Wiley, Amy  

Dr. Wiley is an awesome English teacher! I have always struggled with writing and she made writing and learning the correct way to write fun!There is a book that you read that helps you with the essays. She quizzes you in the beginning of class on the week's reading. They are not hard quizzes as long as you understand. She is always there to help you and puts you first. You also put together a writing guide portoflio which I have used for help in other classes this quarter. Awesome teacher. I definitly recommend her!

i took this class this fall with Dr. Wiley. She was extremely understanding when it came to just about everything. I thoroughly enjoyed her class atmosphere and her lectures which were mostly fun and helpful. Nothing she does is busy work, which is rare in a ge english class. I wish i got more involved in the class because that class was fun.

Amy is an incredible teacher. She goes out of her way to help every individual student. She even cancelled class to meet with every student for some of the papers. I learned so much about writing from her. She isn

Dr. Wiley was a great teacher! Class was relaxed but she knew what she was doing. Go to office hours and get help and you'll be fine.

She understands the importance of learning and the growth of a writer. Simply the best teacher I have had at Cal Poly.

dr. wiley is really a psychotic, insane, stuck up professor. she expects way too much out of her first year students. everyone else just reads and writes and paper. but wiley is determined to ruin our lives with a portfolio that has about 500 assignments in it and expects you to revise them all 150 times each. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE. yeah sure she cares about her students, but its almost as if she wants you to fail. shes crazy. shes ridiculous. shes obsessed with english. ew

DO NOT TAKE HER. There is an insane amount of reading for this class. you have 3 papers to write but she doesn't even give you prompts for any of the essays. you have random pop quizzes on readings which are only 10 points. she literally expects sooo much for a ge class especially for a first year class. she does have office hours and wants everyone to come in to them. and in the end you turn in a portfolio which is a combination of all the work youve done. none of your papers are graded until the portfolio which is your due during finals. she also makes you rewrite her syllabus and make your own rubric which she will use to grade your papers with.

Wiley did not teach me anything this quarter. She expects you to read her mind and know everything she wants you to do. She doesn't clearly explain any of the assignments, she gives random pop quizzes on the long readings and grades them hard. For the portfolio at the end of the year, she basically makes you turn it into an art project in order to get an A. The grade at the end of the class does not reflect how good of an English student you are since she plays favorites. I went to almost every class, and I did not learn ONE thing. She may be knowledgable but she has no ability to teach this course. I would advise to PICK ANOTHER TEACHER.

The person below me said it best. I did not learn a thing from Ms. Wiley. She loves teaching and you can tell but to go through an entire quarter and base your grade on a single portfolio is ridiculous. She knows her stuff... but you won't learn it from her unfortunately.

Do not be deceived by all the positive feedback Wiley has received. She is arrogant and condescending. She speaks as though she is a supreme human being and knows everything. Her class is ridiculous and the concepts she hopes the class understands and irrelevant. The course consists of 2-3 short essays and one final essay that is 40% of your grade--- RIDICULOUS. Her class is the most painful thing I have ever sat through and I can't stand listening to her completely dry and absurd jokes that she finds so hilarious and witty. do not take her unless you have to. you will leave this class frustrated and worse off than before you started. she does nothing to teach you had to properly write and compose arguments and analysis papers. good luck

this teacher is up and down. she knows her shit most definately, but she sucks at conveying it to us (her students.) she likes to ramble on and dish out really corny jokes and tends to laugh at her own for a long while. as the guy above said she thinks she knows it all and is supreme (which she does know her stuff) but she is horrible at teaching it. most of us just sit through class and nod our heads because we want to get out. there are 2-3 shorts and 1 long. one being 30% and the long being 40%. also on her essays if you don't do exactly what she teaches you you won't get a good grade, she likes to see what she teaches in class in the essays -- meaning she'd rather do your essay for you then you doing it yourself. go to office hours and ask her lots of questions on upcoming essays like on what you should do if you take the class, thats the only way you'll get a good grade. i don't recommend this teacher

Prof. Wiley knows her stuff, in and out, up and down.. I was really impressed by her and her "techniques" because it works (if you really understand them like she does.) However, her class is really demanding in terms of the skills you have to possess to be a good writer. The work load isn't that bad, you only have to read 2 books, and then answer questions for the next day just in case there is a quiz. I really didn't talk much in class but apparently she grades us during discussions, oh well. Take this class if you want to be an effective writer and willing to give up your whole day for her 40% worth Final Essay but! if you are looking for an easy A class... this is not the class for you. I learned a lot and I'm glad I took her class!

I thought she was pretty good. Be prepared to work your ass off though, a bit absurd for a GE. I felt like I learned some useful stuff though. ...and ya that final paper was a bitch. Intense class but a good teacher.

She's one of those teachers that thinks her class is going to change the way you think about life like Drew Barrymore in Donnie Darko. I don't really recommend it. She wasn't a bad teacher, but I don't think its a good idea to take her class.

Professor Wiley has been my favorite teacher at Cal Poly thus far. It was a difficult class but I learned more than I ever thought possible. She truly cares about the success of her students and engages really well with the class. English is a hard subject for me and I feel that my writing skills have greatly improved. If you have the opportunity and are looking to learn take Wiley!

