognize students' logic in assignments, very opinionated (write what he thinks) and class was very boring. This class was twice as hard as it needed to be. The worst class i have had at cal poly. Im an engineering major so i hate liberal arts stuff to begin with but this was just an awful experience i never want to go through again. The only good things were that the reading load was not too bad at all and the quizzes were very fair.

It is such a dissapointment that this man is the chairman of the English Dept. He is by far the most arrogant and cocky of the staff in the English Dept.... yet he seems to care least about the students and most about his own standing. Really too bad... Cal Poly could have done much better when filling his position.

After reading poly ratings, I had some hesitation taking Kann. However, I actually enjoyed these classes. In fact, I even looked forward to them! It's been a while since I've been able to read and discuss literature, and it was a nice change of pace from my major. Work load was reasonable, and I felt the three essays we wrote for this class were graded fairly.

This professor is horrible! Avoid this class at all costs. He is a soft bodied prick who thinks way to highly of himself. He belittles his students and unless you write word for word what he says in class, consider your grade an F. Someone please do Cal Poly and the State a favor – David Kann, Your Fired.

I am not writing this because I got a D in his class just to make this clear...There is not much to add to the comments already submitted about David Kann. He is a terrible teacher who takes no real effort to help out the students without demeaning them or making them feeling stupid for asking questions. I went to his office throughout the quarter and every question I ask him he gave me the WTF look on his face and gave me smart ass remarks in person and through e-mail. If you dont write down word for word what he wants dont expect much points on test. He also flat out LIED to me about material on a test...which caused me to get an F on the test because the material he told me that he wasnt going to cover was the exact material he ask for the short answer portion of his test which were worth half of the test points (25 pts multiple choice and 25 pts short answers)...If there are other teachers you can take I would advise to AVOID him at all cost. Good luck

So, Dr. Kann is not the nicest, most caring individual. He was kind of intimidating and made students feel dumb when asking questions, but his teaching wasn\'t terrible. I would recommend going to class every day if you can, because I didn\'t read half of the material for the class and got the most out of his lecture material and a B+ in the class. He is fairly interesting during his lectures, but its hard to look past his arrogance. Overall, an okay class, but Kann is kind of a jerk.

What a douche this guy is. Told us certain material that wasn\'t going to be on an exam, and lo and behold it was, so I studied my brains out for nothing. Has the personality of a mindless robot and talks like one too. Luckily I won\'t ever have to see this fuckwad ever again.

Its not necessarily about the book and stories you read about, tests and quizzes are how HE interpreted the book. He goes over most in class, but skips over a lot so you have to do all the reading to understand the material. Your grade is based on 5 total tests, each worth 20 percent of your grade. Some questions have nothing to do with the reading, but a little story or random fact he said in class to make sure you were paying attention. He knows most take this class only as a GE, so he lectures saying how everyone should switch to be an english major blah blah blah. I paid attention, took good notes, read the book, and got a solid B.

The professor raises some good questions. Its too bad that hes an absolute ass hole of a guy and has probably one of the most boring classes i have ever taken at poly. actually... yes... THE most boring class i have ever taken at poly. its not often that i fall asleep every class period from taking a teacher. hes god awful and a complete dick head. his quizes are just from the reading and his essays arent bad. however, he gives everyone in the class horrible grades. screw this man.

Everyone seems to be hating on Dr. Kann but he's really not bad at all. He presents you with everything you need to know to get an A. He assigns readings every week, but even if you don't do them you can manage just fine. We had 3 midterms and a final.. and the midterms consisted of 25 m/c questions and then a couple short answer questions. I got like 95% on all of them and barely studied. I took him for a big lecture class (100+ students) so it might've been easier to have him in this type of setting. Basically, if you take good notes, you'll pass the class with no problem.

