Kawamura, Lisa  

You are all ridiculous and undoubtedly horrible students. Ms. Laidlaw may have rigid guidelines for the speech outlines, but she CLEARLY states all of them prior to you having to ever turn one in that gets graded. Wouldn't you rather have a teacher that has CLEAR but RIGID guidelines rather than what most teachers have; unclear rigid guidelines? Everything she presents during lecture is there to make speech-giving a little easier for those of us that aren't that great at it. If you actually read the books that go with her course you would find that she is largely simplifying the material and giving the students an easier way to approach something that many of us find very frightening. Like many of you have noted, the tests are basically BS; that seems to be because she wants your grade to actually depend on how well you can improve your speech-giving ability. The first couple speeches are worth next to nothing for your overall grade, but she gives you enough feedback for you to improve. Most of the kids in my class that didn't do very well simply weren't taking her advice. They only became more comfortable in front of the class, which isn't the point. All in all you really can't bash kawamura for any of what most of you have. She is one of the best teachers I have ever had at my time at poly and I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

This is a lame site. The comments are statistically insignificant. Most comments lack basic grammar and spelling skills.

First, to clarify, I put N/A for my grade because I transferred out of the class within a week, not because I am a bad student. Kawamura, or fat Yoda, whichever you prefer, has an extremely abbrasive personality and is really assertive. She assigns a lot more work than necessary and throws out quizzes if you make her unhappy. Some people don't mind it, but unless you don't want to do unnecessary work and deal with a really annoying teacher, then don't take this class.

Every morning I woke up hoping that Kawamura had been hit by a bus...

Yes, at times, she is very opinionated and at times has a somewhat abrasive demeanor, but she was very effective at bringing the class together and making us feel comfortable speaking in the classroom environment. She also grades the speeches fairly. As long as you follow the instructions on the assignment sheet, are within the time limit, and can speak in a somewhat conversational manner, you should be able to get a high C at the very least. If you practice and prepare your speeches well, a B isn't too hard to get. Lisa is also very clear about what's expected in her class. She gives you each of the speeches' deadlines at the beginning of the quarter and frequently reminds the class to work on them. The only problems I had were finding adequate research the last few days before the speech, and the only people in my class who struggled and were extremely stressed were the ones who put all the speeches off until the last minute . As long as you manage your time in that class reasonably well, it should be an easy B. I hated public speaking and some in the class were a lot more nervous than I was. Lisa is usually pretty good about giving enough negative feedback that we knew what to fix and enough positive feedback to make us feel confident. Honestly, I had only two problems with this class. For her quizzes, she pulls the questions straight out of the bulleted headings in the reading, but since there are so many points made about similar concepts in the book, it was hard to remember the exact answers she wanted. Also, some days she simply didn't feel like giving feedback, so for two of my speeches, I didn't hear any comments or feedback from her. Granted, when I had her class, she was pregnant which may have played a role in that. Basically, if you want an easy A, Kawamura almost definitely isn't the professor you want, but if you want to become a better public speaker, her class is perfect

okay, this is the first review i have ever written. i usually don't like to complain or blame things on professors. i know i could have done better in this class and deserve the grade i got. where ms. kawamura enters the equation is that i literally said screw it to the class. she drove me to the point of not caring. he grading system is extremely subjective and if you have any opinions or have any self respect and stick up for yourself she will penalize for it. half way through the quarter she left and was replaced by a substitute. i went from getting c's and d's on everything to get a's....the quality of the speeches stayed the same. she is offensive and rash. she enjoys making you feel uncomfortable. be ready to pour an absurd amount of time into this class if you want anything higher than a c.

I think the reason she has such low polyratings is because most people take this class when they are freshman. She is very strict but fair when it comes to how she grades your presentations. I had ok looking poster boards and was very shy but still got a B+ because she looks for improvement and that you follow the guidelines. She is a very opinionated woman. She should really not talk about politics in class but just ignore it if you don't believe the same views as her. You must also go to her office hours and and laugh at her jokes because getting on her good side helps you get a better grade in the class. Also make sure you actually read all of the assigned readings because that is mostly what the written final consists of. I wish she didn't give both a speech final and written final.

I took this class last year, and I would strongly recommend not taking it with her. She is a left wing extremist and a femenist, which I would normally not have a problem with(everyone has their own ideas, and that is 110% okay). However, you allowed to have a differing opinion, and she takes being politically correct to a level I have never seen before. For example, she tells a story of how she and a friend were addressed as "you guys" in a restaurant and she walked out and was pissed off because she is not a "guy". Get over the femenist trip. do you really think the waiter's motive was to assert male domination over you and to harm you? no. She also says "I don't want to be referred to as an Asian American, but rather a Japanese American." Am I the only one that finds these things ridiculous? Not everyone is out to hurt you or put you down. I am sorry that you had a strict and demanding childhood, and that the men in your life have been far from perfect, but that is not how all men are. She constantly tries to show how "rebellious" she is from the stereotype of a Japanese american woman. She is the kind of woman that would say "I can open my own door" if you held one open for her. All in all, if you are a white male, lube up and bend over, because you're about to get boned for ten long weeks! Good luck-you'll need it!

Kawamura isn't as bad as everyone says in my opinion. Yes, she is one of the hardest coms teachers at poly, but she is a fairly good professor. She outlines clearly what it takes to get the grade you want in her class. However, don't get me wrong, her class is really hard, too hard for an introduction to communications class. You have to spend hours just trying to meet her requirements for research and practice. In some coms classes your grade is based on effort, this is not one of those classes and she will tell you that. You can do every speech and still fail the class. But if you put in a lot of effort and go to office hours the class is manageable. I would take this class if I really wanted to become a good public speaker, not if I want an A.

Avoid her like metro. Even if she has steak fries or taco bar. This is a GE and it will be your hardest class. Keep in mind, I am not failing but I have never worked harder for a GE and in fact, any class at all. She asks for an unrealistic amount of work and it is quite awful. She grades very harshly and is not very nice to her students or considerate at all. Seriously...stay away. I thought it would be fine but it was the worst decision I have ever made. She single-handedly ruined my quarter.

I had Lisa this spring quarter and honestly Polyratings rips on her way too hard. She's not as bad as everyone says. She's pretty funny and she tells you exactly when everything is due. I got a C+ but that's only because I didn't turn in 2 self-evaluations because I just totally forgot they were due. She has quizzes almost once a week on the reading (which is ridiculously easy) and if you read, the quizzes should be easy. She also gave us 15 quizzes but only counted the grade out of 10, so it was a grade boost. I'm not a good public speaker and I messed up really bad on two of my speeches, like I skipped whole paragraphs and the worst grade I ever got on a speech was a C. She expects you to dress up on speech days which I kind of liked, but some didn't, so take that into consideration. So over all I thought Lisa was a great teacher, take her or don't, it doesn't really matter to me, but I thought she deserved at least one fair PolyRating.

Lisa is intimidating at first, but she is actually very fair and gives helpful, honest feedback. She is clearly invested in her students and takes the time to learn everyone's name. As an extremely shy person, I was expecting to just scrape by in this class, but all I did was follow her instructions for the assignments and I was surprised with an A. She has many opportunities for extra credit so it's really not hard to come out with a good grade. GEs feel like a waste of time, but Lisa's dedication made this a class that you can really get a lot out of. I recommend her if you actually want to learn something.

Horrible. Never ever ever ever ever take her. Expects way too much gives zero help for just a general ed COMS 101 class. Horrible.

Lisa was an okay person, but whatever work you do has to be done her way. If she doesn't tell you what she wants you better find out because she has no problem dropping you a couple letter grades for something that is not that necessary. Quizzes are completely stupid, I think I got one and half points total out of all of the quizzes. If she makes the mistake and misses one of your citations during your presentation you will be dropped a letter grade on your speech. I literally only passed this class because she was pregnant and gave birth during the year I took her and we got a substitute who was much more reasonable and actually gave me decent grades on my last two speeches I gave. Final is hard. I ended up passing this class literally on the border of 70.1 percent. Many people who had better presentations than me for the speeches she graded actually failed the class. If she is the only teacher left that you can get into, wait until next quarter and take something else. It is not worth it. A GE class should not be by far your most time consuming, hardest, and stressful class. My roommate took coms the same time I did and was able to pass his class with a B by finishing his speech ten minutes before class and reading off his paper. I spent hours upon hours on every speech and had every point memorized and gave an above average speech and would still get D's and F's. Do not take her it is not likely she have another kid any time soon and will have a substitute again.

This woman is such a despicable Cunt (with a capital C), that I fear when she dies and is sent to rot in hell she will be turned away at the gates of the underworld. Leaving her lard filled un-dead body, to roam the earth and start the next zombie apocalypse.

Although Lisa is very loud and sarcastic and can come off as rude sometimes, her class really isn't that bad. She presents the course material very clearly. As long as you follow the directions, and put effort into your speeches, you'll be fine. She tells you exactly what she wants the speech to look like, and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to do it. I ended up learning a lot about public speaking without even knowing it. Take her if you want to actually learn COMS not if you want an easy A with no work required.

You will definitely learn to be a better public speaker in Kawamura's class but don't expect it to be easy. She has a lot of picky rules that you must follow if you don't want to fail. The amount of work is way too much for a public speaking class and she can be a bitch sometimes. Overall, don't take her unless you have to.

She scares everyone out of her class on the first day on purpose, so that slackers get out of her class before its to late. If you are looking for an easy coms class, this is not the place for you. You have to work hard, but SHE TELLS YOU EXACTLY WHAT SHE WANTS and if you do it exactly how she wants you to, then you will do well. Do the reading, the quizes come straight out of the book and the information out of it, and take notes on it so you can review the notes for the final. Overall, I learnt a lot in this class, especially on how to research information on databases. GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS and CLEAR YOUR TOPICS WITH HER, EARLY. PRACTICE YOUR SPEECHES. She's not as bad as everyone thinks she is. If you do what she tells you to do, exactly, you will get an A.

This woman is literally one of the biggest pieces of shit I know. Fuck her. I have a's and b's in every other class. I worked my ass off, was creative with my speeches, and tried. Nothing is ever good enough. Professors like her absolutely destroy the point of college. Lisa: If you're reading this, I want you to know that your existence has adversely affected the enjoyment of my life. You ruined my day every monday and wednesday, and I sucked up cuz I thought it would help my grade. I wish I wasn't such a pussy now, because I didn't get the grade anyways. Lisa. You are a lost soul. Go do something with your life that doesn't involve feeding off of the ambition and determination of students, leaving them drained and feeling worthless. You could use a diet anyways.

Be careful she claims to be "fair and reasonable" but if she doesn't like you or if she thinks you aren't trying (even if you are)then she will find a way some how to not pass you.

The biggest bitch I've ever met. So stubborn. So opinionated. Don't ask her questions because the only answer you're going to get is "that's a syllabus question". When you look through the 10 page syllabus hopefully you can find the answer to your question. Bullshit requirements for a 101 class. Should have been an easy A or B in any other COMS class but it was tough to get a C. She picks favorites from the beginning. If you're thinking about taking her I promise you'll regret it. Don't read the posts that say good things about her because I would guess that those posts that support Lisa are probably written by her. She admitted she looks on polyratings.