I thought this class wasn't terrible at all. Given, there were moments with a lot of work to do in a short amount of time-- but nothing that bad. I thought she was the most helpful during office hours, and she practically rewrote my prompts for me when I needed the help (with my input of course). I knew I wasn't going to get an A in the course-- but getting a 94 on the final 10 pg paper sure helped me get a B+ (a few points away from an A-). But, you get what you get. Overall, amazing teacher. She really cares about her students, and even cried at the end of the quarter and said how amazing we were.

Dr. Wiley is the most intelligent human being I have ever met. She knows everything about the subject. The only problem is that because she is so smart, she has issues conveying everything to the class--she forgets that we are still students and that this course is only the first or second english class we have taken in college. However, she genuinely cares about each student, and if you need help, go to office hours. All in all, she is an amazing professor and even though the course was hard it is extremely worth it. I recommend her 100%.

Dr. Wiley is a GREAT teacher! If you don\'t want to work hard then do not take her. She expects a lot from her students, but she is very passionate at what she teaches. This is not an easy A, nor should it be. She wants her students to learn and improve, which I promise you will.

Amy inspired me to love writing again. Coming from architecture, I would much rather be building a model or doing drawings rather than writing, so that says a lot about her teaching style. She will be flexible with you if she knows you\'re a hard worker. She is very approachable and personable, but it is difficult to get into office hours with her (because usually the whole class will be in line, and she likes to really go in depth with each student. As far as homework, it\'s not a ton, but she expects you to put hard work into the midterm and final. Amy is quirky, fun, and inspirational. HIGHLY recommended.

She sucks. Way too much work for a GE. she is rediculous and gives you way too much work, EVERYDAY! She thinks she is helping you and shit, but if your not an English major, there is no point for all this pointless busy work. stay away from taking this teacher, as much as you can. She blows!!!

she is an extremely smart professor who works you really hard. she is very interested in her students and cares alot about your personal progress. I love her and would definitely recommend her to anyone who thinks writing is remotely important

I would recommend Wiley\'s ENGL 145 class to any English major, and any student who genuinely wants to improve their writing skills. This class is not an easy A, but you get out what you put into it, and a strong grade is not unattainable. Take advantage of her office hours-- she is extremely helpful and constructive.

One of the best English teachers ever. I personally whole-heartedly hate english. The classroom environment is fun and always relateable. Wiley has that sense of humor you want from most teachers and she is very understanding. The only problem I had with her is that she gives way too much work for a GE and if you\'re not prepared to do a lot of work (like me >.>) then don\'t take this class.

The first day I walked into this class I considered dropping because Wiley seems like a hard-ass and you know the class is going to be a lot of work--which it was. I am so glad I didn\'t drop this class because I learned so much about writing. It was so much work, but you only have a final essay and a midterm essay due, and the whole quarter you are working on those 2 papers. I learned a ton--if you actually want to learn something and aren\'t looking for an easy A TAKE HER. She has an amazing personality and is so funny.

Dr. Wiley is a great teacher. She honestly cares about the class material and your personal work. Wiley pushes you to become a better writer, and you will-at a cost. While even the worst writer will improve, the workload is VERY heavy. Be prepared to having reading, writing, and analysis homework assigned during each period while also having to work on long-term writing. However, the work is worth it and pays off in future classes. Wiley also is always available for help or to discuss your work. I recommend going in to discuss everything with her because she will not only like you better, but you will probably end up getting a letter grade higher on your paper. I recommend this professor to anyone wanting to improve their writing skills and are up for the challenge. Good luck!

Looser

Dr. Wiley has been teaching this class for a long time and definitely knows what she's doing, but she's also somewhat flexible with changing things according to the needs of the class. I took Engl 145 as a GE and it almost made me want to switch my major to English. Wiley is creative with her assignments and it's a great class for people who like to write, but it's not an easy GE. Don't take this class if you have a lot of other hard classes because it's pretty time consuming. She has high expectations of her students but if you're up for the challenge you'll learn a lot.

Dr. Wiley is one of the best professors I've had at Poly. She genuinely cares about her students, and is passionate about her subject. That said, this class isn't easy! It's a difficult course, but if you are willing to put in a little work, your writing will improve a lot. I would recommend taking 145 with her if you get the chance- just don't take it when you have a bunch of other difficult classes. Don't miss out on this excellent professor because you wanted an easier GE. There's a reason her classes fill up so quickly!

Lets begin by saying that I have never been driven to evaluate a professor before, thats how great Dr. Wiley is. I felt like I was a decent writer going into her class but I feel like I have come out of it 10 times better. I am not going to say that it was a super easy class because you definitely have to earn your grade, but if you take her you will not regret it. She is an amazing professor who has taught me so much about analysis and writing. I definitely recommend Dr. Wiley, this has been one of the best classes I have taken here.

Dr. Wiley is the best English teacher I have ever had! Her class is not easy but not too hard. All of her work has a purpose AKA no busy work, which I love. My writing has improved dramatically because of her and I am seeing the effects in other classes. She is super dedicated to her students success-- one time she sat with me for 3 hours while I wrote my paper, giving me helpful suggestions along the way. She is super sweet and puts a lot of effort into seeing her students succeed. Take her!!

I would highly recommend Dr. Wiley. She is extremely passionate about teaching and my writing improved drastically after finishing this course. My suggestions would be to take her class only if you don't already have a heavy load for that quarter (I had a really hard quarter and this class is VERY time consuming), go to office hours, and only take her class if you're willing to put in a lot of work, because it definitely isn't an easy A or B.

