Stegner, Nicole  

Professor jacobs aka stegner is a very nice lady who trys hard. She is a fair grader and a great teacher. if u take lil time to write the paper you can get a B. Buy all the books.

Buy all the books, work WITH HER on the essays, come to class everyday and on time, and you'll be good. I loved her, and definitely a really good English professor to start out with, nobody in my class failed and she's super approachable so if you're worried anyway, she definitely wont turn you away. Everything was practical and fair. Take her, you'll do fine!

I decided to finally write a review since I am taking Dr. Stegner AKA Jacobs again for english 145 this quarter. I took english 134 with Dr. Jacobs and had a pretty weak english foundation. I thought the grading breakdown was really chill. 20% participation, two essays worth 20%, final essay/presentation 30%, and bits and pieces being the remaining 10%. Really, just spend one full day actually writing your essays and you're bound to get at least a B.

Stegner is a good teacher in the sense that her class is well structured and straightforward. However, she takes her class very seriously (too seriously in my opinion) and flat out told us all she treats us as professional writers and will grades us as such. Newsflash: a 134 class is an intro class, not a high level english class. Also, your participation grade is based off of how well you agree with her and how much you talk in class. IF YOU DO NOT SAY SOMETHING EVERY CLASS PERIOD YOU WILL LOSE A LOT OF PARTICIPATION POINTS.

NO TESTS OR QUIZZES AND ONLY 2 OUTSIDE ESSAYS, 1 IN CLASS ESSAY. reading is technically required, but she doesn't really check up on it. Very straightforward, reasonable and helpful, especially for an english teacher. One of the best english teachers I have had for sure. My writing really improved and I regained a passion for the english language while participating in this class. She also makes each essay seem like it is very important and that writing it is actually helpful to your future and growth as a person, which is a lot to ask from a GE professor, but she does it. At the same time she realizes that this is a required class and that it is not everyone's first priority. Also, she goes by Dr. Jacobs now, idk how they could change that on here

I'm going to be honest with you. I did not read a single passage during the entire quarter. I skimmed spark notes a few times but not once did I ever read out of the 3000 page textbook. Even though I didn't read, Dr. Stegner made lecture really interesting and talked about the passages at length. Pop quizzes were challenging even for the kids who actually read, but I managed to get about half credit on all of them (only worth 5 points each). Midterms were note-heavy, so if you went to class you were golden. There were a few papers that were fairly simple if you are a decent writer and a good bull-shitter. Attendance is very important. We were let out about an hour early from every class so that was cool. Overall cool professor, I would recommend this class if you're a lazy piece of shit like me.

Dr. Jacobs needs to move into the twenty-first century. Poly Learn is beyond her computing capabilities, along with PowerPoint. She literally writes notes on the chalkboard, and then her handwriting is so poor that it is very difficult to read. She talks and talks and encourages others to talk also, but if you don't agree with her point of view, watch out. Participation points make or break your grade, partly because there are so few points available to earn in her class and those participation points appear to be based on whether or not you agree with her.

great class and teacher. reasonable work for a ge.

Professor Jacobs, aka "Dr" Jacobs is a snooty teacher who puts you on the spot when she calls on you. If you don't know the answer she embarrasses you by telling you to think about the question, when really you don't even know what she's talking about. Her teaching style is mediocre. She talks really fast and isn't organized when she writes things on the board. Her class is based on only 150 points so every point counts. She only has one midterm, consisting of 35 points, it includes an essay portion (only 15 points) and identifying/fill in the blank questions that are based on history, yes historical background of the Renaissance that she spends days giving lectures on and doesn't even test on it. The thing that bugs me the most is she is 5-8 minutes late every single day and she expects you to be there at the required time. if you are "late" (meaning she considers it late when she is taking roll) you get a tardy which is equivalent to an absence that can lower your grade. DO NOT take this teacher, you can do so much better.

Awesome instructor. Kept class interesting even at 8AM.

Stegner gave us great assignments. I took her "Introduction to Shakespeare" class after having studied Shakespeare for YEARS, expecting to be bored to death. But she gave a group assignment in which we had to take a Shakespeare play, modernize it, and add a new interpretation to the script. It was exciting! Like all group projects, it was hard to get everyone together and working efficiently, but it was great! It's so much better than writing yet another essay. Really, so you want to sit in front of your computer for all your classwork or do you want to take Stegner's class and LIVE? Don't miss out, take her class.

This is my second quarter taking Dr. Jacobs, and as an English minor, she has definitely been my favorite English teacher at Cal Poly. I had her last quarter for English 230, which was a little easier because it was a lower-division course, but 339 is basically just an adapted version of that class. There's definitely a good amount of reading, but it's not unmanageable. The class has a few 5-point surprise reading quizzes, which you can usually pass if you've read the Sparknotes, and she drops the lowest grade. There's a midterm and a final, a few papers, and two group projects. The papers are short (500-1000 words), and the group projects are fun and different. For the midterm and the final, make sure you always mark down which passages in the book you talk about in class, because they'll be on the tests. I can see how people who are taking her class for a GE might not like Dr. Jacobs as much, but I loved how enthusiastic she always was about the material, and I like how she tried to get us interested in literature by relating it back to modern times. Such as: talking about how much extra-martial sex everyone was having in Shakespeare's time, and how homosexuality was not very taboo. Yes, she writes her notes on the board and doesn't use powerpoints or PolyLearn very much, but that didn't particularly bother me. Overall, she's a fair grader, very enthusiastic, and will give you clear guidelines about what she wants on a paper and what you can expect to see on a test. Take her!