If you keep up with the reading, it isn't really so much. He have about 5 or so pop quizzes which were so so, I usually got 7 out of 10. But be sure to be on time, he gives the quizzes right at ten after but only gives you literally 3 minutes or less to take it. He grades his essays rediculously hard! I got 100% in my Argumentative Writing course last quarter, ENGL 145, and Professor Kann gave me a C- on my first essay. We are graded on 3 take-home essays ranging from 2-5 pages. I got a C-, a B- and then finally an A. If anything, I spent less and less time on my essays but strangley my grades improved??? I participated in class discussions every morning, and for an 8am class 4 days a week, that is pretty damn good, but I still don't think he cared much for me or anyone in the course. He is extremely arrogant and rude to his students. He doesn't hesitate to make you feel stupid and put you on the spot, another reason to actually do the reading. If I could retake the course, I wouldn't take Kann. However, you can get a B in this course atleast. I am pretty sure a few people got an A.

first day of summer quarter he stands up in front of the class and says "Hello class, since there is no literature to discuss yet, today I'm going to tell you about" *dramatic pause to look out the window* "The way I teach" I enjoyed his class. The workload was really easy and it was a nice break from my major (guy to girl ratio especially). The secret of this class is to say your thoughts and relax. If you have an idea or you disagree with him, then raise your hand and say tell the class. If you think he is speaking bullshit then raise your hand and say "this is bullshit". Get into an argument, exchange ideas, have some fun. That is what he said he is looking for and he enjoyed it when students took part.

Kann is absolutely awful and extremely brash. If you need to take this class I would recommend trying to find anyone else who teaches it. Extremely unpleasant to be around.

Professor Kann is by far the worst teacher I have ever had for any subject at any level. I was never able to acurately judge the depth of his knowledge regarding the material as he focuses almost entirely on the personal philosophies of the authors rather than on any relevant text. He also has a bizarre fixation with quantum mechanics, which he tries to link to various facets of the literature at every opportunity. While this might be appropriate, and even interesting, in his SF class, its application to this period is simply inexplicable. The lectures are long and rarely entertaining. He asks for class interaction, but when people volunteer he simply cuts them off 10 seconds in and either paraphrases them in such a way that their original message is lost, or disregards their response entirely. He has little to no ability to support the statements he makes during these lectures (when asked for a specific source in the Bible he simply cited the entire New Testament to one student...religion aside this is an afront to literary analysis). In addition the lectures always continue for three to five minutes after class has ended. The reading is the only homework and there is no timeline on the syllabus to show when should be read by what date. He mentions what reading the class should be on at the end of the lecture, which means more than half the class is already gone. There are periodic quizzes on the reading, but these are very easy (names, places, etc.) The tests consist of three take home essays, two of which count as your mid-term and the final. His requirements for these papers (length, grading criteria, etc.) are never clearly explained in class. The grades are likewise extremely vague, with generally unhelpful commentary. His office is much like his class, he will simply come up with a stance and talk about it until you give up and go away without getting a word in edgewise. Overall, Dr. Kann is arrogant, disorganized, vague, and pretty much just a terrible professor. I didn't find his class to be hard, but as an English major and a lover of literature I found this class to a terrible waste of my time and a missed opportunity to learn about a period I had not studied before. Avoid Kann if possible.

Wow, there just aren't enough bad things to say about this guy. As a lecturer he defines a whole new realm of awful. He supposedly wants it to be group discussion, but he makes a mockery of this by cutting off students as soon as they start to speak and using them as a springboard to have yet more time to listen to his own voice. The man is unspeakably arrogant and spends most of the time pontificating on his personal theories about what the authors may or may not have been thinking when they wrote something, as opposed to actually talking about the work in question. Oh and like the person below me said, he has an obsession with quantum physics that had pretty much nothing to do with anything. One on one he is just as bad and makes you feel as if you were interupting some terribly important task that is far more crucial than helping his students understand his impossible classes. And if you try to present an opposing view he just does the same thing he does in class and just talks non-stop hoping you will go away. If you want to do well on the papers you have to be in non-stop communication with him since his grading criteria are vacationing overseas and are nowhere to be found. He spends maybe 20 minutes grading the entire class' papers (or so I'm guessing from all the mispellings and grammatical errors), and he reads it only once and bases the grade on his first impression. I wasn't lucky enough to get one of these, but he told a number of people (essentially) "Why are you an English major?" Overall his class isn't all that hard, but if you like literature or enjoy an enlightening class discussion don't take this guy.