I hope that you are on this website and reading this review for the right reasons. Not to see which teachers are going to give you the best grade, not to see which teacher is not going to give a f.uck about their students, and not to see which class you can get by doing the least amount of work. The purpose of this site, and college in general, is to find out which teachers and interests ignite you as an individual. And Dr. Wiley does just that. Her ability to connect with her students and really teach them is remarkable. This class is certainly not a breeze, but no class should. Especially ENGL 145, which is supposed to teach you things you will use for the rest of your college classes. Take her if you have the opportunity, but make sure to not have too large of a load for the quarter. AND take what you learn from WIley and apply it to every class you take, and I promise that you will find the true value of education and what it really can teach you.

Amy Wiley is the perfect example of a teacher who can do nothing but teach. She has no foundation in the real world and what she teaches is also completely irrelevant to anything. She puts on a mask of being excellent and logical and free of fallacy. But, the reality is that is far from true. She has graded "class discussions" which are entirely ridiculous and asinine. Although I dropped the class before we had to do any real writing, it was clear to me that she was far below acceptable for a 145 English teacher.

Wiley is hilarious, fun, and the class is extremely relevant. My writing improved drastically after this course. Go to office hours! And only take her class if you can put the effort into the material assigned! The deeper meaning within the material in her 145 class is something I can take with me for the rest of my classes at college (and hopefully through my life). Short version: I very highly recommend this professor. Very cool material. Not an easy A but very worth it, she rocks

The best teacher of my freshman year. Se is super unique and her puns keep you constantly involved in class. The class has a lot of work, sure, but it isn't too hard to get a decent grade in the class.

Dr. Wiley is an awesome professor. She really DOES care about her students, and at the end of our quarter with her, it was made clear she had enjoyed getting to know our class very much. She made me love English again, so I am going to take her for another English course. Office Hours help a lot if you are having any trouble with your papers or ideas. There are three, with the Final Paper being worth the most (total 40%). Quizzes happen every couple weeks, as well as discussions. They may not necessarily help you one week, but usually are easy points. All you have to do is say one thing- a little participation is not much to ask for. I know the first day was awful, but it was easy to talk every discussion after that. You get to choose your topic for your Final Paper, which was AWESOME. She's really open about that, once again, Office Hours. I took the class as CR/NCR, but if I had to put a grade to it, I probably got a B+.

Amy is easily the nicest and most talented professor I've had at Cal Poly so far. She really cares about what she is teaching and it is very clear that she wants her students to succeed. You do have to do the work and the readings but overall, the class isn't something too hard for one to get an A in. Amy's class was my favorite the whole quarter and her wit and refreshing sense of reality made every class interesting and a joy to go to.

I personally dreaded this class, along with Dr. Wiley but that does not mean she isn't as great of a professor as everyone else says she is. As a person she is very intimidating. Her attitude and demeanor is piercing, and her humor bland. She is the only one who laughs at her jokes and she laughs at them HARD. All that aside, she is the only English teacher I've ever had to actually TEACH you something, and it's material I've never been exposed to before (though totally useless info int he real world). She's very passionate about what she teaches and you can tell she really cares about your success. There's a TON of busy work which is almost never collected and only 3 essays throughout the quarter, with the final being worth 40% of your grade! She takes a while to grade your essays but when you get them back they come with very friendly, critical, and detailed feedback along with encouragement to come to office hours to work on your personal writing weaknesses. You'll LOVE this class if you're interested in the subject, otherwise idk what to say. It was just too much work and irrelevant topics for my taste. Would NOT recommend to those looking for an easy/medium GE. Recommended to those with passion for the subject and looking to improve their writing (because you really do improve).

Don't take this class unless you are willing to put in work. Often left class not understanding what she was talking about. She wants a type of writing different than I had been taught before. She does seem to truly care about teaching her students. Office hours help.

This class was difficult but worth it. Dr. Wiley taught me how to think and write more ethically and with an open mind. She is a little intimidating but very kind and helpful and wants the best for her students.

Although Wiley seems to have the students best interests in mind and tries to make the class entertaining, it was all in all not a great class. The essays, which make up a bulk of the grade, had unclear prompts that were often difficult to understand. The grading of these essays was also strict and inconsistent at times. The style of writing she demanded was much different than that of my English 134 class. Another complaint I had was that some homework was graded while others were not. All in all Wiley seems to be a good person and her class is manageable if you take the time to consistently go to office hours. Do not take this class if you are not willing to put in extra work.

Dr. Wiley changed my life for the better. Her class was a challenge, but it was worth it. She required me to take a broad topic and simplify it into something I could make an argument about. The amount of outside work wasn't a lot, but you definitely needed to spend time doing research and staying focused. I learned so much about taking my paper and paragraphs and tearing them apart to look at the organization microscopically. Dr. Wiley really wants her students to succeed and I do suggest going to office hours. This class made me conscious about the way I write and how I can effectively construct an argument with a limited amount of ambiguity and subjectivity.

I LOVE Dr. Wiley. She is brilliant and classy and super approachable and nice. I feel like her teaching is very vague but she gives a lot of guidance if you ask. Thought Dr. WIley's class wasn't my favorite, I love her as a person.