Lisa Kawamura is a very very dangerous professor to your grade and confidence. No matter how hard of a worker you were in High School, no matter how rigorous your AP classes were back then or how diligent you are now, it all comes down to if she likes you or not. I suggest taking professor Pope for COMS like my roommate did. Lisa, is a black widow. Once she's lured you into her class and made you think that she's just a rough-around-the-edges person and is normal like everyone else, that's when she comes for the kill. I remember one time she asked the class what we thought of her use for foul language (f-bombs and other words) in class. I gave my opinion, trying to sound professional and not directly attacking her by saying, "I don't think cussing and using foul language actually hurts the professionalism that a professor tries to exude from standing in front of his/her class." Wrong...that remark got me marked by this bitch from day two. I warn you, kiss her ass or shut up in that class. Because this San-Fran state university grad believes she is the all mighty and thinks very highly of herself. She treats this course, this INTRODUCTORY, GE, coms course (that you should take over the summer at CUESTA for a guaranteed A), like it's some upper division speech class. It's not. And she does not realize it. There is an ungodly amount of reading from the assigned text and the final is brutal. Yes you can study for it and read, but try with her assigned speeches that are every two weeks and while juggling your other classes and while also realizing how personal of a grader she is. I remember that she attacked me for 5 minutes straight while I was up in front of the class after my speech and said how elementary my speech was and props were for first graders. After class, 10 people came to me in the hallway to tell me what was up with her and that was totally incorrect. These weren't even friends- just classmates who noticed that she just acted like an immature bitch because I spoke out against her one day. And one other reviewer said something about her purposely not liking A's in the class or whatever? That's true with a correction: Cal Poly likes being known as "A rigorous school." Lisa told us something similar about how a certain percentage should be under the B range and apparently professors nowadays must reward eager and diligent students with low grades if they want to keep getting paid. So as much as I hate Lisa and her bias treatment, It's just as much the department's fault for adhering to stupid standards. Lisa selects her favorites and they will get excellent grades. Lisa: I hope you are reading this. I know these reviews only encourage you, but time will be the true test. As more and more students read your poly reviews, your classrooms will get emptier, you will have academic advisors tagging your name with complaints of bias treatment and unprofessionalism, and your peers will benefit immensely from your poor excuse for being a Cal Poly Professor. Your days are numbered. And I'll drink gladly to your pink slip.

Honestly guys, this isn't a hard course. Yes, this is a GE course, but just because it is, it doesn't mean it will or should be an easy A. I pulled off with a B+, though I could have gotten an A- if I had tried harder on the quizzes. Lisa is a tough professor in that she holds 'high standards', but these standards are actually what we should be doing. Her grading policy is that if you do what is asked, you'll get an average grade. If you do more than what's asked, you'll get an above average grade. And if you do more than what's asked and you do it well, then you'll get an A. Simple as that. She gives you the outline for speeches, so as long as you fill those in and check in with her during office hours (which I didn't ever do), you'll be decently prepared. Practice your speech a few times to get the rhythm and timing down, and you'll be fine for the class. Practicing with at least one other person in your class is very helpful as well so you can critique each others speeches. Research for speeches is a big pain in the neck, but once you're over that, everything should be free flowing. Seriously though, just FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. It's as simple as that. This is college and you are now a college student. Don't expect to be babied anymore. I know I'm complaining about other classes I have this quarter, but looking back at Lisa's class, it was a walk in the park. I didn't have any background in public speaking, nor have I ever taken a communications class, but just follow directions and you will do just fine. As for students finding her rude, suck it up. You guys won't always come across people whom you love and who love you. You'll need to deal with it, but at least deal with it with some taste. Don't just blatantly express your disagreement. Good luck in the course! Remember, FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!

Lisa Kawamura is the biggest cunt I have ever met. She has none of the same requirements of any other COMS techaer. Some of my friends and I would joke around saying that this is like an upper division COMS level class. We would actually laugh at here ridiculous requirements. I got a C on every single speech and I met every single requirement on her fucking "COMS assignment sheet". Every time you ask a relevant question in class, she responds with "That's a syllabus" question. It is fucking bullshit. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS AT ALL COSTS. She only cares about how much of a bitch she is and nothing else. Fuck you Lisa you ruined my quarter. You're a fucking bitch. I hope you read this you cunt,

I dropped this class after going and doing the required work for two weeks. Don't believe that she is reasonable and it's not fair to yourself to take this class. Despite what she says PolyRatings has it right.

Lisa was my first professor at Cal Poly, many, many years ago. I read her polyratings, but took the class anyways because I knew that trying to switch into another COMS class would be nearly impossible. I'm glad I never switched - I learned so much from her. She spells everything out for you, and is always more than willing to help you in office hours. It's a lot of work, but I don't believe its unreasonable.

*IMPORTANT* I am a very competent public speaker and a great student, yet that did not save me from getting a C because most of your grade is determined from tedious book work, research packets, VERY nit picky quizzes, and technical BS. I appreciated her "forwardness" yet still I have a suspicion that she is a racist, feminist. If you are a white male steer away from this course. I am your lighthouse warning you of the rocks ahead. I remember her saying something to the effect of only Asian gangs have bad-ass MFers all other members of different ethnic gangs are a joke. If you want a bunch of work go ahead you will learn stuff and all but your GPA will suffer so she can make a statement. My Master degree earning sibling recommends Laidlaw.

I dropped this class because this is a truly terrible teacher. She had to prove that to me by taking almost an hour of class time to tell the class why PolyRatings is wrong. TRUST this site, she is awful.

EVERYONE IS SO MEAN! Whether you liked her or not some people have said some terrible things that our out of line. To pass her class you need to come up with obscure speech topics, practice your speech and always make a presentation aid. Ask to do as many quizzes as possible becasue you can receive a maximum of 10 pts no matter how many quizzes. More quizzes means more ways to earn points. She is not bad she just pushes you to get the most from the class. GO to her office hours!

I love school. I love learning. I have loved every professor I have had in my four years at Cal Poly EXCEPT Lisa Kawamura. Only reason she still has this job is because of tenure and she knows it. As she hands you an evaluation sheet at the end of the year she rudely says "you can say whatever you want it wont matter haha I have tenure." Avoid taking her class and if you have to take her, write a letter to the dean after you experience how awful she is and help to get her fired. She does not deserve the privilege of this job. Thank you.

Lisa is actually a really helpful professor IF you go to office hours. She seems intimidating at first, but once you get to know her and learn to give back what she dishes out, you'll be fine. I had to work hard for y A but she lays everything out for you in the syllabus, and will tell you exactly what you need to do in her office hours. Yes, this class is much more work than most other COMS 101 classes, but I think it's worth it.

This woman is a sexist cunt, if you have a penis, you will not pass this class. She is unreasonably feminist and will make sure you know it. DO NOT TAKE HER!

I don't know why everyone hates Lisa so much.. YES, her class is an insane amount of work for a COMS 101 class, but I learned a lot.. Your grade consists of reading quizzes, your speeches, and a written final which is NOT hard at all. A lot of the questions on her final have an A & B section and they're two totally different questions and you only answer/get points for whichever one you know better. I think that's actually really chill because there are actually like 28 questions on the test and you only get graded on 20.. so if you don't know a lot of your stuff you have options on what to answer. She gives you a syllabus at the beginning of the quarter which outlines EVERYTHING you need to know/everything you need to do to succeed in her class. As long as you stay on top of your reading/deadlines and actually go see her during office hours to check your speech topics, you will be fine. My final speech was (in my eyes) complete crap, and she still gave me a 90% on it.. She is not that tough of a grader. You get to use a notecard and visual aids during speeches so those always help in remembering what to say. I could have dropped the class after reading polyratings, but I didn't and I never regretted it. Maybe I hated the class during long hours of researching or practicing my speech but I'm glad I had Lisa as a professor during my first quarter at Poly. She helped me a lot!

Lisa is a great professor if you are willing to devote yourself to her class. However, her class asks for a lot of effort. Her system of collecting points for the quizzes is extremely simple and very fair - it's capped at a maximum of points, so the more quizzes you try to get from her, the better, as you get more attempts to get points to hit the max. Her final is also very straightforward (I RECOMMEND MAKING A GOOGLE DOC STUDY GUIDE FOR YOUR CLASS.) The difficult part comes with her speeches. She grades extremely strictly, particularly for an intro COMS course, but she tells you exactly what she wants. She is definitely straightforward with how difficult her class is, though, so don't come along crying with a terrible rating if you do badly. Do not take this class if you get anxiety issues, though. I had several nervous breakdowns during the quarter. Lisa has a reputation for a reason, but she is a great person and lecturer.

If you've been reading the other poly ratings you might not believe me, but Kawamura is not crazy. She is a unique woman, and how you react to her is much more reflective of you than her. She is very specific, and if you don't follow her instructions then you wont do well. Everyone who is ripping her to shreds with these ad hominem attacks are angry because they didn't do what she asked of them. READ HER SYLLABUS and simply DO WHAT SHE SAYS. It's that easy. I got stuck her 7am class because I needed to take coms before I could start my major classes, and I was terrified because I read these poly ratings, but Lisa is a great lady. She is funny, and to the point. She will give lots of constructive criticism. She doesn't make a fool you in front of the class; she really does help.

To be honest, my grade was probably fair. I was in the middle of a personal crisis that quarter, so I often didn't sleep before going to class, and I didn't always put in as much work as I should have. That said, she's a rude person, and she will make your life miserable. She plays favorites, the requirements for her speeches border on absurdity, and if you're one of the unfortunate students who she doesn't like, she'll demean and belittle you in front of the class. For someone teaching an introductory course at a state college, she sure has an inflated ego. The book and the lectures are useless, she spends more time spouting trivia than going over the material, and most of the class was completely boggled when it came to the quizzes. Overall, don't take her class unless you really have to, and buckle down for a tough ride. She is obsessed with this site, and will ask the students whether or not it's accurate during class. If you're reading this Kawamura, being "abrasive" and difficult doesn't help your students understand communications anymore. You can do better.

Kawamura is kinda crazy, yes. But if you actually put in the effort and listen to the information that she gives, she does know what she is talking about and you will learn something from her class. I hated public speaking before I took this class and I ended up being pretty good at it. Grade wise, she is pretty lenient and tries her best to make sure that everyone passes. That being said, she has an incredibly strong personality which most people don't agree with. That is why a lot of people give her a bad grade here, not because she is a bad teacher or is unfair, it's just a personality clash.

Lisa is a great person outside of the classroom and in her ability to be clear when teaching material. HOWEVER this class made me HATE public speaking and I had originally loved it. Her grading criteria and requirements for each speech turn it into way more work than it needs to be. It gave me anxiety each time I had a speech because I was so worried about messing up. Even though she lays out what it takes to get an A, it is EXTREMELY difficult to get full credit. This class took a blow at my confidence. This class took up WAY more time then a 101 class should ever take up. She is helpful and a great person, but really unrealistic about how much work she believes her class deserves.

If you are looking at these reviews because Lisa is the only one left with open classes and you're wondering if it's worth to take her class, there are some things to consider: 1) if you are an engineer DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER. She is very demanding and she will lower your cumulative GPA because you simply won't have time to deal with everything she asks you to do 2) if you are bad with directions and can't/don't like to follow something specifically, avoid this class 3) if you don't like to speak in class, this is not the class for you. She will call on you and force you to give an answer. Given, no one else will know the answer to her questions either, so you won't ever be that embarrassed. However, if you are a COMS major, you might actually learn something from this class. She has specific rules that could potentially be great skills to keep for future speeches down the line. Engineers should avoid Lisa's class at all costs because everything she teaches doesn't matter to engineers. We give presentations with a lot different style and technique than what she teaches and expects. TL;DR : Pray for the engineers who take Lisa's class.

I really like Lisa she is an awesome teacher. Best tip I can give is GO TO OFFICE HOURS like every single one. She loves the kids who go and show they are really interested. Its all about politics really. If you are a dumbass dont take this class. She doesnt really like the airheads. If you are outgoing and a fun person she will love that. I learned so much from this class. Also when picking speech days always pick the first day possible to speak on. You'll get a better grade on your speech. Im glad I took this class! I feel like a better speaker after it all.

Yes, Lisa is a demanding professor who expects a lot out of her students. I don't believe this is a downfall, though. This was one of the first classes I have taken here at Cal Poly and I have to say it has been one of my favorites so far. Lisa creates an environment that is both challenging yet warm and inviting. I absolutely hate speaking up in class and giving speeches, but I never felt judged by my peers or Lisa. If you listen to and follow all directions, you will pass this class with a good grade. I'll miss this class. Speech guidelines are available online from start of the quarter, there is no written midterm, and the written final is straightforward.