In the beginning...I thrashed and flailed in the sea of BS. And then I read polyratings and realized I was not alone. I spoke with other students. We all shared a common experience. English majors bound not by triumph and exultation, but madness and despair. Driven to the brink by KANN. He fails to produce a cohesive analysis of literature. He meanders. He digresses. Oh! And he condescends. He patronizes. He even insults. He is intelligent--he cannot teach. Take home tests are nice. But they don't make up for the frustration. Beware.

I went into Dr. Kann's class, having read his ratings, but with an open mind as if I never had read them. Dr. Kann turned out to be one of the best teachers I have ever had. The man is amazing. He is not arrogant; he is from New York. He doesn't talk to hear his own voice; he has brilliant concepts he wants to share with the class. He doesn't ask pointless questions; he makes you think. The class consisted of a midterm (take-home), a final (take-home), a research paper, three response papers, and participation on an email discussion alias. Dr. Kann is extrememly open to students' ideas in class and in their papers. He is highly organized as he hands out papers telling you exactly what he expects of you. If you don't like his topic suggestions on any of the papers, you can write your own topic. The only homework besides the papers and email discussion is the reading, and there are no quizzes. If your looking for a literature class to be stimulating, inspiring, disturbing, and unforgettable, take Dr. Kann. If you don't believe in broadening your intellectual horizons, then don't.

To be concise, I learned absolutely nothing from this class. Overall, a complete waste of time and money. There are 3 essays you have to write outside of class that honestly don't require you to keep up with the scheduled readings. A few late-nights of essay bullshitting is all it takes to get through this class with a pretty good grade. He's looking for you to get existential on this stuff or at least make up stuff that sounds existential, like he does in class on a daily basis. His lectures do nothing to educate you. On the first day of class, he'll go off on a tangent about how he wants class to be a discussion, probably use the phrase "If I do my job right, I'll only be speaking 5% of class time". Mark these words as bullshit. He does not want to hear your interpretations, ideas, or even your name. If you go to class, bring other work with you. There's nothing to gain otherwise. His tangents oftentimes do not encompass the actual reading assigned for the class, but rather random stuff from other eras that pop into his mind that he'll recite for you from memory. I cannot stress how useless these lectures are. You don't need to go. That said, you'll go, you'll get there, you'll remember what a colossal waste of time it is, and then browse the internet for 2 hours. Godspeed.

I was super excited about this class as it covers one of my favorite periods of English and American literature. What a disappointment. Class consisted mostly of lecture, which was rambling and often had nothing to do with the topic. Although he always swore it was relevant and would circle back around to the topic, it rarely seemed to. He skipped over works that are required for the major when he didn't like them, most notably the only two works by female authors on the syllabus. About Jane Austen's story, he said, "Wasn't that a hoot? Can you believe she was only 14 when she wrote that?" About Mary Wollenstonecraft's essay he said, "Wasn't that a slog?" He then moved on to other things. We didn't cover the only two female authors on the syllabus AT ALL! He said he wanted class discussion, but didn't seem to encourage it. The two times I tried to speak up, he looked at me like I was an idiot, said, "Mmm hmm," and turned away. I kept my mouth shut after that. Maybe what I said was stupid, but other professors are able to help pull out of me what I meant to say or to lead me in the right direction, so I start to see where I went wrong and improve my discussion comments. He seemed to pick out a couple of students he liked and gave them props when they spoke, but the atmosphere overall didn't encourage discussion. Which is okay except for the one day during the quarter when he REALLY decides he wants class discussion and throws a fit because no one is talking. Sadly, I think you can earn a decent grade in this class without showing up to class much or reading much beyond the two works you decide to write papers on (the midterm and final). I will say when he was talking about stuff that interested him, he lit up and made class very interesting.

Business majors: A degree for the intellectually impaired, HA HA.