Dr. Wiley is an absolutely amazing professor. Coming out of English 134, which felt like a complete waste of time, her class reminded me why I'm an English major. She isn't always the easiest to understand, but she openly admits that she tends to have a large vocabulary and is so focused on what she knows that it is hard to remember what it is like to know it. She gives lots of opportunities for the class to tell her if they understand the material or not, and will go over it as many times as necessary. Also, her office hours are great. She is always there and, if you are stuck, she will walk you through every step needed to get to where you should be. There is no reason not to pass this class so long as you do the work and take advantage of how much she wants to help you. And, in the end, you'll come out a much better writer and able to argue your point better than you ever thought possible.

I came into class confused and usually left more confused then ever. She has a passion for her class and helping her students but is not good at explaining what she wants from you. I like how there is only one essay with just different forms. Pop quizzes were often but they were usually credit or no credit. Overall, would not recommend her unless you love confusion!

Professor Amy Wiley was the cherry on top of my academic experience during my freshmen year. I honestly feared this class when I first registered for it because I SUCK IN WRITING AND ENGLISH. I started in ENGL102 fall quarter, ENGL134 winter quarter and then worked my way up to ENGL145 this quarter. Amy Wiley was definitely a tough professor and I put more effort into this class more than all of my other classes. (But from what I heard from many of my friends, that's basically how it is for all the A3 classes here at Cal Poly). Anyways, she would always assign homework and readings which I highly suggest you do before coming to class because she sometimes gives pop quizzes. I got used to the structure of her class and it's basically... 1. Check Polylearn for any assignments 2. Come to class ready to discuss the material 3. And ALWAYS COME TO CLASS. Besides that, I love what I got out of this class... I ACTUALLY LOVE WRITING NOW! She taught me how to argue and put my thoughts down on paper fantastically. It's amazing what she can teach in only 10 weeks. Also, the dynamics in her class is great! During spring quarter, she had two sections for ENGL 145. In my section, my class had a family vibe. I love how I got so many friends out of that class. We would sometimes meet up and discuss assignments or stuff like that. Anyways, TAKE HER! You will thank her at the end and you will come out with so much knowledge and life long skills. She essentially loves getting to know her students and make them great argumentative writers.

Amy is SO nice, cool, funny and all those great things, but, when she grades your essays (which are basically all that matter to your grade) she is a major hard ass. I worked for hours on my essays, went to her office hours, had my peers review my essays and barely got an 80%. Granted, I'm naturally an untalented writer, so that didn't help. I really did enjoy the class however, it just it was extremely frustrating to be graded so harshly. I understand its a college class, but its also a GE, and she made the class way too difficult and graded everything very nit picky.

This class has been extremely helpful in not only refreshing my ideas and techniques to argumentative writing, but it has also inspired me to think about argument in new ways. I usually dislike my GE's because they do not explicitly align with my interests, however Dr. Wiley was able to help me envision the benefit of this class to my future profession. Her assignments are as mind blowing as her lectures as long as you don't look at them as just assignments. If you try your best to apply what you learn to what you're passionate about--sports, art, diversity, etc.--you will see the value of Dr. Wiley's teaching methods and class structure. On a practical side note, be prepared to read a lot, talk a lot, write a lot, and print a lot of things. Thanks for the great class Dr. Wiley!

I had Mrs. Wiley for English 145 and feel like I did not improve as a writer at all. I used to dread going to class everyday because I would never know exactly what was expected from me and it was frustrating trying to go to class and connect and learn. She also does not do a very good job at explaining assignments and also assigns a lot of needless busy work that has nothing to do with the the final point of the class. If you are going to take English 145 I recommend taking a different teacher.

I love Wiley. This class was easily one of the most challenging classes I have taken but the things I have learned in her class I have been able to apply to a lot of my other classes. It might seem like a lot of work but most of it is pretty straight forward and can be done quickly. When it comes to the three papers, she is really accommodating about helping you if you go to office hours. She'll read you're papers and let you know exactly what she wants you to do in order to receive a higher grade. She's super personable and easily approachable when you need help. TAKE HER CLASS!!!

Wiley is bomb.com. I absolutely loved her. She is so supportive of her students and really aims for her classes to excel. Not going to lie it was a lot of work (daily, no choice) BUT it was very much worth it. First professor I'm actually keeping notes from so I can use them in the future. She let our class revise our research paper a million times. We got so close to her she cried on the last day of class. I absolutely loved her as a professor, 10/10 you need to take her class.

Dr. Wiley is an amazing professor. You start in the class being confused because she doesn't explain much of what she wants from you on assignments, however she'll eventually mention that she isn't here to hold your hand every step of the way and if you put your best effort into the assignment she'll give you the credit even if you admit to totally misinterpreting it. It is almost impossible to get a failing grade on an essay if you write it so work hard to get them done on time. Wiley really cares about her students and will remember not only your name but what you say in class discussions and how your speaking style compares to your writing style in your essays. She writes extremely detailed reviews for the first full essay and really helps develop not only your writing but how you think about and perceive the world. Do whatever you can to take a class with Dr. Wiley.