In all honesty, Lisa's a great professor. The previous evaluations say that she's intense and slightly terrifying, and I actually agree with them. Having her on my very first day during my very first quarter here at Cal Poly was intimidating. Lisa's very blunt and very straightforward about what she wants. With no doubt, she presents the information very clearly and actually applies all aspects of "The Speaker's Handbook" to all the lectures. My advice if you want to do well in her class: FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS-- her assignments lists all the requirements in order to get an A or B in the class, GO TO OFFICE HOURS-- I regret that doing that. Her office hours are very helpful. AND DON'T DO HER SPEECHES AT THE LAST MINUTE-- it'll bite you in the ass cause you need to practice that shit. I could've gotten a B in her class, but I didn't try hard enough. That was my bad though. She's not all that bad.

Lisa's a good professor who makes it clear from the beginning what she expects from you. She genuinely wants to "increase your knowledge" (her favorite slogan) so she does ask for a lot compared to many other coms 101 teachers, or so I've heard. However, if you put enough effort and she can see that, she won't fail you. Just be prepared to do a lot of meticulous research for many of the speeches. Inside the classroom she's charismatic, funny, and one of the only teachers who actually took the time to learn everyone's name by the second week of the quarter. Overall, I'm glad I took her class.

So let me begin by saying this: Lisa is not evil, even though I complained many a time to just about everyone about this class at one point. That said, not everyone is made for this class. Let's begin with the downfalls- and please don't stop reading just because I do the bad stuff first. Lisa's personality is pretty abrasive, she takes a subtle pleasure out of shocking her audience with cussing and racial and political views- she spent about 10 minutes trying to make someone in the class say out loud that she was gay (which is true). She is sarcastic a lot, and the truth is that she makes the class out to be a lot more stressful and work-filled than a GE is really supposed to be. If you take this class, be prepared to stress a lot over work that really isn't that difficult when you look back at it. So, positive things. She will tell you exactly what she wants from you- the syllabus and outline sheets tell you exactly how to set up speeches, how to write self-evaluations and how to essentially get an A in the class. If you can follow directions, you will do well. Even then, if it looks like you really tried but missed a few things she will get it (I got a B on a speech I was sure I was going to fail, mostly because I still presented the speech well.) It's a pretty small class, only 24 people, and she does learn names and remember things about students. Her office hours are VERY helpful, because if you run your ideas by her she will tell you what you need and you will always get at least a C. She's truly there to help. So, she isn't evil, I believe she is a very interesting personality who is enthusiastic about public speaking, she just makes a level-one GE into way more work than it should be. For those who are thinking about this class, if you don't like working for the grade or loud personalities, see if there's another teacher available. For those already enrolled for the quarter, never say "thank you" at the end of your speech; and understand the fact that you are going to have a few breakdowns when preparing for your speech- but this class is a great wake-up call when it comes to teaching freshman what college is all about. I survived- you can too. :)

I really didn't like her. The information presented in her lectures is extremely biased and mostly insignificant. The requirements for her speeches are ridiculously tedious. She requires you to recite a certain number of long, memorized citations in your speech which is weird and unrealistic. The class doesn't improve your ability as a public speaker, it may improve your skills in following directions. There is barely any room for creativity as she doesn't approve of most topics. She is also very rude and unprofessional. Her criticism is offensive and generally not constructive. I don't recommend the class at all, it's a lot of work with little gain.

Lisa is not a bad teacher in terms of teaching the material. I learned a lot from her class. But the requirements for her speeches and how to do well in her class is absolute BULLSHIT! For speeches, it must be something that no one knows about, and has to be recent. And the funny thing is websites can't be used no matter how credible they are. It makes research a nightmare, she's tough on speech grades, and her "quizzes" are nonsense, so random and no one does well on them. She's a really hard teacher, I would not recommend taking her class until she changes her speech requirements and makes her class not nearly impossible to pass

I know this is long, but BEAR WITH ME. I ended up with an A in her class, so YES PEOPLE IT IS POSSIBLE. Hopefully that establishes some credibility to this comment (now turned into an essay) which I hope you will find HELPFUL (unlike some of the other entries on here). Reading comments about Lisa on here nearly made me drop the class. However, I talked to her previous students who assured me it would be okay. Turns out people like them don't really write reviews on here which is WHY I am doing so. Eventually I decided to just suck it up and take the class and I'm glad I did. Here's why: 1. RESEARCH - This class FORCES you to learn how to do proper research and from viable sources at that. There was one class period dedicated to learning to do research in a way I probably wouldn't have bothered with otherwise. I'm not gonna lie - because of her guidelines, finding research for speeches was an absolute pain in the ass and the part I disliked the most. However, I've got to say it's pretty damn useful for papers in other classes. 2. IMPROMPTU/EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING - I'm sure all of you, including myself, wing presentations from time to time. But you gotta work for that skill. THIS CLASS will help you with exactly that - pulling coherent sounding speeches, explanations, etc. out of your ass IF you actually put in the effort to plan out and prepare your speech. You might hate it as much as I did during speeches, but it's a skill you acquire that saves you when you're in some deep shit. 3. BEING INDEPENDENT - Yes I know that is basically what college is about, but there are still some professors who hold your hand to some extent because they know freshmen are still adjusting. But oh no, not Lisa. Lisa is the mama bird will kick you out of the fucking nest and force you to learn to fly before you land with a splat. However, she provides you with a parachute - and that would be her office hours. GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS and get help, ask questions, ANYTHING. I didn't show go many times, but I wish I had. Show her you care, but DO NOT SUCK UP. Have some pride will you? And she sees straight through that shit. 4. CLOSE KNIT CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT - This was the only class I had where the professor matched everyone's name to a face. She learns them by calling on you to answer questions in class so get your shit together and pay attention. As a GE, it might come as a surprise that it was the ONLY class I had NEVER fallen asleep in - not only because she wouldn't let you, but also because the information was actually engaging and interesting, at least to me. Okay I know this sounds very cliche, but I can be myself in that class. As a student who normally doesn't talk much in class, (after the first week) I didn't feel intimidated when answering questions because EVERYONE else is in the same boat as you. 5. EXTRA CREDIT - There are many opportunities for extra credit. It is a blessing so DO IT. Even if you don't think you need it. Better safe than sorry. 6. LISA - In my opinion, she's great. Of course it depends on what kind of person you are what you make of her class. MY ADVICE: go into class with an open mind. I would try to explain it, but I can't. It's something you need to experience yourself. If you are CONSIDERING this class: 1. DIFFICULTY - Not very difficult. Just follow her clearly laid out guidelines and for the love of god and everything sacred DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Procrastination will be your downfall. (Trust me, I've been there.) 2. WORKLOAD - Reading: The school made her change her textbook as of 2015 so I'm not sure how it will be for incoming kawamura students, but from the old book there was a...manageable amount of reading. Make sure you retain the information though, because that's what her pop quizzes are on. Good thing is she caps it off at 10 points, so more quizzes = more chances to get the 10 points in case you fuck up one. Writing: You need to write 5 self evaluations in total - one after each speech except the final, but those are easy breezy. BE THANKFUL Lisa does that because my friends in other COMS101 classes have to write 6-8 page papers at the end of the quarter in order to fulfill a course requirement the college has instead of how Lisa spreads it out through the written self-evaluations. 3. RESEARCH PACKETS - Yeah, they're a bitch. ***IF YOU CAN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BRING A FUCKING PRINTER.*** I have never loved myself more for doing so. You will have to print out the entire article, chapter, etc. of whatever source you're using and it accumulates to quite some paper/ink. Though I will admit - it was amusing watching the horror and disbelief spread across the face of incoming Kawamura students as I plopped my thick research packets in front of them. That's one joy you can look forward to at the end of the quarter. TL;DR 1. If you're looking for an easy fuck-around GE class...BYE FELICIA~ 2. TAKE this class if you are responsible and willing to actually *gasp*...learn. 3. DON'T take this class if you are incredibly conservative or narrow minded or you're incredibly offended by swearing as well as other unconventional ways of teaching/engaging in conversation. As long as you are a decent human being with an open mind you'll be fine. That's not too much to ask is it? 4. Sass & Sarcasm. Lisa loves using them and loves it when people are sassy & sarcastic. It's actually what gives her lectures that fun aspect that no other lectures I've listened to have. But you'll need a sense of humor to appreciate them. 5. Overall, this is NOT an impossible class. As much as I bitched about this class, I think it's the one I'll miss the most. I, as well as many other students, respect Lisa as a person and the fact that she treats her students like the responsible, capable adults we are. Well damn that turned into an essay. Thanks for reading the whole thing and best of luck - you'll be fine.

Listen fellow lazy-asses. It can be done. You will have three very shitty nights, but once you get through those you'll be fine. There are 3 main speeches that you give. This is where the meat of the points are earned. As well as the final exam which is easy if you study for 4 hours tops. Every single speech I procrastinated to the final night, I simply did not want this stupid GE to consume my life so I didn't let it. One of these nights even, I was banging the neighbor on the floor above mine and I got back to my room at 12:08am; not a single piece of research found, all I had was a vague, general idea of the topic. Here's the kicker, I had the 7am lecture... That's right 6.5 hours. I hit it hard and gave that speech, BOOM!. As far as the reading/HW goes, I never even got the book, I shared with my homie. I did usually do the readings but I never really read it in much detail. Just enough to get you to pass the quizzes, which you won't so honestly don't even bother reading it. It's obvious bullshit that you don't need anyways. The quizzes. You will fail them. All of them. There will never be one where you know you did well. They're usually only two questions but you're fucked. Honestly she could ask "What brand are these stupid fucken black, shoe/sandal asian things on my feet that I wear every single fucking day?" and you would have an even shot at getting the answer right compared to a normal question. Here's a tip: You have to give 5 verbal critiques and be a moderator and timer once to get points. Get these out of the way early. This way, later in the year when you've had it up to fucken here with her shit, you can come to class absolutely ripped as balls on days that you don't have to give a speech. It's fucken great. She so is one of those people that knows, but I did it all the time because I had to hang in there for every last one of those sweet extra juicy Extra Credit Points for having perfect attendance. Those will bail you out of your shitty 3/10 Quiz grade at the end of the quarter. I've had enough of this bullshit. I've always been a hardworking student and have gotten great grades. Never had a C before in my life, but to be honest, I pulled a C+ (And easily could have gotten a B- if I didn't fuck up my first Self-Eval.[ps. those evals are points gold, lather those babies up for her, they're easy].) and I'm kind of glad my one and only C was in COMS with mother-fucken Kawamura. Hehe. Fuck.

Yes, Lisa is a very tough and strict professor but she is honestly the best and by going to her office hours you really get to see that, she is there to help you and by taking this course you will definitely become a much better public speaker. Everything she does she means well and just do what she tells you to do and you will be fine. :)

Not giving her a bad grading just because i got a D. She truly screwed me over, I was sick for over 3 weeks and missed class and she didn't work with me at all. She truly hates guys and if you are not a liberal for god sakes do not sign up for her class. HER OPINION IS ALWAYS RIGHT, no matter how much u argue. She thinks she's a hard core giants fan but doesn't ever watch the the games or know any of the players names.

Lisa is a good professor, probably one of the best I have had. She knows what she is talking about, and she is a great person to talk to. She's intimidating at first, but she's really nice and funny. She, like what many others will say, truly wants the best for her students. She believes that since we are paying for this class, we should get something from this class--increase knowledge as she always says. Lisa will make it very clear in the beginning what she wants from you. If you can't handle it, don't take it. Although I got a C, I learned a lot from her class. I am more professional and more adapt to public speaking, compared to other students of other COMS 101 classes. I will admit although some of her requirements seem ridiculous, they make sense; however, I don't really understand why she assigns readings and many quizzes, but whatever. I worked a lot for this class, but I got a lot out of it. Good luck.