People are right on the money here. Kann is an arrogant man who doesn't care about anyone. He has failed to return my midterm three times before I simply gave up on it. (I got an A, but still wanted to see it) I honestly think that he did not grade them, which is why he was so reluctant to find it for me. It is really dissapointing that he is our head chairman-I wouldn't even let him teach retarted monkeys to dance.

Dr. Kann is the worst teacher I have ever had. He seems to teach because he enjoys listening to himself talk! I worked my butt off, but I never stood a chance for an "A"--those are reserved for hot blonds!

Dr. Kann was not a nice professor, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a good professor. The best example I have to back this up comes from the time I brought my term paper into him during his office hours to get his input. He took it from me, made faces like he was getting kicked in the shins, flipped through a few pages and said, "This paper needs major revisions before you turn it in." I thought of myself as a good writer and it was hard hearing a criticism like that. He gave me 3 specific things to fix, I fixed them and he gave me an A. As a response to previous ratings, I would say he is arrogant because he is very intelligent and he has probably heard the same stupid things from students over and over again. He definatly stimulated my interest in the subject matter (American writers) and I would recomend him if you want an interesting and thought-provoking experience in American Literature. If you want an easy class to fulfill the GWR and your C4, take a different teacher.

This was without a doubt one of the most pointless classes I've ever taken. If you're interested in learning about crap, by all means go for this class. Every morning when I woke up and knew I was going to this class, I would tell myself "This day is really going to suck." Class discussions are just retarded and you end up beating a dead horse regarding meaningless conversations about life. This class is more about philosophy than English. At the end of the quarter you end up leaving more pissed off than anything because you learn NOTHING. The reading...OMG! The stories are like well over 150 pages, but you're reading at like a size 8 font! You'll read two pages and after 30 minutes to an hour, you'll ask yourself "What the f*** did I just read?" You end up slamming your book in frustration about the pointless crap you're reading and the pointless class you're taking and how much your life sucks because you know you have 148 more pages to read in a few days but can't because you have other classes and a life! The grading was: midterm 20%, term paper 40%, final 30%, and quizzes (simple minded...yeah right bull$h!t!!!) 10%. As someone that doesn't give two cents about English, this class was an epic failure in my cirriculum although I did get a good grade out of it. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go have a drink out of Rip Van Winkle's flagon and pretend like this class never happened.

I agree with a lot of the comments below- the content of the course was interesting and I'm glad I got the chance to read the works that were assigned, but Kann's ego is out of control. He's extremely arrogant and knows it, but refuses to change. He shoots people down for the comments they make, then yells at the class for not participating enough. He also doesn't care about the students, and says so repeatedly in class. I've never been so frustrated with tenure as I was with him- he constantly remarks on how he has tenure and how that means he can get away with almost anything. Its really a no-win situation in his class, and the sooner you accept this, the sooner you can focus on the material and try to appreciate the authors and the meaning you can get out of them, regardless of how he shoots that meaning down.

Professor Kann was very interested in the subject, however during a summer class at 8 AM, none of the students were. He would try to guilt students into answering his questions or call on someone who appeared to be staring at the ceiling. His take home midterm, term paper and final sounded like a good idea. But beware of the term paper. Make sure you clear your topic with him before you write the paper, or you could end up with 40% of your grade as a D. If you are interested in American Literature and enjoy poetry, this is a great class; but don't take it if you could care less, because class discussions hinge on the nightly reading.

This was a modern literature class, and was very interesting, even being an engineering major. Basically, if you do the readings and participate in class discussions, you will enjoy this class. His take home tests and paper are touchy, though. Make sure to write on a very narrow subject because they are fairly short essays. He does not like short explanations of long topics.