Avoid Wiley. As a student with over a 3.5 GPA in engineering, I have never felt a bigger waste of my tuition. Wiley blabs on and on about various topics that have no relevancy to the real world. I understand courses such as these are supposed to foster critical thinking skills and make us better well rounded learners. This was not the case in this course. Everyday you will step into Wileys fairy tale. Where she talks and talks about absolutely nothing until your brain just feels numb. And then right when you think it cant get any worse, she will drop a large paper requirement on you. If your paper doesn't reflect her fairytale teachings, you will fail. If you try and go into her office every single day and explain even a sentence of rational or logic: YOU WILL FAIL. RANT COMPLETE

Listen, Wiley's a sweet person. She's interesting to listen to. She tries her best to answer questions (though half of the time she doesn't actually answer them). She's even nice to the really annoying kids in class (I don't know what it is about this trait but I respected her for it). Reading chapters from "You're Not So Smart" was probably my favorite part of the course -- though NONE of the time I spent doing these assignments contributed to my final grade. I took Wiley because she had a good score on Polyratings - and this is the first time Polyratings screwed me over. If you care about your GPA but want to learn something, PLEASE do yourself a favor and take her class CR/NCR. I wasted SO much time and energy on this class.

For a GE, English 145 is way too much work but Wiley does a great job in making the class worthwhile. I was utterly confused the first 7 weeks of the class because she is unclear on her instructions for assignments so be prepared for that. But as the quarter wrapped up, things started making sense and I learned a lot from it. You will learn how to cite almost everything in every style, which is incredibly redundant but you may need these skills somehow later in life. Although the in class discussions are scary they really helped my argumentation skills and made class enjoyable. Don't be afraid to speak your mind, she really appreciates it. There are a lot of readings but "You Are Not So Smart" is actually very interesting and I learned a lot from that book. Overall, Wiley is a valuable professor that will teach you more than just how to write an essay.

DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER. I am serious this is one mistake you will not want to go through with. I have always been a good english student earning nothing less than a "B". This teacher teaches the class as though everyone in the class is an english major and grades as such. She is EXTREMELY UNCLEAR with everything she does in the class. I got a "C-" in the class and worked extremely hard. She is one of the worst teachers I have had at Cal Poly. Take Brian Bates over her from what I have heard he is 10x easier and grades fairly. If youre looking for an extremely hard class with no rewards at the end then this class if for you but if you have any shred of logic run the hell away from this class. Life with wiley<Life without knowing Wiley. I took the time to write this to make sure you all dont suffer as I did goodluck.

There is no point in taking her for this class, just take someone else. She is unclear about everything and I didn't learn anything, even after going to every class and doing all the assignments. Too much work for a basic GE. I honestly don't think anyone got higher than a B since no one had any idea what to do. So don't take her if you care about your gpa.

Please do not be deceived by all these positive reviews. Dr. Wiley was the worst teacher I've had in my entire life. If you can be perceived as "privileged", do not take this class. In her eyes, you represent an oppressive class that is detrimental to the rest of society. Regardless of her personal biases, she is extremely unclear with her assignments, she assigns hours of busy work every night, and she will grade your papers like you are a graduate student constructing your final thesis. Her arrogance is baffling. More specifically, she has a superiority complex comparable to Napoleon. I am not one to write polyratings, but if this is the one good deed I can perform in my life: TO STOP YOU RIGHT NOW FROM TAKING THIS CLASS, then I can sit back in my old age in a state of contentment, knowing that I have spared at least one individual from the horror that is being entrapped in a tiny room with Dr. Wiley four days a week for a quarter of your school year. God bless.

She makes very simple things the most confusing thing in the world. If you go to her she will help you but if you don't have her clarify everything you just sit there like what the f*** are you trying to say.

Wiley is a good professor, she is pretty average but gets very involved in her students. We discussed politics and meditated about half of her classes and then she would randomly tell us our paper is due next week. She is tough to follow but definitely means well. Sweet Lady, kind of flaunts here degrees around in her students faces, but its not that bad. Would probably take her again because I got a B without really trying.

just don't. pretentious and condescending.

Dr. Wiley is an awesome human being and I highly recommend taking any of her classes. She's a really good teacher and though her grading can be tough she's always willing to help.

Wiley is a great teacher, but only if you want to learn something. Yes she tries to weed people out the first week, but if you are intimidated, go back to highschool. Go visit her office hours, do the reading, do the painstaking rough drafts, and you will learn a alot. If you are there to just get the class over and done with, take another teacher. She is awesome, but be ready to work.

Dr. Wiley is one of the best professors I've ever had! You get excited about coming to class because SHE'S excited to come to class... she actually likes her job (a rare commodity around here i guess) ;o) WARNING: there is a lot of reading... some nights it's like 2 pages, but the next it's 20... it doesn't seem like a whole lot, but when it's poems or in old english, you have to read it slowly, and a couple of times to understand it. (However she gives you a day by day reading homework paper on the first day of class, and if you have a rough week coming up, you can do the reading ahead of time). Also, she gives random quizzes that are really hard, so to do well, you have to read in depth... but if you're there in class and haven't read, she'll still give you a point for coming to class... Definitely take her if you have the option-- it's work, but she makes it way more bearable than any other english teacher i've had!

