Sean, Maddox  

Maddox is a good professor. He grades on a grading contract (you do not get grades for individual assignments). You're grade is based on attendance and whether or not you turn assignments on time. He is pretty easy going, but he does give A LOT of homework. Be prepared to write a lot. He's very focused to student learning, and less focused on grades. My writing greatly improved.

He grades with a grading scale, which sounds really nice, and would be if he was organized. He changed due dates around so much, and even moved things up a couple times. It was such a hassle trying to turn every assignment in on time because of his date changing and his inexperience with PolyLearn and also because he assigns a LOT of work. He got better with the due dates over the course of the quarter, and he's a new teacher so it'll probably be better next quarter. You can pretty much just BS your way through this class. Maddox is SUPER understanding though, and he wants you to do well. His class can be entertaining at times too. Easy A if you BS your essays, but there's a lot of work. I didn't learn much.

This was a great class. This guy basically grades you on completion of the assignments and your attendance. Then you have a opportunity at the end of the quarter to do an extra assignment for an A. Sean is the man.

This class was okay. Sean is a very approachable instructor, but comes off as lazy at times. You are guaranteed a B in the class if you turn in everything. He doesn't really grade or return your papers, just gives you credit. Then, at the end of the quarter, you have to do an extra project for an A. If you are just trying to get the GE fulfilled, take this class. If you want to learn more and improve upon your writing, consider a different professor. Sean is really nice, but maybe not the best instructor.

Mr. Maddox is a very nice guy who is a little awkward at times. HIs class is very easy to get an A in as long as you go to class and do all the assignments as well as the 5th Project.

Professor Maddox is exactly what I would expect from a college professor. He is willing to teach you as much as you are willing to learn. No one is forced to do anything in his classroom. If you are a lazy student who needs the extra kick, I would not recommend Professor Maddox.

Maddox has a grading contract in which as long as you turn everything in, you receive an B. In order to get an A you have to write a 5th paper on literally whatever you want. Maddox as a teacher is great. He introduces a lot of new writing techniques and presents them well. Overall the was not hard, but still required work. Boring at times, but that comes with any 4 lecture a week English class. He doesn't give that much feedback, but you will still become a better writer because you have a lot lf busy work. Given the opportunity I would take Maddox again and I hope I get him for 145.

Sean is amazing. I love this man. Don't stress, the work packets (for the entire week) only took me about 2 hours to complete. A wonderful class. Sean is charismatic and super fun.

I was a little wary of taking yet another English class but was pleasantly surprised. Professor Maddox is a really cool guy and I actually found the course quite helpful in improving my writing. Weekly packets aren't too difficult, maybe a few hours each. There are three major essays in the class and some smaller writings as well so don't stress too much about the workload

I had this professor for two quarters (fall and spring) for English 102 and 134. He is a nice guy to talk to but in terms of academics, he can be a bit frustrating. The assignments you do in class are useless (to me) and he expects you to learn from them. He will lecture in class about how bad the U.S. government is and you can tell from the class atmosphere that everyone is doing there own thing on their laptops. Plus, he can hear whatever conversations you have with your classmates and he will jump right in to be involved. Overall, this class is easy, no required books to buy but this class comes with a handful of weekly assignments (essays) due on Sunday nights on PolyLearn. Wish you guys best luck if you take his class!

He was very unorganized and never responded to any emails throughout the whole year so good luck trying to ever contact him.

Maddox is a chill guy who cares about his students. He told us the first day that he doesn't expect perfection in your essays because nobody is perfect. Every week you have a writing packet due and they can be a little pointless but totally do able. He does not grade like most professors. He grades based off of "outcomes" which at first sounds confusing but once he explains them more and you do the first packet they make sense. If you are confused you can always ask him cause he loves helping. The lectures were 50 mins MTWR and sometimes they would be a little boring but Maddox does his best to keep them interesting and the class involved. The best part about Maddox is that he brought in his dog Bear one day and it was the best thing ever! I would suggest taking Maddox for ENGL 134!!

Maddox was super nice and understanding. He loves if you go in for office hours. Fairly enjoyable class. Only issue was the grading contract. No matter how many times he explained it to us, the major of the class was unable to understand the reasoning behind his grading and couldn't even figure out how to calculate their grades.

Sean is a pretty good teacher. He doesn't grade that harshly, and his class is very laid back. Pretty much the entirety of the class is the work packets that we turned in every Sunday, which usually included answering some questions and then an essay of 2-3 pages. We never had any tests, and barely any reading. He's super open to talk during office hours and go over your paper with you. The class usually was going over some concepts that many of us already knew. Overall he's a super cool dude, and I would definitely recommend his class.

Professor Maddox is a pretty good professor. He's really nice, and was super helpful in office hours, so I'd definitely recommend going to office hours if you're ever confused or want him to edit an essay before you turn it in. I know that helped my grade a lot. There's one work packet a week, and they don't take super long to complete but they're usually so boring. Your packets/essays aren't given a letter grade, but instead you're judged on if you met certain "learning outcomes" that he tells you about beforehand. These learning outcomes are things like research integration, purpose development, etc. The amount of outcomes you miss throughout the quarter determines your final grade in the class, but you can earn up to 3 outcomes back by doing different revision packets, so if you miss outcomes, find out what you did wrong and definitely do the revision packet. The lectures are really laid back and you can pretty much do whatever you want and he doesn't really care. Maddox has good intentions but isn't always clear on what he wants from us. He's also a really slow grader, which caused some problems towards the end of the quarter. Overall, sometimes I felt confused and frustrated in this class, but if you're feeling this way just go to office hours and clarify your questions with him, he really does want to help his students. I would take him again, but he's not the most amazing teacher I've ever had.