I actually enjoyed the reading in the class. I found the selections very interesting, so the reading homework wasn't bad at all. The professor on the other hand wasn't that great. He was approachable, but seemed very arrogant. He would get frustrated when students could not answer his questions. I felt he was not clear with the take home tests and essays. He would just give a grade and never explain it. He would never take the time in class to discuss what he was looking for in a test so we would all have the chance to learn and improve. It gave me the impression he did not care about the students in the class. I also found that he was very disorganized. He lost one of my exams and didn't seem to care - just gave me my grade and told me he would look for it. One nice thing is that he lets you email everything to him, but on the bad side I never got my final back and he seemed bothered when I asked for it. All in all, I was not impressed with this professor. It is sad to think that he was a department head and does have tenure. He is a good example with what is wrong with the education system - when a bad teacher is able to stay just because he has tenure and the students can do nothing about it. This is a good course that can be enjoyable, just find a good teacher!

The perfect words to describe Dr. Kann is arrogant. I don't understand why he even asks students to volunteer in his class, because all he does is shoot down your answer, only to drone out your response with his pompous attitude. This is the fifth and last (thank the Lord) English class that I had to complete at Cal Poly, and it definitely left an impression of how inadequate lecturers can be at this school. Not that this evaluation will do any good, since he is the Chair of the Department and has tenure, but AVOID THIS MAN AT ALL COSTS!

Dr. Kann is the most incredible teacher I've ever had. I can't believe that he got such low polyratings -- thank god I read these ratings AFTER taking his class. Dr. Kann presents the materials clearly and gives you a clear understanding of each short story that you read. He wont tell you the answers but he guides you to finding your own. Of course he doesn't give you answers -- why would he tell you what HE thinks the poetry means? People would complain even more if that were the case! His class consisted of one midterm paper, one final, four quizes, and one termpaper. He gives you both the final and the miterm beforehand, the quizes are a free ten percent of easy questions to make sure you read the text, like what color is the protagonist's hair, etc. He is a little tricky when it comes to grading, but it's really easy to find out what he wants and improve. This class is challenging but not overly difficult. Dr. Kann is one of the NICEST and LEAST ARROGANT Professors ever. He only seems arrogant because he wants you to be sure of your answers, to speak with conviction. I highly recommend this class.

Best class ever. If you like the subject matter and SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENTS WELL, you'll get an A.

As a person returning to College after being out in the business world, I can appreciate what Dr. Kann is doing in his classes. His practice of giving take home and then basing your entire grade on a few papers is consistent with jobs in the real world! Guess what gripers? The business world doesn't always tell you ahead of time what they want. Customers and clients don't always think carefully about your fragile ego before handing you a lesson. Dr. Kann is brilliant. Yep, he's a New Yorker, and if you can't see past that, make sure after graduation that you get a job working for the city and never ever leave the city limits. He is on point. He *makes you think* bottom line. He makes you support your arguments, and he makes you state your position clearly. Boo hoo. What do you expect? This isn't high school! Yes, he could use a little training in 'deskside manner' sometimes. But then, I'm amazed at the children I have in my classes with me. I'm only 32, and I'm scared for the next generation!

This was by far the best class I have taken at Cal Poly so far. Professor Kann does a really great job of connecting the works we read together so that they become easier to understand. If you do the readings and make an effort you will really get a lot out of this class. The ideas that are brought up relate both to the works and life in general, which makes them that much more interesting. The grading is based on a paper you write out of class, a midterm and final which he gives you the topics for beforehand, and random quizzes which are easy if you have done the reading. I strongly suggest taking this class especially if you have an interesting in the subject matter. You will almost certainly be left with a work that touched you.

This guy is the cockiest, most ridiculously rude teacher i've come across yet at Cal Poly. I'm an English major, and although getting a good grade in his class, it was a complete joke. Unless you agree with him, you're wrong. Unless you see eye to eye and can effectively convince him that you're right, you're wrong. Basically, unless you say exactly what he wants to hear from you, YOU'RE WRONG. He did absolutely nothing for my english curriculum and skills other than to make me reconsider my choice of majors. The fact this guy was once area chair is insane, and it's easy to see why he ISN'T anymore, (he tells you its because he got over it, but it's because complaints were coming in too fast!). Avoid him as a teacher at ALL COSTS, or prepare to be personally attacked on a regular basis. I've had my department head review essays I wrote for that class that were deeply criticized, and the new department head loved them. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!