An enthusiastic teacher, great at making the subject interesting, even if you don't know or care about ancient Greece. I had her last year, and our grade consisted of 3 essays, a group presentation and participation. But I've heard that her classes have gotten harder, and she's giving in-class essay tests now. She's really good at helping you improve your writing, so take advantage of her office hours. The class goes a lot faster if there's a lot of people talking. Yes, there's a lot of reading, but this is an English class, so what do you expect? You can pass her classes pretty easily w/ just sparknotes, but for the essays we needed to analyze specific quotes, which you can't do if you havent read the texts.

she is funny, smart, willing to listen, and takes her exams directly from the parts of the readings covered in class discussions. the readings aren't fun and she gives "pop" reading quizzes almost every period but drops your lowest score and offers opportunity to raise a score via a class debate. take her class. there are much worse english professors to be stuck with.

Wiley is a great English teacher to take for a GE class. I mean, I'm biased toward liking English so I especially loved it, but there were lots of engineers in my class who had a great time also. Wiley always has really poignant remarks about the texts and helps you understand them and put them in context. It's really hard to relate to the Odyssey, but Wiley makes it easy. I never spent so much time laughing in class and the reading every night was not bad at all, watch out for the ID passages though. Oh yeah, Wiley also used to be on a frisby team, so one day we all went and played after class. She's way laid back and easy to talk to. You should not be afraid to take this class (even if you're an engineer!)

I did not like this lady at all. She thought she knew everything. She would lecture on certain topics and just ramble on and on. It was pointless as she would talk so fast and everything she said made absolutely no sense. When she wouldn't lecture we would break into groups and she would tell us to talk about some BS that made no sense. The midterm was the hardest test I have ever taken in my entire life and probably the most difficult one I will ever take. She made trick questions and made it as difficult as possible. Everyone in the class failed it and she curved it so people who really got terrible grades got A's. Then she decided to cancel our final so the majority of our grade was the midterm (which I still did bad on) so I was completely screwed. By far the worst class I have taken at Cal Poly.

Wiley is an incredibly smart and kind professor, and is as straight forward as possible when it comes to english and literature. If english and/or literature is your cup of tea, I would highly recommend her. If you're an engineer like myself, you can still get a decent grade without giving your life away to the class. However, prepare yourself for weekly homework quizzes (35% of your grade) in ENGL 251. I never did and that's why i got a B instead of an A.

I absolutely love Dr. Wiley. She is easily the most caring and sincere professor at Poly. She wants her students to succeed and she is willing to help you as much as she can. Her feedback on the essays gives you the ability to jump a letter grade on the next essay assuming you read it and take it to heart. If you can, take her class and see why I gave her a 4.0. She's funny, fair, and loves what she does.

I wish someone had told me not to take this class or to take it credit/no credit. Wiley is a nice person and tries to make class interesting with her humor and her laid-back conversational discussions, however, she speaks so abstractly that you will be very unclear as to what she's trying to explain, what you're supposed to do for assignments, and what she's expecting. She gives reading quizzes so you must do the reading and the quizzes ask very detailed questions, not just about the plot. But most of all, I want you to know that you will be SO confused and I would avoid taking this class, as I am a good student and was on the verge of getting a C after putting in a lot of effort.

Put succinctly, do not take Wiley. She’s terrible at defining what is required of students day to day, and thinks it’s entertaining when students ask for more clarification, saying smugly “you want more structure don’t you” (without actually offering any). 30% of your grade depends upon on a quiz over the reading (which is fine) or a discussion which requires other students to “upvote” you in order to get anything better than a C. Additionally her expectations for the two large papers are absolutely skewed for a 200 level class for non-English majors.

Wiley is sick. She is super into the type of the literature we read and she pulls out all of this context from each story and she makes me think about things in literature in ways I never have before. She is one of the most chill professors I've had a poly, and she was extremely supportive of our efforts to save the Honors Program, and she shared stories of her disagreements with administration and gave us great tips. TAKE HER for any class you can. Period.

She is a cool person but doesn't have much structure to her lectures and is really absent minded. I learned more from other students responses to the readings than hers. She doesn't teach much and you basically get in groups and talk about the readings.

Professor Wiley is probably the best instructor I've ever had, and that's saying a lot, especially considering I've never enjoyed English courses before. She was incredibly friendly, conversational, clear, helpful, and fair in her lectures, grading and all-around teaching, even though her lectures (of which she only did about two hours total for the whole class - the rest is pretty much discussion) and is a downright good person too. This course has plenty of reading, but it's not unusually long for this type of class and is fairly manageable anyway. There are two midterms and one cumulative final, but the class can convince her to make them out of class midterms or final - that is, essays, which I definitely prefer to condensed and insanely studied for in-class bluebook exams - if the class agrees on it. She is super flexible and will take the open-ended but informative class discussions in practically any direction you want as long as you talk during class, and even somehow manages to connect with each of her students (provided they apply themselves to the class) despite the challenge of actual individual interpersonal connection in multiple classes of 30 students. The last day of class is recitations, in which you recite anything of any length that interests you and say what it means and that's it - that's the kind of connection she goes for. She even cried on the last day of classes when she was thanking us and saying goodbye. That's how great she is. I even applied her for a Distinguished Teaching Award, and if she is still at Cal Poly in 2006-2007 - it depends on whether her husband gets tenure - you should too! I would definitely take her class or any other of hers again, and you should too!

Wiley rocks. That's all there is to it.