If you are looking for an easy A, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. You work way too hard for an introductory COMS-101 class, definitely more than your intro major classes and support classes. Professor Kawamura is very anal about her grading because she is extremely detail oriented and this will hurt you because you will not be able to hit 'every nail on the head'. THIS IS NOT A SPEECH CLASS, IT IS A HOW TO ON EFFECTIVE RESEARCH IN MLA FORMAT; IT F***ING SUCKS! IF YOU ARE STUCK IN THIS GOD AWFUL CLASS, go to her office hours, learn what she wants you to do EXACTLY, and get on her good side! Submit perfect MLA format self evaluations, works cited pages, and get your critiques, timer, and moderator duties out of the way early. DO NOT be late to class and READ/STUDY for the initial 6 weeks of class where she will quiz you on EXTREMELY BORING and USELESS speech information. REVIEW this information later in the quarter as she will RE-QUIZ you on it. SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE, SUCK IT UP, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE, KISS HER ASS, BUT STILL HAVE A BACKBONE AND YOU WILL SUCCEED.

Kawamura is extremely biased both racialy, and sexually. She does not appreciate when people try to express themselves and grades them as such. She is also a cunt to most students except for the brown nosers that eat her out on the daily(yes she is a lesbian). For a 101 level class she does not realize the amount of work her class deserves. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS IF YOU WANT TO HAVE ANY TIME TO DO YOUR OTHER SHIT! actually just dont take her class period. maybe then CP will realize that they hired the devil and will fire her ass.

My honest perspective on both Kawamura herself, and her class. Towards the first weeks of the quarter, she seemed like a decent lady who I had no problem talking to. I went to her office hours and everything seemed to be getting along well...until I get an F on the first speech due to "my nervousness." I must agree that she is a hard-ass of a person and believes her class is the #1 priority of any class on campus. She publicly degrades you in front of the class if you dont suck up to her 110% of the fucking time. I spent more hours working on her class than I did on any major or important class for my actual fucking career. Fuck her class and the way she comes about it. I'm out *drops mic.*

No.

Kawamura is an awesome teacher! follow instructions, go to office hours she will help you with anything if you come prepared with questions or an outline or anything of the sort. She's not an "easy teacher" but your paying for an education, don't you want one? I guarantee that if you are appreciative of the material you will come out of the class with an immense amount of knowledge.

let me just say that if you are reading all of these other students poly rating and you are a normal person like me with a life... disregard all of them. Yes she might teach you like one or two helpful things but as a GE course she is a bitch. She does not appropriately consider how much course load her class actually deserve. In addition to this, she is very sexist no matter what lies she spells in the first week of class. If you are an engineer do not take this class as you will hate her and yourself for taking it. she is also very opinionated about her lesbian and democratic views which, while i do not necessarily disagree, she shoves in your face and as a professor abuses her tenure. OVERALL SHE IS NOT A GOOD PROF. DO NOT TAKE HER.

She is really tough but honestly if you just follow the instructions LIKE SHE SAYS ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS, it won't be that hard to pass with a good grade. Yes, you'll actually have to put in time and effort, it's not just an easy A class but if you go to her office hours and show her that you care and ask her about each of your topics and let her help you do a good speech, you'll do well in the class.

Kawamura will try to refute all her polyratings on the first day (tell her you read this and I say hi), but this one isn't someone who failed her class ripping her apart. Its just the truth, so listen up. IF YOU CAN TAKE ANOTHER TEACHER, DO IT! If you can't, I'm sorry. But, if you follow her directions on the speeches, cite your sources properly, and take notes during lecture, you will pass the class. Also, if you want an A on your speech, go to office hours to get your topic approved. If she turns it down, go again and again until she approves it. Kawamura is unreasonably picky about topics. She also makes her "golden rules" way too complicated. Make sure you write them down, even if it something as stupid as the "#1 #2 golden rule." Finally, accept the fact you will never pass one of her pop-quizzes unless you memorize all her lectures, BUT you will have to know the stuff on the quizzes for the final. Overall, she has an abrasive, narcissistic personality and will take back what she says in order to make sure she is always "right." But just sit there and take it because in the end you will walk away with an A and she is still stuck trying to get her power-trip from teaching a GE course.

Okay I took this class without checking out Poly Ratings just because I needed the units and I had to fill my GE. After hearing from several friends how horrible she was I looked on Poly Ratings and was very scared. I knew most people usually only write reviews about teachers they hate or love, so I was going to give her a break and make my own decision. Well, SHE'S HORRIBLE. I've never tried so hard in a class to get an A, and I ended up with a C. All my speeches were well prepared, well researched, and well presented, but I could never satisfy her. The first real speech I gave I received an A. I would spend days putting together presentation aids, and practicing my speech but after the first speech she always gave me low B's or C's. And others in my class who came in with shitty boards, and even shittier speeches with shittier topics got higher grades than me. And it was all because I wore a fucking Dodger sweater. She is EXTREMELY biased towards Dodger fans, and I'm warning you right now, DO NOT let her know if you are one. She called me out in front of the whole class about how much she hated the Dodgers and literally told me to never wear it in her class again. And from that point on I was on her shit list. I know this might sound petty, but I promise you she will evaluate your speeches solely based on her opinion of what you wear, or how you look, or what sex you are. If you're like me and you were stuck with this class, your best option is to lay low, THOROUGHLY plan your speeches, and hope that she doesn't screw you over too badly. Good luck.

It could honestly be worse. If you follow directions, and avoid urges to be creative and out of HER box, you can pass with a good grade. She said at the beginning of my class that engineers did well her class, and I found that to be true. I'm an engineering and I think if you apply just straight direction following it's not too bad. Plus you probably understand her humor better and are less scared of her. Clear your topics with her in office hours, memorize the confusing "golden rules" (Kawamura if you are reading this you should review them all at the same time to help students categorize them, presenting and reviewing them randomly makes it harder to keep them straight), make poster boards every speech, dress nicely for presentations, accept that you'll fail most of the pop quizzes (she compiles the grades for them generously, I think you only need 10 points total). She also doesn't grade harshly on dictation, i.e. not someone who counts "um's" obsessively. It's harder to earn a grade in this class compared to other COMS teachers, but it can be done.

Ok so here we go: if you can AVOID her. In my opinion she takes the class more seriously than she needs to. But that being said I still pulled off an A, so if you have no choice don't sweat it. Go to her office hours, listen to what she says and show her you are putting in effort and she will like you (which is a huge asset to your grade in a class like this). Don't kiss ass or anything just show you are trying and you'll be fine, but again if you can get someone else i'd recommend it. Also all the guys hat complain she's sexist, I'm a dude and she liked me she just doesn't like assholes so who can blame her there.

The hype is almost too real. Probably the worst teacher I've ever had (narrowly beats out my 3rd grade teacher. I'm actually a bit disappointed in the standards held in the General Ed department at Cal Poly.

Its doable but I would try to find a different professor if possible. Best advice: follow her directions and make sure you consult her via email and office hours about your speeches

Although this was my first quarter at Cal Poly, I know that there is no way that a General Ed COMS 101 class should be this hard. I came into this class expecting to learn skills on presenting to an audience, learning the types of realistic applications I could use these skills for, and gaining speaking confidence. Instead of learning this, I learned how to not sit slouched in order to not get yelled at in the middle of class, why the teachers want to strike, and what a bad professor looks like. Kawamura sneakily sets her OH at 7am so no one shows up (and sometimes she doesn't even show for this) and then cancels all the OH at the reasonable times to attend. Even if you are lucky to find her in her office, all you are going to hear is that your speech "sounds like a C topic" and then proceeds to give you an F. Don't be fooled by her 1.8 Poly rating, its much much worse. At least 50 of these reviews are from her. To conclude, when I saw around 4 people drop the class after the first day, I laughed at the idea. Now all I hear is Lisa's satanic laugh, laughing at my ideas.

Have you ever walked into a class, looked at the teacher and immediately felt bad inside because of the way she looked at you? Well me neither, until I took coms 101 with Kawamura. This professor is an evil beast who doesn't teach her topic, but rather goes on rants about things that have to do with her personal life. Kawamura is evil because she is a mean person in general, grades students according to how much she likes them, and is very childish. Kawamura is not nice in any regard. She constantly talks about things not to do -in life or when writing a speech- and talks as if in the point of view of one of her students. "Bob over here used websites for his sources and didn't even make the right citations!". Afterwards she will say something like "of coarse Bob didn't really do his citations wrong, I'm just making a point". This is really annoying, because other students will look at you and yu are pretty much just being put on the spot for no reason. She thinks it's funny. Kawamura is mean. That's it. This professor also grades students according to how much she likes them. Your success on your speech and how good it was does not dictate your grade, but rather what she thinks of you as a person. The best speaker in my class (great speaker, has a lot of experience) got the same grade on his speeches as someone who literally forgot half their speech and apologized multiple times for being so bad. This is wrong. A great speaker does not always Golet a good grade in this class because she is such an opinionated person and gives grades depending on her likeness of you. Finally, Kawamura is childish. She takes things personally and likes to argue. She spites you for fun, like a pre-pubescent bratty child. She is cranky in the mornings and complains about her other classes constantly. She needs to grow up and start acting like the 70 year old that she is. In conclusion, this professor sucks because she is a cold hearted, mean, menopause ridden, old japanese feminist radical that you don't want to have as a professor. Thankyou for your time.

I know this is long, but if you want an honest, accurate polyrating, this is the one to read.. So the first 5 weeks of class are all lectures that are based off of the assigned reading from the Speak Up text book. Around week 3 you have a 2 minute impromptu speech (5 points) that Lisa will prepare you for. I suggest practicing what it feels like to give a 2 minute speech, other than that, there’s not really much to do to prepare for that. Accept that it will not be your best speech, and focus on the bigger, more important speeches. Week 6-10 are all speeches, every day. Come every day because she gives extra credit for perfect attendance. You will have 3 major speeches during week 6-10 (object speech (15 points), policy speech (20 points), and presentation speech (25 points)). I suggest coming up with your speech topics EARLY. I cannot stress that enough. And get Lisa’s approval on all of them! You can give a glorious speech, with perfect delivery, but it will only be a “C” speech if Lisa doesn’t like your topic. Accept that she won’t approve the first few ideas you come up with. Don’t buy the MLA textbook that she has on the syllabus, you will never use it and it’s a waste of money. But you definitely need the Speak Up text book. There are several pop quizzes that come form the lectures and the reading, so don’t fall behind on the reading, and pay attention to lecture. The final is all free-response and is not too difficult if you’ve done the reading, and have payed attention in class. As for Lisa, there are a lot of polyratings on here that will tell you that she’s evil, but I hope you take all that with a grain of salt. She’s not that bad. I like Lisa as a person, and our in-class discussions (although sometimes off-topic) were really interesting. However, as a professor, she is very harsh and not really forgiving. I would not recommend Lisa, but if you have to take her, it’s definitely doable. If you are a girl, you will do better in the class. If you follow directions, you will do well in the class. If you are a fuckboy you will probably literally fail this class. My best advice would be to follow directions, get your topics approved by her, participate in class discussions, and don’t look disinterested in class. If you are disinterested in class, Lisa will notice that and (understandably) not like you.