There is only 3 papers for the whole class.. He grades them nicely as well. Lectures are interesting, its usually just a class discussion for 2 hrs. This is my second class with this professor, and I would highly recommend him.

Most horrible professor that I have EVER had at Cal Poly. I NEVER write reviews for professors, but Kann was so rude, arrogant, and all around disheartening that I had to write one. He calls people out in class and even if you answer correctly he will never admit that you do. His main goal in life is to make you look and feel stupid. He over analyzes the shit out of EVERYTHING (and I am an English minor). For one of my essays, he sent me the rudest feedback that I have ever received, and it was a pretty good essay in my opinion. I was always pretty confident in English before I took this jerk. He is SO condescending that you never feel comfortable sharing in class, but then he will yell at the class for not speaking up. He doesn't understand people don't speak up because he is intimidating, sarcastic, and condescending. He thinks he is so above all the "young, ignorant" student that he teaches. I've seen this guy walk around campus and he just smirks and stares at all the students, thinking he is so wise, educated, and noble. Give me a break. You're just as lost as the rest of us. This guy is such an asshole, I just think back to the class and laugh because this guy is so horrible. AVOID LIKE THE FREAKING BLACK PLAGUE

Dr. Kann is an excellent English professor. He loves the readings that he teaches about and makes books, such as the Great Gatsby, seem new even if one read it in high school. In Literary Sources of the American Character, the authors of our readings came from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. I really appreciated this about the class. Dr. Kann loves class participation! If you participate, you will learn more and enjoy the class more. If you don't participate... well, you will find out how sarcastic Dr. Kann can really get. He truly is a nice guy, so I recommend participating and taking his sarcasm and cynicism with a grain of salt. He is a New Yorker, afterall.

Professor Kann, although a bit intimidating, is actually a pretty nice guy. If you go to class and attempt to participate and pay attention he will reciprocate the same respect to you. He is a pretty tough grader, but if you understand what a thesis is, and how to properly support it you will be fine. I would definitely recommend Professor Kann.

I took this class as an elective for my English major, and it was... Interesting. He would assign reading for each class meeting, but you really only need to skim before class, where we went over it in detail. You have the opportunity to take the GWR in the class, in addition to the take-home midterm, the take-home final and the 3-page term paper. The term paper has to be on a poem you wrote yourself, but it only had to be ten lines. If you're an English major looking for an easy elective, pick this one. The professor's kind of full of himself, but he won't shoot down anything you say about the readings.

I am so happy that I took this class with professor Kann. He is a great teacher that is actually trying to help students learn and appreciate anything about poetry. There are a lot of readings, but not mandatory to complete, just familiarize yourself before going to class. There are 3 essays that are given, since there are no written tests. They are all very easy, all you have to do is give a well-thought opinion with the proper grammar and you have an A in the class. NOTE: He will not look over your paper to check for grammatical errors or to check for content. My suggestion would to have a roommate or a good friend read over your paper instead. It makes sense since he probably has several other classes and has to read 100+ papers that are discussing similar topics. There is also a GWR opportunity with the class, with 3 chances to complete. And will work with you in case you do not pass the first time. Overall, very easy-going class and an easy A. I hope I can take another class with him!

What a joke... Kann just preaches for two hours like he's so poetic god and isn't interested in what you have to say. You're graded solely on three essays; one on a poetry reading, another on a poem you write yourself, and a take home final essay. I got my papers back with compliments and several corrections for commas, but got low B's on all of them... WTF?? If you're stuck with taking this class, just take it C/NC, don't actually go to class, and save the frustration of getting disappointing scores...

I'm mostly reviewing Professor Kann because of his overall poor polyratings. Let me be candid about Professor Kann. He is certainly an expert with regards to english and poetry, although has many other interests. He presents information clearly, is open to discussion, and is very easy going. This class is really relaxed; many people would ditch regularly, as there are only 3 graded assignments, and they're all due near the end of the quarter. He gets easily sidetracked and talks about seemingly irrelevant things, but this didn't really bother me, as Kann's tangents are somewhat interesting. He's mostly a nice guy. A few things really piss him off; just make sure not to text in class, but other than that, he's very relaxed. Kann's class is interesting if you're into poetry, and really not too difficult. He wants his class to be engaged, which doesn't always happen. Just make sure to write decent papers and you'll do fine.