Professor Wiley was a very... interesting teacher. It was definitely a fun class. She is kinda all over the place, and tells jokes accidentally all the time. I actually didn't mind going to class everyday... although having friday class sucked ass. There is kind of a lot of reading, but that goes along with any english class you take. Most of the reading was hard for me, because you have to interpret everything, and I am much more of a litteral person... can't do much with the abstract. But I definitely liked her as a teacher and would recommend her most definitely! You'll have to learn how to write the way she wants, and it would be good if you were really good at the interpretation thing. But even though I wasn't very good at that, I still got a B in her class, barely read much, but i did participate in class and made it looked like I read, and went to her office hours. I'm telling you that her office hours are the best thing you can do! Use them to your advantage!

Amy is by far the best english teacher i have ever had! I sorta suck at english so i didnt get an A but the actual class discussions and readings were super fun. Just a heads up, there are 2 "recitations" that you have to give. Basically you stand in front of the class and recite something you memorized and then tell what it means to you. I had a blast with mine but i could see that being a turn-off for some people in a non Scom class.

Amy is soooo cool. Take this class because it is somewhere you will want to go for an hour. Amy's class is more like a show where you go and get entertained for an hour then a boring lecture. She doesn't bother standing in front of the class and reciting what you just read in the book instead she groups the class together and facilitates discussions and ends up getting involved with them all and it turns into just a fun discussion on whatever and how whatever relates to the story soooo much fun. One day it was really sunny outside so we decided to have class outside, how cool is that?

If you can, take her class! She is an amazing teacher, who provoks thought and encourages discussion. Her classes are what I thought college was supposed to be like. Plus, she makes the class fun, and has a great sense of humor!

Going to this class was always the highlight of my day. The class is a discussion of a series of readings she outlines at the start of the quarter, and a couple papers. The quizes are 5 questions and a single thorough reading will get you through them, at least 80%. The best part was how she led the class into discussing the pieces we read, our viewpoints, and how they affected our understanding and interpretation, and some history into the same aspects for the writer. The class developed a great family atmosphere, from all our involvement and interaction, and opened a great learning environment. First class professor to be able to create such a great learning experience. I'm sad I don't have another class to take from her.

As you'll notice, there are two extreme sides people take about Amy Wiley's teaching methodology. I'm not going to convince you to take her. All I'll say is that I'm glad I took her because she not only boost my confidence in my writing abilities, her criticism and analysis about my papers made me more cautious about the way I explained my thoughts. A lot of people who claim they were great writers in high school tend to use language to drag an argument without getting anywhere. Amy will teach you how to become a concise, articulate and poised writer. I never heard her use the work "like" when interpreting a piece of work unlike most people who can't break the habit(like me). I will agree with some of the posts that she doesn't quite explain things before class. She expects you to have a brief idea before you come to class. For example, she will make you read a Realist piece of work and not explain what it is. However, the homework will ask you to define realism which you have to figure out beforehand. To some people this is a good way to teach, to others its frustrating. Her quizzes are not hard unlike what people say if you do the reading and have a fairly good memory (you don't have to photographic). Make sure you do the reading at least two days before the assigned day because that will give you some time to think about it and participate in class. Trust me, if you try reading it before class you won't have much to say unless you are really really good at analyzing literature. Enough said, I just hope this helps you make a decision. Good luck with classes.

Interesting class! Interesting teacher! Not extremely difficult, just some reading every night a mid term and a final. This class actually made me THINK, and you can tell that Wiley loves teaching and loves english which is always SOOO important! I recomend her :)

Take her if you want to have a laid back class with interesting discussions! one midterm essay, one final essay, one recitation (less than 5 min)....some reading quizzes and homework which is just a check, check minus or check plus...Pretty easy course.

This was my favorite class for the quarter. I'm not an english person either. I don't even particularly enjoy the subject we were studying. She had in class discussions and her dry humor kept things entertaining. To get my A, I had to read everything assigned and get help on my papers in office hours. I also participated in class which doesn't hurt ;) She's very open and willing to help. I didn't always understand her explanations in office hours, but that's just because her wave length of thinking is so beyond my own. She's brilliant, but isn't egotistic about it at all. I personally recommend her to anyone who is willing to engage in the class and put forth a little effort. She's one of my favorite professors at Poly.

Dr. Wiley is a great professor. Her class was always interesting and you can tell she is very passionate about teaching. Go into her office hours, she is very helpful with papers and she does want students to succeed. She makes you work, but it is definitely worth it.

One of the best teachers I've had at Poly however, it was a fairly difficult class to get a good grade in. I got a C+ on the midterm essay and didnt study for a few quizzes and barely scraped by in the class. There is lots of reading but Dr. Wiley does an amazing job of taking boring material and making it relevant to students.

Dr. Wiley is fantastic! She knows so much about the material and is extremely helpful in office hours. I have yet to have a teacher care more about the success of their students. Highly recommend her!

I should start off by saying i have never posted here, but felt the need to because Wiley was the best professor i have had at cal poly yet. I am not a English person, in fact its probably my least favorite subject, but all that aside, this was my favorite class. She is very very smart and knows this subject inside and out. The class consisted of one pop quiz a week, but wernt difficult if you did the reading. Two essays, one midterm and a final essay, no tests. She has a cynical sense of humor and kept the class very entertained. With the class if you try you will get the grade, and she will help you any way possible especially in office hours. I ended up with a B+ in the end, but i did the work. In the end, TAKE THIS PROFESSOR you will not regret it.