Yes, you will despise this class. Yes, you will spend the first weeks of this course having nauseous panic attacks. And yes, this class WILL CHALLENGE YOU. But let me tell you that after the hellish first weeks of baby barfing and slamming your fists on the table when you realize your research article was not published within the last 5 years, YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU ENDED UP IN THIS CLASS. I enrolled in Lisa's class a WEEK after open enrollment had ended. Being the stupid freshman I am, I did not realize I needed a permission number to get into a class after dropping a chemistry class I was going to fail. I was stuck scrambling on the Sunday night of Week 1 trying to find a class to put me at 12 units so I did not lose my housing or full-time student status. Out of the SEVEN professors I emailed, Lisa Kawamura was the one of the TWO professors who gave me a chance. Lisa is the only teacher I have met throughout all of my career as a student who has paid attention to my individual progress in class. If you try, she will see this. If you read the instructions, she will see this. When you improve, she will see this and it WILL be reflected in your grade. The class is composed of 3 major speeches, 3 self-evals, a few quizzes, a less than 20 question written final and a few other extra-credit opportunities here and there. JUST FOLLOW THE DAMN INSTRUCTIONS SHE GIVES YOU AND YOU WILL PASS. Yes, you will be questioning why you are giving a speech on a plant no one cares about and yes, you will become visibly angry to those around you as you are printing excessive amount of paper with the last droplets of ink you have left in your printer. But if you thoroughly read through all the materials and documents she provides you on her Polylearn page, you will pass. Practice your speeches with your notecard. USE ONLY ONE NOTECARD. Time yourself. Use the "search everything" bar on the CP library database when researching articles. Read the directions over and over again. Sleep well the night before. Go to office hours every now and then. Take her up on her extra credit opportunities. Don't ask stupid questions (because you will receive a stupid answer). And just TRY. But here is the takeaway from my review: you are a dumbass if you fail to connect her seemingly pointless anecdotes about her life to the bigger picture of public speaking. College is not about snagging the easy A anymore. It's about sucking it up when you wake up at 6:30am and put on dressy clothes to give a speech for your 7am coms class. It is also about not being spoon-fed the information anymore because you now have the ability and resources to find it yourself. This class will teach you how to stop hiding behind the arrogant version of yourself, believing that you know everything already. Lisa WILL be brutally honest with you, but the truth is that everyone needs a professor like that at some point. If you want an easy A, don't take this class. But also, if that's your mindset, just don't take college in general. If you want a class that will challenge you to make you a better public speaker, then take. this. class.

So I started off the year hating Lisa (as she prefers to be called). When I was trying to choose a topic for my first big speech I asked her in person about a couple topics. She said they were all too broad or done too often. So I went in again and she said the same thing. I emailed her and once again she said the same thing. So anyways the topic I chose got me about a C+/B- grade but when I look back that's because there were a bunch of ways I could have improved. Even though I absolutely dreaded speaking and waking up at 6:30 every other day for her class, I think I learned a lot. If you're looking for an easy GE fulfillment then don't take this class. Overall the class was 6/10 but I really think I improved a lot not just in public speaking but on my research skills. So if that interests you, then take this class. PRO TIPS FOR LISA: 1) Quote is a verb, Quotation is a noun. 2) Don't be a suck up. 3) Show up, you loose points if you're absent more than 2 days. 4) Expect her to be, on average, about 15-20mins late to office hours. 5) For self evaluations, make sure you list specific things you did right/wrong. They're worth a lot of points. 6) She's a Liberal, Feminist, Pro-Union and strongly opinionated. AKA avoid pronouns like "you guys," policeMAN," .... 7) Dress nicely on speech days and wear more than a onesie for normal class days. How you dress has a big impact on her. 8) Don't get sucked into making a memorized speech- make an outline. 9) She swears a bunch but you shouldn't. 10) If you do presentation aids, Make A Powerpoint. They're a million times easier and she won't critique them for quality and nit pick them like poster boards. 11) Office hours aren't very helpful but I guess you get brownie points so go anyways. 12) Sleeping in class is even worse than not showing up. Don't do it. 14) Good luck!

This is one of those professors who thinks they are teaching anything but a Gen Ed class. Lisa was funny and cool in the beginning, but I think she showed her true colors in week two. I get the impression that she doesn't want to be here and is only here for the benefits of being a cal poly lecturer (I mean, professor). She intentionally grades her students unfairly and pretends to be unbiased with her gender-neutral language, yet is very bias if you disagree with her, no matter how politely. I really question Cal Poly's standards for keeping teachers like this employed. There are a dozen middle school and high school english professors who would be a better replacement for Kawamura AND teach twice as much information as her. I don't expect her to love everyone in the class with open arms- and she thinks all freshman are overly sensitive and expect to be hand-held. Absolutely there are some freshman like that, but not everyone is like that. So she turns into a female dog the day after its too late to drop the class. One of the reviews said she intentionally gives certain grades so the department can be happy or the school will look better if the pass rate isn't as high for classes (something like that, I can't remember what the prev review said), but that's about what I got when I was in her class. She is an inconsistent grader with students and not matter how good a speech is, if she's got a chip on her shoulder you'll get a D or C (this has happened to a couple people I knew in the class). Someone should get her out of here. There are plenty of jobless teachers out there who would put kawamura and her SF english degree to shame. But shame on the english department for keeping a witch like this to "educate" young and eager minds when hers is cold and closed off.

This professor will ruin your life. Trust me, any nice reviews are complete bullshit. This class will require an obscene amount of work and she is actually the living spawn of satan. Worked my ass off for this class and it doesn't and never pays off. If you want to fail a GE take this class

Lisa isn't really as bad as most people say she is. If you end up in her class, you'll be fine. She really knows a lot about public speaking. If people froze or got stuck on their speech, she would say something or ask a question to help them keep going. There are 5 speeches - an intro, impromptu, policy, and special occasion. The one complaint I had are all of the stupid rules on research. Every topic I asked her about she turned down. After my first speech I just stopped asking, because the longer you wait to start actually writing and practicing the more stressed you will be. I would go days just trying to find a good enough topic, but when I did, I couldn't find enough information that was 1. on the databases/not a website or 2. within the last 5 years. She grades really hard too. Honestly, you can be the best public speaker in the world and get a bad grade because of structure or research/citing mistakes. I would walk away feeling like I gave one of the best speeches in the class, and I would get a low B or C. The analysis she gives back to you also make no sense because its illegible. Overall, she's not a horrible teacher as long as you follow all the directions. The bummer about the class is she makes it all about the research, not actually improving your public speaking skills.

Lisa is a very genuine, caring person. She truly cares for her students in every aspect; grades, safety, and their rights. As an individual, I love Lisa and she makes the class so enjoyable by making it such a safe environment to speak. The course is a little heavy and does require quite a bit of time, but this is college and I think it taught me a lot about time management and organization. As long as you follow her directions, like she tells you to on the first day, you shouldn't have an issue getting an A or B in the class. My ultimate advice is do not judge someone based off poly ratings before you are able to meet them, give her a chance and have an open mind about the class and you may gain more out of it than you realize.

This professor is absolutely awful. The first day of class she insulted multiple students and told meaningless stories about her life that had nothing to do with the syllabus. Also on syllabus day she went over the two hour time minimum and was angered by students starting to pack up after class was SUPPOSED to be over. Her jokes are awful and it becomes painfully awkward in class when no one laughs at them. As for her teaching methods, she is terrible at directing students towards success in her class. I HIGHLY recommend you do not take this class with her as a professor. She is arrogant, biased, and rude. RUN AWAY FROM LISA KAWAMURA.

Lisa gets very unfairly judged on here. It is all just angry kids who didn't want to work that are pissed because she wouldn't give them a good grade, if they didn't do the things that they were supposed to do. She will make you work, don't get me wrong, and you will learn but it is things that you actually need to learn. She makes sure that you are doing things properly, that you are making effective arguments and educating others with what you are talking about. She is not racist, sexist, or anything else that people are accusing her of being. She will make you work, but you will learn, and trust me people need to learn to communicate because half of the people that are here calling her horrible things, are doing it because they don't know any other way of speaking.

Though Lisa is considered a "tough" COMS 101 instructor, her workload is doable, and her criteria is nicely laid out. Put in the effort (including the reading) and follow the instructions, and you will do fine in the class. The negative ratings are pretty extreme and DO NOT reflect Lisa's teaching. PROS: - Good instructor. Lays out what she expects. - Helpful to students and quick to respond to messages - Learned a lot in her course, and I improved my public speaking abilities. - Strong student engagement. Easy to focus on lectures. CONS: - Harder than most COMS 101 instructors (so don't expect an easy A for doing little to no work, though that's a given) - Her criteria can be difficult (but doable). Don't be afraid to ask for help. TIPS: - FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS (it can easily be the difference between a C and an A) - Read the material (including but not limited to the syllabus and textbook). Also, make sure to look at the syllabus well before the first day of class. - Prepare in advance (the speeches will be so much easier if you put started the speech early and practiced). If you want to learn and practice oral communication, I highly recommend her. If you want an easy A with minimal work, then she is not the instructor for you (though it is quite possible to get an A with effort).

Okay, I'm gonna set the record straight about Lisa Kawamura. Her class is definitely not the easiest one out of the other COMS classes at Cal Poly. That being said, it really isn't that difficult to do well in her class. She will make it clear from day one that the best way to do well in her class is to FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. She makes her instructions and expectations very clear, and though some of them may seem a bit arbitrary, as long as you follow them, you will do just fine. If you do decide to take this class, make sure to check the PolyLearn BEFORE the first day of class, as there will be a few documents she will expect you to have already read on the first day, and she will not email you about it. There are five speeches and three quizzes throughout the quarter. She will not tell you when the quizzes are, so as long as you keep up with the reading (which will be posted on PolyLearn and never ever mentioned in class), and show up to lecture regularly, you can do well in this class. Lisa has reasonable expectations of intelligent college students, and if you're looking for an "easy A" class, don't take her. But if you're up for something a bit more challenging than your average COMS 101 class, you'll be fine taking Lisa's class.

I would rather vote Trump than take this class again. She is actually the devil.

Before I had Professor Kawamura I looked her up on this site before and was HORRIFIED. I had no idea what to expect after seeing all the reviews. But then after actually going to my first class with her, I was pleasantly surprised. I think the reason a lot of people don't like her is because she can be very blunt and calls out your bs when she sees it. But if you do your work and actually put effort into your speeches you'll be fine and she'll see you trying. Most of the people that didn't like her were the ones who didn't listen in class or didn't even show up at all. Be prepared for the fact that you're not going to be able to get away with the things you got away with in high school and you're going to have more professors like this, and that's just what college is. Overall, just actually engage in the class and you'll pass without even worrying about it.

Awful, awful professor, especially at 7:00am. She has ridiculous perimeters on every speech you give and expects you to enjoy listening to her ramble on about shit that has nothing to do with the class. Lisa, the last thing I want to do at 7 in the morning is listen to your unpleasant ass try to shove your opinions down our throats. Save us the bullshit and stick to the lecture ffs

THIS WOMAN IS THE BIGGEST CUNT IVE EVER HAD FOR A TEACHER. WAY HARDER THAN MY ORGANIC CHEMISTRY CLASS I WAS TAKING AT THE SAME TIME. SHE GAVE ME A C- EVEN THOUGH I GOT A'S ON ALL THE SPEECHES, SHE FOUND WAYS TO FUCK ME LIKE ON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY I DIDNT PUT IN A COMMA AND SHE TOOK 2 POINTS OFF (5 PERCENT). FUCK THIS WOMAN SHE SUCKS AND HER CHILDREN PROBLY DO TOO CAUSE SHES CRAZY AND EVIL. I FEEL BAD FOR YOU IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE HER. FUCK THIS CUNT

This class is a lot of work but if you follow directions and go to her office hours, you will do great! Lisa is always willing to help and if you take advantage of that than you will probably get an A in the class.

Kawamura is by far the worst teacher I've ever had. She is just a terrible person, who is very unapproachable. For example, she claims that no question is a dumb question, but then if you ask her anything, she tells you she already told the class, doesn't give you the answer, then goes on to make you feel stupid. Also, if you love having a teacher's views forced upon you with no opportunity to respond to them, then she is the teacher for you. She is also very strict on the tiniest most irrelevant details. However, the one thing she has going for her is that she plans out the whole year in her syllabus and follows it and gives precise instructions of what she wants from you (which is a lot). This was by far my hardest class, which doesn't make sense for a freshman level GE. If you end up stuck in her class, I'm sorry and brace yourself for her everyday rant, especially on how her polyratings are not true (while they are very accurate).