I highly suggest this class if you like science fiction or if you like to read. I read about half the books (we had to read 6 books) and used the cliff notes for the rest. There are weekly "pop" quizzes (that he hints at and makes it totally obvious). Class is enjoyable and the discussions are a break from my major classes. I actually got a B- and I think I deserved more, so he grades a little hard, but still within reason. The midterm and the final he gives you the essay questions ahead of time. The term paper is cake if you submit it to him a week before so that he can proof it and let you know where you're off. Dr. Kann is a very brilliant man.

Dr. Kann teaches a DECENT class. Science Fiction is an interesting topic and he definately opens the thought process on the selected works very well. He allows you to pick your own topic on all of the writing assignments and the inclass quizes are very easy. Sometimes the lectures got kind of boring and he tends to always answer a question with a question, but I think this is just his attempt to try and get the class involved. If you take his topic, I would suggest reading the books. they are very time consuming but very good. I did quite well on all of his assignments so I was pretty surprised when I also recieved a B- but whatever.

This is my second time taking Dr. Kann and it was just as enjoyable as the first. The man is an easy teacher, let me tell you. He's interesting, presents new ideas to old material, and is challenging enough to keep me interested. Guess what? I'm taking him again in the Spring! Fuck yeah Dr. Kann! You're my homeboy.

I really liked this guy; he was fair, easy, interesting, and smart. It was a challenging class but not too challenging. I would recommend him, but not to lazy engineers who can't write to save their lives -- it's an English class -- English is kinda required. :)

To the student below me....WELL SAID. Kann mentioned something about the only students that don't like him are the ones who come to his class expecting an easy A and don't get it. This is false. I never expected an easy A out of an English class, but I did expect a teacher who would help lead students to understand these difficult themes. Instead I had Kann who would stand in front of the class and rudely shoot down any idea that wasn't what he was looking for. One student actually said something that made sense and Kann looked at him, didn't say a word, and turned away. And he expected students to want to participate with a response like that?!?! Kann needs to get off this trip he is on and help students work through the difficult reading and process of understanding, not everyone in the class is an English major. I could go on for days, but most people on here have hit it dead on about this disrespectful professor and I have already wasted enough time on him.

This dude sucks. If you like hearing bullshit for two straight hours then take him. He thinks he is a philosophizer trying to reach deep into the minds of his students. I got a B in the class but it was definitely the worst class I have ever taken at this university BY FAR. He makes class miserable to attend. Worst teacher I've had at this school by far. Just make up a bunch of random shit when talking in his class and he might acknowledge your "findings". HE SUCKS

Professor Kann is one of the best professors I have had at Cal Poly. He encourages creativity more than any other teacher I have had. Everyone should take his class, you will learn about yourself and poetry.

Professor Kann is certainly talented in his knowledge and ideas about poetry, however he LOVES to hear himself talk. this poetry workshop is pretty easy, but if you do not enjoy poetry do not take the class. It will be like banging your head against a wall for 4 hours every week. However, if you love poetry like i do, this class is very interesting but can definitely be very boring.

Attendance is not required for this course. That being said...not going doesn't really help or hurt you. Most of my classmates (myself included) did not keep up on the reading and just picked out pieces to read in order to write essays as they were assigned. Go to office hours. Take his corrections on your essays to heart. He will give a lot of feedback. Also, if you want your essays back in a timely manner, definitely submit them by email. He is much quicker at returning these.