For the most part, this class was awesome. The experience was a little soiled though, because I had a feeling that she didn't like me. I had signed up late for the class after not being able to get off the waitlist for other classes. My very first time in class, (after missing about 3 lectures) I had no syllabus and had no idea what the class was talking about. I noticed her looking at me as I jotted down what my classmates said and proceeded to announce to the class that you can't just be a passive listener and take others' ideas. I always felt her watchful eye on me as if she was waiting for something to chastise me for. Once I asked to be excused early for a class to attend a really important and beneficial seminar for my major, she said I couldn't, making it seem like I was lying about the seminar even existing. My individual experience aside, I agree with the other reviews on Wiley, she's a really passionate and interesting teacher. I found the class very enjoyable and not too hard to keep up with, as long as you're not too shy about speaking up and voicing your opinions in classroom discussion. This class is basically a book club; you read the assignments (most of the time they're interesting and not too long or time-consuming) and come into class to talk about it. I just wish that she understood that the blunders she thinks I'm making aren't me being fake. I was genuinely trying to be a good student, in all aspects of my academics, not JUST her class.

Wiley is one of my favorite professors I've had at Poly. I also took Engl 145 with Wiley and there's a reason I came back. She is inspiring without being cheesy, and her class focuses heavily on discussion as the main way of learning. She emphasizes that there's really no wrong way to interpret a piece of literature, however she's also great at making sure you stay in the lane of accurate interpretation. She is amazing, like seriously, I mean my whole class cried on our last day because this class was that awesome...

The best professor I've had at CP -- hands down. Even though her classes are demanding, the experience and enrichment obtained far outweighs the burden of an aggressive reading schedule. She selects interesting material, ranging from Stevenson to Faulkner, and facilitates the most amazing discussions. She provides invaluable assistance in her office hours and never fails to kick serious ass.

Where to start? First, let me speak of Wiley's personal nature: she is smug, arrogant, condescending, oblivious, annoying, and not funny (her sense of humor is this really annoying, dry, sarcastic, obvious type of sense of humor that just reeks of phoniness). All of these qualities are not favorable in a human being whatsoever, and by extension they're not favorable in a Teacher as well. Therefore, I truly disliked her as a person; something about her just rubbed me the wrong way. Most of these qualities were obvious to me on the first day of class, and I should have been smart and dropped the class, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Bad choice. Next, she treats an upper division college English class as if we were in high school. Among the many reasons why I think this is true, the worst of them was her preference for making us get into groups of 5 and answer some bullshit question she asked us. This allowed her to do minimal work with the adverse effect of most students not learning anything. Usually, in the groups, there would be two kids talking and three or four kids sitting around with their thumbs in their ass. I mean, I can't blame the kids; if they don't want to talk in class, they shouldn't have to...THIS IS COLLEGE. I prefer to come into class, maybe be lectured a little bit, but if the class is a discussion based class, like English, then let's make it a class discussion for those who want to discuss it, and not make it a forced and inefficient charade of a discussion. AMY WILELY, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLEASE LEARN FROM IT!!! GROUP DISCUSSIONS SUCK BALLS. Lastly, the reading for he Engl 350 Modern Novel class is excruciating. So far, there has not been on pleasurable book. One was a "classic literature" piece by Faulker; another some tacky science fiction novel; another was about two protagonists were in jail for being a communist and a gay pedophile (not really sympathizing there); and the other is some boring wanna be literature heavyweight straight from the Oprah book club. In addition to the reading being lousy, you can except about 2-3 hours of reading a night...usually about 40-70 pages. You can also expect her to assign a homework assignment every night, which she collects randomly...so have fun busting your ass and wasting your time on an assignment that probably won't even be collected the next day...and as your luck will probably turn out, when you don't do your homework or half ass, she'll collect it, and then you'll be fucked. Oh yeah, and she gives quizzes randomly to see "if we did the reading." but her questions are random and arbitrary and are based on some specific detail. So even if you did the reading, you'll probably score low on the quizzes. What else? Oh yeah, she is ugly too. Don't take this class. Be smart. Be smart. Be smart. Take 12 units instead...do anything to avoid this class.

take this class if you want to read shitty books, be in shitty groups, have a shitty teacher, and have to write shitty papers. Enjoy your shit.

Dr. Wiley was the first English instructor I have had that actually wanted to teach me how to write better, than to just tell me how to write better. I was a horrible writer with zero as my confidence level. This class was comprised of a midterm, with one revision for an averaged score, pop quizzes throughout the quarter and a final paper. Reading in the class is an average of 50-80 pages a night, but the books read pretty easily. I am not a reader, so keeping up with reading was something I was not used to. After getting a D on my first paper and working really hard to improve I ended up with a B in the class. That is the highest English grade I have gotten yet. Dr. Wiley was really good at finding times for office hours when I couldn't meet with her and overall she really cares about her students and that is rare. I highly recommend her and hope everyone enjoys her as much as I did!

Dr. Wiley is one of the best teachers I have had at Cal Poly. Her class is always entertaining. She is hilarious and she truly cares about every one of her students. She lets you re-write your essay and will tell you what you need to do to get a better grade. There was a lot of reading but its a 300 level english class so it is to be expected. Do the reading and you will be fine. Take her!!!!!

An excellent teacher. My writing improved drastically during the quarter. Plus she actually gives a shit about her students.

One of the best English teacher I\'ve had. She knows what she is talking about and will challenge you to do your work. Don\'t slack off in her class.