Lisa was a wonderful professor, however many people will say otherwise. For one, she is indeed a hard grader, but do not wait until the last minute to prepare and memorize your speech. Secondly, she does expect a lot of work and time out of her students, however it will pay off in the end. Thirdly, she isn't kidding when she says FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS! It is all in the syllabus and just triple check your outline before you memorize your speeches. Now that the basics are out of the way, Lisa may not show it, but she cares a lot about her job. She became really close to the class I was in specifically and really started to open up to us and showed us a different perspective on who she is. If you respect her, she will respect you. One thing to keep in mind is that she is very very liberal, but don't be hesitant to speak your mind in class, she will appreciate the participation and boldness of such a student. Although she is considered the hardest COMS professor, you will become a better public speaker in the end. It is not impossible to get an A in her class just be sure to go into her office hours (I repeat, GO TO OFFICE HOURS) and get your speech topics pre-approved. You may hate the class during the quarter, but in the end you will celebrate all the hard work you put in. PS. one thing I forgot to mention is to try and become friends with your classmates. It is a pretty small class and not hard to sympathize the pain you may be going through with your fellow classmates who are feeling the same way. My class made a GroupMe and set up study sessions that helped a lot and made giving the speech way easier.

Lisa is an amazing professor. You definitely need to follow all directions very precisely but if you have problems or need clarifications, she is easy to talk to and is super willing to help you! My advice would be to get started at the beginning of the quarter when she tells you to and run your topics by her before you present. You'll do fine in this class if you do exactly what she says. I thought this would be the worst grade my whole quarter but I ended up with an A. Also don't worry about what other people are thinking about in this class - you're all on the same boat and will be struggling equally.

Lisa is a teacher who knows the material really well and is extremely knowledgeable and personable. However, the requirements for this class reflect that of an upper level course, not a 101 course. Only take this class if you enjoy spending all your time research and having all your topics for speeches be turned down, until you're forced to give a speech on a topic you strongly dislike.

Lis Kawamura is horrible. She makes an already though class 10x worse by ripping apart everyone speeches. I went into her office hours many times to talk about topics for my speeches, she shut down 99% of them and was overall very rude. She also constantly shoves her political beliefs down her students throats. Her class is unnecessarily hard for a freshman GE. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS. If you do get stuck with her, follow her instructions and go into office hours. Out of all my classes this one was by far the hardest and had the most work.

On November of 2016, I made a mistake that will forever (for this quarter) haunt me and my sleep schedule. This mistake was a two-parter; first, I did not check the Poly Ratings for any of the professors whose classes I was signing up for, and second I clicked the box sealing my fate in Mrs. Kowamura's class for the entirety of winter quarter 2017. It was not until week one of the new quarter that I read up on some of her reviews, but even then I figured she couldn't be that bad. Sure, she was a little 'rough around the edges', but not enough for the word 'bitch' to show up 129 times on this page (not an exaggeration). Now, I just want to say that Kowamura herself is not a terrible person. She is far less the 'Shove PC propaganda down your throat' type and actually makes somewhat of an effort in not imposing her political and social beliefs on the class with the exception of her choice in sports teams. The issue with her- and the part that makes the 129 instances of 'bitch', 9 instances of 'cunt', and countless instances of individuals hoping she gets hit by a bus totally warranted- is the obscene amount of work she makes us do in the class. Honestly, it's not even the fact that there's a shit ton of work that bothers me, it's the fact that a majority of it is totally and completely unnecessary, and even then she grades incredibly hard. Her whole philosophy of 'just follow directions and get an A' is complete bullshit because half the time her instructions are insanely vague and she marks you down an insane amount for tiny mistakes which I can guarantee will happen a lot due to the amount of work she has us do. I have had more work in this bullshit waste of time 4-hours a week of Kowamura power tripping excuse of a class than I had in any and all of my classes in the last quarter combined, and I did not have an easy courseload. Lastly, many of the positive reviews here tend to be along the lines of shaming those who hate her or saying 'oh she's not that bad'. Yes, she is that bad, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise because if you take this class you'll find yourself in my exact position thinking at first 'hey she's not actually terrible', then 'okay, so I see some of these reviews were legitimate, but I still think people are being hard on her', to finally, 'this class is the worst class I have taken at Cal Poly so far thanks to this utter disappointment of a COMS professor'. So if you are to take anything, any piece of advice from this review and 90% of the reviews on this page- DO. NOT. TAKE. THIS. CLASS. PERIOD.

This professor is a hard grader, but she really wants her students to succeed. As long as you do your work and follow directions you'll do well. She's also really funny and a good person overall.

All you people are so fucking ridiculous. It's college! You're going to have a lot of work to do, get over it! Lisa is a good lecturer who tells you exactly what you need to do to succeed in the class. It is really not as much work as you people think it is, and if you really think that, then you should really reevaluate your choices in life because maybe a higher education is not for you. I did not have to work my butt off to get an A in this class. Granted, I started assignments later than I should have, but I got everything in on time and still had time to perfect my speeches in just one week. She does tend to get you a little stressed out because she assumes that you are spending 2 hours a day after her lecture on this class, but that is unnecessary. DO YOUR GODDAMN WORK and practice the speech maybe 15 times and you will be fine. It is extremely childish to go onto this website and trash this woman just because she doesn't stand for your bullshit. Lisa is an amazing woman who cares about her students and wants you to succeed by putting in the work that is WAY LESS work than you'll have to do in a real job in the real world. Get it together, idiots. LISA IS AWESOME

Lisa is a hard grader but it is very possible to get an A. However, if you do not HAVE to take her class (eg you are not the last registration and do not get stuck with her) I would say avoid it. She requires much more than most other Coms teachers and expects a lot out of her students, which is hard for most because 1. nobody likes Coms, and 2. nobody cares about Coms. Her "lectures" are mostly her asking questions that nobody would know the answer to, and then her pretending like she was being clever and teaching us without us even knowing. If you do get stuck here, just go to class and do the extra credit and you will be fine. But avoid it. Please.

After reading Lisa's polyratings prior to taking the class fall quarter, I was terrified! However, I quickly realized that it wasn't nearly as bad as most make it out to seem. I thoroughly enjoyed her class and learned a ton of useful information! Yes, it was difficult and I did struggle. However, I worked hard and in the end earned an A (yes y'all it is possible!) A few things that I would like to point out: 1) go in with an open mind. I am very conservative and Lisa is liberal, but it's not bad. She doesn't try to shove her politics down your throat, or harass you for opposing her political beliefs. You will survive, after all I made it and the election happened while I was taking the class! 2) work hard. ALWAYS work your hardest!!! The speech you planned the night before will not be as good as the speech you planned five days before 3) GO TO OFFICE HOURS. Yes, it is scary at first; however, I can assure you that it is worth it! Ask for clarification and never be scared to ask questions 4) don't worry about your classmates complaining. Just worry about you and you'll be fine! 5) show up to class, read the book, study like a college student should and you will find success in this class!! Lastly, the class may suck while you're doing it, but in the end you will be better off than your other friends who took easy COMS professors. You will learn an abundance of information that will lead you to be glad that you took Lisa Kawamura! Good Luck :)

A Drama Geek who has been giving authority. Imagine a sassy black lady, but in the form of a short Asian. You can get a good grade, but will probably have to pour all your sweat and tears into this class; neglecting major course work just to pass a G.E.

Do not take her class. Period. So far, most of the Polyratings I have read about her have been 100% accurate. On the first day of lecture, she spent about an hour trying to debunk and tell us that her Polyratings are all wrong. However, by my experience, they are an accurate representation of her attempt to make your college career a living hell. Her demeanor is off-putting from the start, and she tries her best to talk to you as condescendingly as possible. She is one of those professors who takes her course wayyyy too seriously and cares more about you following her convoluted instructions than actually learning public speaking.... similar to if you were a first grader! I have a strongly developed background in public speaking (I present TED talks, Perform on the Las Vegas strip etc.) and have been trained by some of the world's best public speakers. I am only taking the COMS class to satisfy my support class requirement... and Kawamura lacks professionalism and does a poor job at teaching public speaking. Yes, people do spam Polyratings, however, all of her poor reviews are accurate... for the most part. Maybe instead of trying to prove her Polyratings wrong, she should read them and take notes.

Okay I did get an A in her class but I was BEYOND miserable all quarter bc she is an awful teacher who enjoys shoving her own beliefs on her students and not giving a crap about how that makes them feel. Her grading seems completely random and she has no problem criticizing you before or after your speech in front of everyone. If you are stuck with her you will survive it will just be a miserable quarter sorry.

I believe Lisa Kawamura knows what she is talking about regarding public speaking. The part of her teaching that I find unacceptable is that she drags politics into everything and she is entirely biased. Even the speech that she is making the class read for the final is entirely biased. Her job is to not push politics and put Hillary Clinton on a pedestal. Her job is to teach public speaking. I felt uncomfortable in many situations in her class because she bashes people with political ideas different from her own. Teach the class and keep politics out of it. Please and thank you.

Lisa is a hard professor. The best tip I have for this class is to go to office hours and pick your topics early! There is a lot of work for each speech, and her expectations are very overwhelming. If you are good at public speaking or enjoy it and don't mind the extra work, I would recommend taking this class. However, if you are like me, and struggle with speech anxiety, it will be a very stressful class, especially for a GE. With that said, I did learn a lot in this class about public speaking. I just think that her expectations are a bit too high for the class and there are a lot of seemingly unnecessary directions.

1) Her class is more about how to do a research 2) You won't really improve public speaking 3) She over complicates simple stuff 4) Way too many instructions which are hard to follow 5) Don't take this class. Not worth it as you won't learn anything 6) Still wondering why isn't she thrown out of Cal Poly 7) She knows that she is a bitch and still continues to be one 8) Horrible office hour timings 9) Hope she retires real quick or dies a painful death

She has huge ego problem. Besides she is not clear about how to guide students Her grades do not display learn by doing approach anywhere.

Don't take her class. She makes life hell. Why Cal Poly retains her?

She has wrong expectations. For a GE, she makes one do research on topics as doing for a major.She hardly teaches you public speaking. This is my worst ever mistake to have her as a teacher despite knowing her so low ratings here. She believes more in students liaisoning with her and as many have pointed out, is a closed mind who does not like contrary views, is frustrated in personal life and could be very vindictive with you if you differ with her. This is contrary to US Education system.

Lisa is awesome. She is HILARIOUS and loves to talk about politics. It's honestly refreshing to see a professor who isn't afraid to speak her mind even though she knows she gets judged hard for her opinions. She's extremely picky about what she wants in your speeches, but if you just do what she wants you'll do perfectly fine in her class. If you pick your topic early and run it by her, you'll be fine. GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS. She does have favorites and they are usually those who go to her office hours regularly. I regret not going to her office hours and talking to her more because she is such a cool person (and my speeches would have been much better lol). to get an alright grade, you need to put it 0 effort. I am not kidding when I say I did every speech literally the night before. I pulled an allnighter before each of the speeches I gave, and I didn't open the textbook until the day before the final. I got a B, which is a very good grade in college considering I hardly worked for it. I think people are so butthurt by this professor because they're new to college and don't know how to do work, or because they're in an easy af major. Idk. But anyway, you'll be fine unless you decide to be stubborn and do your own thing instead of following her simple directions.

I took Lisa's class a couple years ago. She is not what I would consider to be an easy professor, but she was fair and knows her stuff. She's blunt, and opinionated, so if you can't handle that don't take her class, but if you're good at following the instructions, and sticking to the rules you'll do just fine. I got an A and just made sure to FOLLOW her instructions.