Prof. Kann teaches SF literature with a knowledge and enthusiasm rivaled by only a few profs at Poly. However, his enthusiasm does not facilitate an overall positive learning experience for the student. Dr. Kann lectures about abstract notions that he never fully explains, even after going over the class' time limit. He does not embrace student's ideas and comments in class. Class consisted of a take-home midterm, take-home final and term paper/creative short story. Grading was EXTREMELY critical and not beneficial to student's learning process. Comments on papers did not clearly reflect grading standards of English papers that Poly normally adheres to, but rather to the "gut-reaction" (his words) that he received at the time. His intimidation bleeds over even more in that he is the dept. chair, and he makes sure he tells you that all the time.

It's been months since I took SCI-FI lit with professor Kann, yet here I am writing an evaluation. Why? Because Kann stands out as one of the worst professors I've ever had. Like other people have commented, he is incredibly arrogant. His lectures are pointless and he gets frustrated when no one is inspired to answer his vague, sometimes off-topic questions. His is extremely unclear in what he wants in student essays. In fact, he gave us ZERO guidance before the midterm and practically none before our term papers. He then spent the day AFTER the midterm outlining exactly what he wanted. Same with the term paper. This was extremely discouraging for myself and my peers, creating an "I don't really care any more" attitude amongst the class. I don't think I got the grade I deserved (or could have received given a different, better teacher), and I know the same goes for many of my classmates. But perhaps the most baffling of all is that Kann is head of the English department (which he likes to point out on a regular basis). The one good thing I can say about this class is that the books we read were, in general, very good. It was sad, though, how quickly the energy of the texts was sucked out as soon as class started each day.

Kann, Kann, Kann...tisk tisk tisk. Well, this class was interesting, the content was rich and full, and you really gave me a lot to think about. You always answer my questions with more questions, and more often than not, make me feel like an idiot. However, the authors in question also contributed me feeling this way, so it's unfair to yield all of the responsibility unto you. I feel that you should have let us talk more in class than via email. You lectured a lot and didn't leave any room for discussion. Remember, you have a phd in this stuff, we don't. Let us develop ideas, argue with eachother a little bit before crushing our ideas with the ideas that your degree have taught you. However, I learned more than I can even fathom and the course was beyond challenging. I think you need to organize the ideas in the material more clearly and recognize the difficulties of the students. If you can do that, you'd be a superior instructor. However, you're good and this was a good class.

The phrase "pompous ass" does not do justice to this sorry excuse for a professor. Kann is exactly why tenure should be eliminated, and with it, lame, egomaniacs like Kann. Because he is department Chair, he is under the impression that any student cares about that shit. Kann: we don´t. His lectures were long-winded, uninspiring, and if you made a comment he didn´t agree with, rather than work with it and discuss it like adults, he shot it down with petty and insulting sarcasm. Kann, you need some mid-life crisis therapy. You stare at woman´s breasts, you make glib remarks to everyone, and you think you´re a great treasure. You´re an insecure, creepy has-been. Maybe you never even were a "been." Get the picture: avoid Kann, that´s Dr. Kann, Chairman Kann. Pretentious twit Kann.

Okay, I took a class from this professor a while ago, but I just wanted to add my experience to this list. The class I took was a grad-level English class about becoming an English professor. He was the absolute worst teacher to have for this course, since he\'s a professor simply to hear himself talk. How could I learn anything about teaching English from a man who doesn\'t even know how to do this? I was so initmidated by his condescending manner that I quit teaching mid-quarter while at Cal Poly. Now that I am a sucessful English professor, I look back and feel cheated that I ever had to learn from this unprofessional man.

I know a lot of people who don't like Dr. Kann much. I'm not one of them. I think a lot of students like happy fun professors who reward mediocre thought and work. Dr. Kann is not that type of professor. I can't think of any class at Cal Poly that *ever* made me think as hard as this class. Some classes just disappear when you leave them; this one has lingered with me to this day. He brings up ways of looking at the world and literature that are intentionally foreign and disconcerting to students. He doesn't provide any easy answers. But if you just go along with the lecture and see where his ideas take you, you can definitely get a lot out of his class. He has really high standards on papers, however. I was so burned out with school by the time I wrote my paper, I didn't put nearly as much effort into it as I should have. And he actually called me on it. Fair enough, Sir.