This class is a lot of work!! He assigns a "work packet" due every Sunday and it takes AT A MINIMUM 5 hours to complete. If you're looking for an easy, sit-on-your ass type of class, I would consider a different professor. He does let you resubmit your assignments if there is something wrong with it, which is nice. Lectures are the most boring things I have ever sat through. If attendance was not mandatory I would probably never go to class since there are no tests and the lecture material is dry and doesn't pertain to the work packets at all.

Nice guy but if you are trying to learn this is not the class for you. And if you're in the class have fun writing essays on Discourses.... pointless class in my option very unclear on what he wants and a lot of work.

Sean is the homie. His lectures are fun and he's a great guy and teacher. He has pretty clear powerpoints and class always gets out a bit early. DO NOT BE FOOLED THOUGH, this class is alot of work. As others have mentioned you are guaranteed a B if you properly complete the weeks work packet. You have a week to complete each one and they each usually consist of questions from the textbook and an essay of some sort. These packets tend to be around 1100-1500 words every week. Overall there are 4 real essays (rough draft 1 week, final the next, with the final draft having to be 1200+ words) plus the final. If you are allowed 2 late turn ins. If you do the final assignment you put yourself in the A range. Sean is a dope teacher and the class is fun. The class is a good amount of work which you are awarded for.

Didn't learn shit. But I'm the type of person who tends not to gain much from English classes, so take my review with a grain of salt. The class is very easy, anyone with a pulse can manage a B, and if you put in some extra effort (which I didn't do) you can earn an A.

This guy is the man! English 149 is all about practical writing that you will actually use in your career, so this is an important class. And Maddox teaches it as well as anyone could. His grading system reflects a business setting. Basically, if you turn everything in on time you get a B in the class. Then at the very end of the quarter, you turn in a portfolio of several of your reports and he determines if you deserve a high B or a low B. If you want an A, you have to do an optional 5th project. This project is not difficult and you should totally do it. In summary: 1) If you take this class you will learn a lot of relevant information. 2) This class is an easy A as long as you are not a lazy asshole. 3) Just take this fucking class already!

Maddox is THE BOMB

Sean is a fantastic teacher. He made tech writing very easy to understand. And as long as you did the work he made receiving an A very easy. Homework was reasonable, and didn't causes issue with other homework. All in all a great class and a funny professor.

Pretty much everything the other reviewers have to say is accurate. Professor Maddox tries really hard to make his class relevant to everyone who takes it. While I don't really feel I improved my writing per say, I definitely became a more effective communicator and acquired real-world skills that weren't taught to me in other classes, such as applying for a job, and that made worthwhile what could have otherwise been a useless GE with another professor. I wish that he had passed back assignments to us faster, though, so I could have worked on improving my writing a bit more; by the time he gave us feedback, we were already mid-way through the next unit. But overall, he's a great professor and a cool guy, I highly recommend taking his class.

Sean Maddox is a really laid back guy. That said his class was enjoyable and he didn't care much during lectures if you paid attention much. I wouldn't say my writing improved much from this class, but it definitely made me more aware of how to communicated effectively. There is barely any work in class besides some small group discussions. The main work is outside of class in the form of work packets. Be warned that these packets actually take more time than you think. The first week it took a few hours and toward the end almost up to 4 hours. Sean is clear in his grading expectations, but he can be picky on some work packets which means you have to re-do a bunch of it if you don't put the time in initially to ensure you get full points. Overall, a solid professor who is great for this class. I would definitely recommend.

This is my first time writing a polyrating but I am only writing because this guy is, hands down, the best ENGL professor at Cal Poly. He understands students workload and stress from major classes. He assigns work packets, which are very easy. No projects. Allows every assignment to be made up, giving everyone a chance to get an A.

Great professor. Clearly lays out his policies and uses polylearn/email very effectively. Well prepared lectures and in class exercises/discussions. His revision policy is great for incentivizing continued revisions. One of the best all around professors I've had at poly.

Do not take Maddox at 7 in the morning. He is completely incompetent and complains about early hours at least twice a week. Please don't complain, everyone else here is feeling the same thing. The homework are pretty straightforward and simple, but he does not explain his expectations clearly. The worst part is that he does not give back corrections for homework packets until two to three weeks later. You will have made the same mistakes two or three times before you actually figure out that he doesn't like something that you are doing. For the final report, he gave us feedback on our research ideas two days before the final paper was due. Does he think we will rewrite a paper in two days just because he says he doesn't like it? Overall, Sean is incredibly lazy and uses the excuse that teachers aren't supposed to intervene in students' writing process until later in the drafting process. If you want to frustrated the entire quarter with an incompetent proessor, take his class

I had a similar experience to the person below me. You can make a minor formatting error on a homework and he won't give you credit for it's work outcome (there are 3-5 for every assignment, and the more you miss in a quarter the more your grade drops). You can revise them, but like the person below me said, you won't know you need to until two or three weeks later, so it's a pain keeping track of everything. You've got four absences allowed in a quarter, use them wisely.

Sean Maddox is a true homie, who also happens to resemble Kylo Ren. Only Sean could make a 7 am class bearable. His appropriate use of profanity, luscious black locks, and dry sense of humor kept the class awake and attentive at that god-awful hour. His class doesn't have any BS assignments, everything I learned was relevant to working in a technical field. He designs the course so that you turn in a packet each week, and has his students center their work around their chosen field. I got a lot out of this class, so thanks Sean. I highly recommend taking 149 with him!