So I had Lisa first quarter of my freshman year. The things she requires you to do are not necessarily difficult, but it is a lot. So to start, Lisa is very one sided. She is extremely liberal and feminist and if you don't agree with that then you should probably just keep your mouth shut because it'll help your grade in the long run. Getting on her good side definitely helps your grade. She has a very strict attendance policy so make sure you show up to class, make sure you're on time! (she gets annoyed and will call you out if you're late), and also make sure you participate in class. I am not a great writer nor am I very good at public speaking, but I still got a good grade in the class. I did this by participating, showing up to class, and following directions. If you follow the guidelines and either visit her at office hours or email her for help you will get a passing grade- I promise you. She assigns a lot of pointless work in my opinion, and a lot of her guidelines such as her rules about research make finding a topic hard, but if you just do the work, you'll be fine. She's one of those teachers that's very knit-picky and likes things done a certain way. For example, she bitches and moans if you don't have the right clip holding all your research together, she's very strict about the way you present your visual aids in your presentation, and she's really weird your works cited/ how she wants things done. Just do what she wants and you'll be fine basically. My overall opinion on Lisa is that she gives a lot of unnecessary work and her class is definitely hard, but I've had much harder classes. Her class is manageable and if you get blocked into her class or wind up having to take her just remember to show up, participate, go to her office hours, and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. She has everything so clearly laid out for her students so just follow the directions. She's looking for improvement, so if you put in the time, you'll receive a good grade. She doesn't mind giving out A's, and is happy to do so for those that deserve it. My last piece of golden advice for this class- start your speeches early.Give yourself at least a week before your speech to start working on it. It is so noticeable when a kid gives a speech that he/she clearly wrote the night before and just stayed up super late practicing it. By not procrastinating you'll get a better grade and you won't embarrass yourself either.

This is the only class I have ever gotten a C in and I am a great public speaker. If you meet all of the assignment criteria it only earns you a C. You have to go ABOVE and beyond to earn a better grade. She is so rude to students it is not okay. She will even criticize your outfits. Public speaking is hard for much of the population and she made it even scarier. Lisa creates a terrible and uncomfortable learning environment. I have never taken the time to write a bad polylearn, but this one was necessary. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. I am a 4th year now and I am still thinking about it! 2 years later!!!

If you're considering taking Lisa's class, let's face it: you're probable 23rd on the waitlist for someone else's COMS 101 class, or you're a blocked in freshman. Her class is definitely not the easiest COMS 101 class, but if you visit her office hours, she is extremely helpful, and will give you the tools you need for an A on her speech. With that, she can be unclear at times, and strict in the ways you can research your speeches. (mainly that most online sources are off limits) She does give tons of extra credit though. On the first day, she bashed her polyratings in front of the entire class, which reminded me a little of Amy from Amy's Baking Company responding to her "reviews." Unlike Amy though, Lisa's beginning of the quarter spiel is just a "review and preview" for the course, and she definitely proves her competence throughout the year. She is extremely entertaining, and although she can contradict herself at times, (complains about people saying "you guys," but has no qualms about saying "thoughts and prayers" herself) she is probably the closest thing at Cal Poly to Margret Cho. (sans tattoos) This class is not an easy A, but a doable A if you put in the work.

Many of the reviews on here are true in some ways. Yes, she does grade incredibly hard and assigns homework that may or may not improve your public speaking and requires a good deal of time. Her standards are unforgiving (she basically treats you like COMS majors). However, she does make time for you and will try to help you if you visit her during office hours. I don't think her extra credit helps your grade but make some effort to do some and it might make a difference. Overall she is an entertaining person who has many opinions she is willing to share constructively. Don't take offense to her somewhat brash nature and you should do fine. Don't expect an A if you are the lazy type.

Yes, this class is hard and its definitely not an easy A. First its important to dispel some false notions. While Kawamura is a hard teacher she doesn't deserve any of the nasty remarks said about her on these reviews. If you are close-minded and uncomfortable about a person talking about pretty centrist/left ideas, thats on you and not a fault of the teacher. The political points she talks in class are barely controversial. If you challenge her on them, she will not attack you but rather refute your argument. You are not going to fail because you are a "straight white male". While I am a POC there were other "straight white males" that got an A in the class as well. Show effort, improvement, and interest and Kawamura will recognize it. But yes this is not an easy class, Kawamura's grading can be a little harsh and confusing. If you want an A in this class you really have to work your ass off. To do well on a speech it requires hours of good research, outline preparation, and presentation aid building. It really helps if you pick a topic that you have an interest in. Do not expect to get a good grade on your speech if you do not start on your speech at least a week before its due. Other than that you will become a better public speaker from this class, and learn how to really utilize the databases Cal Poly has. Do the extra credit, do the work, be open-minded, show up to class, do not procrastinate, and the A will come.

Lisa Kawamura is one of the best teachers I've ever had. I took this class fall quarter of my freshman year and loved it. I was terrified prior to the first day of class due to the horribly inaccurate comments on here. So, before you freak yourself out, let me explain why Lisa is so great. 1) She wants every single one of her students to succeed. In her class, there are 3 major speeches that count towards a lot of your grade and I got a C on my first one. I can honestly say I was deserving of that grade because looking back, I was a pretty bad public speaker. After meeting with Lisa in office hours on multiple occasions, we talked through my issues and she was extremely clear about what she was looking for in a good speech. I can proudly say that I worked my way to an A on the final speech thanks to her help and guidance. Overall, I witnessed my class as a whole improve as public speakers because we were all willing to take her advice. 2) She's so easy to talk to. Like I said, I went to Lisa's office hours many times and felt she paid complete attention to me and never let me leave with anything unresolved. She was always welcoming and ready to listen. My best advice if you are ever struggling in her class is to talk to her! 3) She gives so many opportunities for extra credit. Take as many of those opportunities as you can because they can save your life. Enough said. 4) She wants everyone to feel comfortable and have the chance to participate in her class. She makes sure everyone gets participation credit by calling on students that don't talk as much. She also tries hard to relate to her students. She tells great stories and creates a nice environment to learn and grow in. I don't think I've ever been more willing to participate and talk in a class as much as I did in hers. Ultimately, this was a great class. I learned so much about public speaking and about myself. Lisa Kawamura is an amazing professor and person and I would recommend her class to anyone!

This is definitely not an easy class for a 101 class, you really have to work for a good grade in that class. I know that the previous reviews make Lisa seems like a super irrational professor with unfair grading, but her grading is actually pretty fair. After every speech, she would give good constructive criticism that would help me improve for the next speeches. She doesn't really organize her lectures well though, since she teaches many sections of the class, so she gets confused on what she said to other classes and other class. In order to succeed in this class, you seriously have to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Go to her office hours to get advice because she is always willing to help. Also, don't procrastinate on speeches and if you do procrastinate, just be confident when presenting LMAO. I honestly learned so much from this class, because Lisa really wants all her students to be great public speakers at the end of the class, you just got to PRACTICE!

She is not as bad as everyone says but she is fairly harsh and strict. She also talks really loudly so it feels like she is always yelling at you. I think you can survive this class. The work load is not that bad and it is manageable. Most of the assignments are short and easy to write. The key to getting an A is to follow directions. Her directions aren't always clear though so make sure you go to office hours and ask for clarifications and this will really help. Don't be afraid of her and just ignore anything she says that might upset because she's not really saying it to be mean she's just saying it because she's honest and has as strong opinion. I think she genuinely wants everyone to do well. Figure her out quickly and you will do well. She is very particular in what she wants but you can find loopholes. If you are blocked into the class I would say take it because you will learn a lot and become a better speaker. If your not blocked into it you could find an easier teacher. Also a tip is to use use the projector for presentation aids because its too much work to make a poster and the projector worked for all the people in my class. Another tip is you don't really have to read the book in depth just skim over before final and skim and pull topics to write about for the claim analysis. This will save you time.

I cannot comment on specific aspects of Dr. Kawamura's teaching style that attributed to my learning because she has taught me nothing during the course of the class. She was extremely ineffective since the very beginning of the class and spent unnecessarily large amounts of time speaking to the fact that she has horrible PolyRatings. She attempted to discredit the site by saying the students had no sense of ethos and continued to prove throughout the course that most of the comments were accurate. I am astonished that she still is a faculty member in this university after constant disproval and dislike of her teaching. She would often forget what she her lecture was during it, and did not provide information for the speeches in a way that was understandable for the student. Dr Kawamura is an incredible citizen and I agree with her socially and politically, she provides an outspoken voice on this campus that is desperately needed, and I would encourage her to stop teaching students and work under the administration making changes to our schools system. She proved to be especially hard on students and lacked empathy towards any issue the student had encountered. To give an idea of this 1/3 of the students originally signed up dropped the class. I have never been in a class where the atmosphere was so tense and there was so much dislike for the professor. She continuously made it known that she was there for the students but then contradicted herself with the actions she performed. Offering her office hours at 7-8am on Monday mornings made it clear from the beginning that she doesn't care about helping students and wants to use this as an excuse for students not trying. She refused to answer emails during the weekend which I have never had a teacher do and then would leave campus on Wednesdays at noon with no attempt to try to set up meetings with students that were having difficulty making her absurdly timed office hours. Dr. Kawamura is one of the teachers that takes her subject matter far to seriously and wants to prove that it is a difficult subject by grading harshly. Never explaining the prompts fully and leaving students confused was a common occurrence in this class and it lead to students not receiving rightful grades and facing a constant state of stress. I have never worked harder for a class then this one, I restarted my topic for all of my speeches because my topic I had chosen "didn't fit the prompt", which would be explained after I had presented her my idea. If the communications department cares about its future students in the slightest they will dismiss her immediately.

PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Whoever thinks Lisa is a good professor should be blocked from being able to give polyratings. Worst teacher hands down that I've ever had. I gave four kickass speeches, and I know they were kickass because I actually listened to her present the material and how she wanted things done and read the textbook. I took hours and hours plenty of time in advance to perfect my speeches in a way I thought would please her. Turns out I never got higher than a C- on one, and she would blabber about things I did wrong, let's say for example my transitions, which I perfected beforehand and MADE SURE they were correct and used in a way to enhance my speeches and connect ideas with good flow. It was almost as if she wasn't listening to me when I presented. Not to mention she is the farthest left-wing person I have ever met which wouldn't be a problem if she didn't try to Big Brother us and make us all agree with her views. She once said that she wishes she could have a child and not give it a name or gender until it could figure it out on its own... WTF? PEOPLE NEED IDENTITIES. She claims the use of Mr. and Mrs. is sexist because "her marital status doesn't define her." BITCH IT SIGNIFIES IF YOU'RE MARRIED OR NOT AND THAT IS IT NOTHING IS FUCKING DEFINING YOU. She won't respond to her husband if he calls her wife, only partner because "wife" implies ownership. Just ridiculous, whose mans chose to marry this fucking woman I'm sorry my guy stay strong. Some more Lisa quotes for you: "I don't like the color pink because it signifies my gender and I am more than just a color." If someone simply and curiously asks her where she is from, thinking they're gonna get an answer such as Japan, she gets extremely offended and states "My family has probably been here longer than yours unless you are mexican or indiginous" and claims it is racist for them to ask. However, she is constantly talking about how white males have ruined this country by establishing laws etc. based solely on gender, WHICH IS RACIST TO WHITE MALES IN ITSELF!! Lisa, if you're reading this, you're a walking oxymoron and a horrible professor who made my experience with Cal Poly off to a bad start.

Okay please do not believe all of the ridiculous things people have said about Lisa. Yes, she is tough, and in the beginning you will likely be intimidated by her, but that is just because she wants to let people know no one is going to get an easy A. However, she is honestly so funny and genuinely cares about her students. She will read over all of your work and let you know what to change so that you cannot get an A, so if you want to do well, go to office hours and stay in touch with her over email. If you put in the effort to get an A, you will get one. I made this class a priority and got a high A. She made my class feel like a family and I learned so much more than I would have if I had any other COMS professor. Public speaking skills are skills you will need in life. Don't be scared, just try hard and you'll be glad you did.

