Magnusson, Shirley  

It's really easy to like Dr. Magnusson as a person. She is very kind, compassionate and genuinely wants you to succeed. She is passionate and knowledgeable about education and works very long hours to prepare for class. But....then comes class. And that's where the problems begin. She is just not able to answer a simple question in a simple manner. You will have completely forgotten what your question was by the time she finishes answering it 10 minutes later. I frequently found myself questioning my intentions to go into teaching. She doesn't put into practice many of the teaching methods that she talks about, and rarely encourages student participation in class discussion. Students quickly disengage from the process and within minutes of the start of class, out come the cell phones and laptops. The class becomes a texting and facebooking fest. It's rather irritating when students do this, but they just have a hard time following Magnusson's train of thought. Overall, a frustrating class that should have been an important part of your curriculum.

Shirley Magnusson is one of the most passionate well intentioned professors I have ever encountered; unfortunately that does not not make her a good, or even adequete, instructor. It is hard to put into words but her manner of teaching is such that if I were to ask a question on how to explain to students why you multiply the reciprocal in a fraction division problem, she will gie you an answer that is so wordy and esoteric that by the time she finishes eight minutes later you will have either forgotten what your question was or you will have decided to stick to teaching kindergarten. It is like she has so much knowledge on a subject that she cannot condense it into a manageable condensed answer that you can actually benefit from. As far as the microteach lesons you will have to create, be prepared to have them strictly evaluated and criticized. Not that this is uncalled for, but you will not have been prepared properly or told specifically what she wants before hand. And if your lesson is really bad in her eyes, be prepared for her to step in like a relief pitcher from the bullpen to take over your lesson while you stand aside embarrased and questioning your desire to become a teacher. To her credit, she is also very helpful if you need individual assisstance. Also she had some outside project going on during our quarter which really put a strain on her time and attention. You could tell that she obviously works long and hard to meet her responsibilities and I know she was feeling very strained towards the end of the quarter. Hopefully you will take her when she does not have so much on her plate. If you have the opportunity take a different instructor for ED 432, and if you do have to take her, remember that in six months you will have your teaching credential and the methods classes will be a thankfully forgotten memory.

I have to say this class was horrible...I didn't learn much at all about teaching math or science (remarkably, I got more out of the math series and bio classes). She continued to go on about the "big picture" and "constructivist learning" but never actually got around to teaching anything about it. The course was easy workload-wise, but difficult to sit through. Bring something to keep yourself occupied; heaven knows she won't hold your interest!

What else is there to say? Fine person, nothing interesting. Class was meh... Blah, blah, blah... Fine person.