Anyone who doesn't like Lisa as a professor either a) didn't put any effort into the class or b) doesn't like when females have opinions. She wants you to do well. Put in the work and you will definitely pass. Go to office hours and pay attention in class and you're almost guaranteed an A or B.

Follow the directions and do the damn Claim Analysis Papers every week. You honestly don't do too much actual public speaking in your class so don't let that aspect of the course scare you off. That being said, start your speeches early. At the very least, choose a topic a few weeks in advance and make sure there is research there. Her class isn't too hard and she gives you many opportunities for extra credit points here and there. Do the weekly papers (they are literally a page long and take 45 minutes max) and go to office hours to establish a personal connection with her.

I got blocked into this course at my first quarter at Cal Poly and didn't try to switch out of it even after reading her polyratings. Her ratings are really not accurate. Yes, the class requires work, but it's really all condensed to the final 4 weeks of the quarter. I did each speech the day before the actual speech and ended up with an A. I enjoyed her lectures because she really does care about her students. I definitely recommend going to office hours for each speech you do, just to clarify your topic and points with her because she will steer you in the correct direction in her eyes. Don't be scared - Lisa rocks.

This professor favors the kids that do not talk in class and the second she hears their voice when they have to give a speech she falls in love with them. I personally was not one of those kids, I participated in class and joked around with her which at first seemed like it was reciprocated, but then one day she just got the notion that we were making fun of her like the movie "Mean Girls" and then got butt hurt about anything we would say. The work we have to do is an incredible amount and she has no sympathy for anything. You are in her own little world for the two hours of lecture, and she is a tyrant that loves the sound of her own voice. She goes on tangents about stuff that is not even relevant to her class and we honestly never covered what was going to be on our speech until the day prior to our speeches. By the end of the quarter I started tying my shoelaces together when I walked to class, just in case I could trip and fall and not have to go. Even if I happened to break my arm, I would still get an absence... she has no sympathy for her students.

Alright this class honestly gave me whiplash. Lisa really gets you for the first 7 weeks of class, she's funny and supportive and totally willing to work with you. It left everyone in my class confused as to how the heck her polyratings were so low? Well the next three weeks in her class are fucking HELL. You thought you knew her but than she completely flips. The next three weeks are filled with 3 speeches that are your entire grade in this class, she sits in the back making faces and comments about how terrible your speeches are as you stand in front of everyone and take it. This woman hands down went from being supportive and encouraging to being a fucking bitch over the weekend brace yourself for it. All three of these speeches; midterm 1 (a speech about the physical qualities of an object), midterm 2 (a speech about a public policy), and the final exam ( an introduction speech), are presented back to back to back so your prep time for each speech is a few days tops. Pick your topics within the first two weeks and stick to them be super creative. If your an engineer pick a technical object or piece of equipment you can describe that she will know nothing about. A girl in my class did this and for her research packets she printed out the labs and research papers written about the object and nailed the speech because she was able to skim the information and explain the basics to the rest of the class and no one knew whether she was fucking with us or not. For your policy speech DO NOT DO ABORTION or plan parenthood or global warming just don't some other kid in your class will make that mistake. Better yet DO NOT BRING UP ABORTION IN CLASS EVER. Lisa is extremely ANTI the pro life movement, if your catholic, christian, muslim, jewish, conservative, independent, liberal, or even support any regulations on abortion at all, or shit even if you just have respect for your fellow classmates right to free speech, if Lisa disagrees with you she will fail you. If she brings it up do not say anything back and ignore her. Lastly on your final, pick someone no one has ever heard of, it's like a giant game of guess who. If she guesses your person you will fail the speech. Lastly, a couple pointers if you end up in this class so you can get an A, sit in the front row by the aisle these people become her favorites, participate in class discussion even if it's with stupid questions, do all the extra credit it will save you (you get EC for perfect attendance), have her check your citations beforehand, practice your speech in the room the weekend before just go plug in your laptop and give the speech, if you can convince your roommate to come bring them. Practice and follow the directions step by step and you will be good. Lisa is not a good teacher let me be up front about that but if you follow the directions and advise the tips of other people from her class you will be ok. Last thing on research day save the sheet that is 5 pages long and outlines what she will take for research or won't because she opens it for a few days then deletes it for the rest of the quarter. Good Luck your going to need it.

Time for some fun... I'm a male who was a sophomore while taking her class and I was in a very interesting class where we only had 6 students by the end of the quarter, so we got a LOT more personal (yes, if Lisa reads this she knows exactly who I am. Hello). As you can tell by the other comments, yes, professor Lisa is very opinionated. Yes, she is a hardcore feminist. Get over it. In my tiny class I spoke up a few times and debated what she was saying. I even spoke against feminism. Just be respectful (a dash of humility won't hurt either). Also, I gave a speech against sanctuary cities and, no, I did not automatically fail--I actually almost got a perfect score. Relax....................You'll do fine. Lisa is not out to get you. She's actually very nice and respectful. Manage your time. If you want a good speech, it takes a while to do research and make an outline. Speak with confidence. Don't procrastinate (unless you can speak with confidence like my classmate). FOLLOW THE PROMPT. Seriously, if you give a speech with internal structure (review one point, preview the next/transition sentences) she will love you. Ex: "As we have just discussed how Cahokian mounds were places of burial, now lets move on to how these mounds were places of religious expression." Good luck.

Lisa's personality is abrasive and intimidating. She provides little to no actual instruction on how to prepare for your speeches and the final, simply using her lecture time to aimlessly talk about whatever is on her mind. I did relatively well on my speeches, but I had to work extremely hard to do so. I do not know what grade I got in her class yet, even though I took her final days ago, because she posts absolutely nothing online in terms of grades. This class was made far too difficult for a GE 101 class, and if you can, try to take it with another professor. I did become a better public speaker, but that was from straining to do extremely well on my speeches to counter her harsh grading, not because she taught me anything. Overall, I deeply regret being placed in her class. This quarter would have been so much less stressful without it, even though I would generally consider myself a good student who is up for a challenge.

This class will probably bring about a lot of unnecessary anxiety. She's not a bad person and her grading isn't unfair, but the workload and time spent for this class is not worth it. She's honestly pretty understanding but expectations are very high, and it is frustrating to spend that amount of time on a GE course. I would avoid this class if possible especially if the rest of your schedule is tough. She seems pretty rude especially at first, but she gets better. I probably improved my public speaking skills, but I also wouldn't say it was worth it. If she let's you use a powerpoint, definitely use one and don't try and make posters because her expectations for them are way too high. She only let's you use one notecard, even for 7-8 minute speeches, so powerpoints really help. Also its really nice to have a printer. You have to print so much stuff for this class it hurts. It's definitely not impossible, but as a person who gets anxious even thinking about public speaking, it definitely wasn't fun.

It disappoints me to see the types of ratings that Lisa gets. She has been one of the best professors/teachers I have ever had. The kids who think she is cruel or too strongly opinionated are being sensitive. Lisa does a great job of getting the class comfortable with each other and I have never had a teacher so willing to work with me and help me to get through the class. I honestly enjoyed the open debate we were able to have as a class and the important current world issues we would talk about. Often we would talk about issues on campus and it was great to get to see a professor's point of view. Not once, did I witness her shutting down someone's opinions due to their beliefs, political stance, or religion. She is extremely supportive and actually helped my transition into college life. Lisa taught me to have confidence in myself and I honestly don't think I could have gotten a better mentor to help me get over my fear of public speaking. Yes, she is a tough grader and does also expect a lot of her students when it comes to speech giving, however she is very understanding and acknowledges that not everyone is born a great speaker. I got very frustrated in this class and was overwhelmed often, but the class is worth it and you gain important life skills. The only thing that really got me in this class was the fact that you could only use one notecard, that honestly sucked, but my memorization and willing to prepare definitely got better. To the Future COMS students who are nervous to have to take a class like this, as long as you communicate clearly with Lisa your concerns, go to office hours, follow directions, and PREPARE and PRACTICE a lot beforehand; you will pass this class. I was told multiple times by older acquaintances to make sure to personally introduce myself to my professors and to communicate with them. This truly was helpful and is what helped me to finish the class. My grade may not be very impressive, but Lisa helped me to get through the class with her support and faith in me, and earn a passing grade. I'm very grateful for her help and the skills she helped me to gain, that honestly will be extremely useful throughout my life.

Lisa is quite possibly my favorite person. I took her class fall quarter and not only found her classes entertaining, but I also found that she truly cared about her students and wanted them to learn. Although some of the assignments seamed pointless, she loves student input and is a great listener. There was a large amount of work but at least I can say I learned something in a college class for once. I also feel as though I have a mentor through out the rest of my time at Cal Poly. You will never be bored in her class. If you want to learn about the world she's a great teacher, but if you want an easy A, go somewhere else.

Lisa cares about her students and is for the most part a good lecturer, definitely kept it interesting for the 7am class I had with her, but the requirements for your speech assignments are the absolute worst. She doesn't grade on your ability to publicly speak so much as she grades on your ability to do research and follow her specific directions. I lost a lot of sleep trying to fulfill her harsh requirements on my speeches while not actually learning that much from it as a result and it feels I like I didn't get what I should've out of the class despite getting an A. The experience with her sitting in class is quite good actually but assignments suck, would not take again.

Dropped this class after a week and a half. She could not stay on subject or even on task as we hadn't had our first speech (scheduled second day) by what was going to be the start of the third week. Also, terribly intimidating and rude. She says don't trust her polyratings but SERIOUSLY DO. THEY ARE ACCURATE. Thank GOD I DROPPED

Professor Kawamura is very clear about her expectations with assignments and speeches, and she organized the quarter pretty well. If that is all you are looking for from a class, then go for it! But if you want a class that you won't have to spend hours and hours on assignments for a decent grade or if you want a professor that is respectful and treats everyone fairly, then stay away. Every other coms professor I hear about does everything in their power to give the students the confidence they need before a speech, while this professor will rip you a new one in front of your whole class when you are finished. I don't know if she preys on those who have a confident demeanor or simply enjoys embarrassing her students. She may call it "constructive criticism," but that would suggest it was delivered in a way that was respectful and not condescending. She will pick her favorites, give them a good grade for nothing, and make everyone else run to hell and back for a fair grade. Also, I wouldn't suggest taking her if you have a medical condition, because she will draw attention you when you have to tend to it and therefore let the entire class know about it :)

I'm a freshman, and taking a public speaking class as a freshman can be nerve racking and a bit frightful (especially after reading the poly ratings about Lisa!). Anyways, she was a tough teacher, but she was really awesome. If you follow her directions carefully and put effort into researching your speeches, you'll do well. She is very easy going and her class was one of my favorites, because you never know what my happen. Lisa definitely has enough personality to go around and I would recommend her to anyone that isn't a slacker.

Lisa is a great professor, but you need to be able to handle constructive criticism. Remember to take it only for what it is....HELP! Don't think she is trying to bring you down, because trust me she has better things to do with her time! She's demanding, and scares you more in the beginning. Don't get me wrong, it's hard, but not as difficult as I thought. She's a smart woman who knows her material so just take this chance to learn from her. You'll find out she's more like us than the rest of the professors. Don't listen to everyone who says she's a bitch, because in a sense we all are. She's just is forward with it. Just take a deep breath, relax and RESEARCH! Good Luck!

Lisa is a great teacher, but only take her if you are extremely interested in Speech. Each topic must be researched like a high school term paper, which is not a fun way to spend time. But if you are ready to spend a lot of time and are interested in learning how to write 2 page formal outlines for each speech, I say go for it.

Lisa's an awesome teacher... Hers is the only section for SCOM 101 that ISN'T an easy A, but if you take her course, you will definitely get something out of it. Yes, she does grade harshly, but she makes sure that the students know exactly what is expected from them, making things fair. Although she may scare you on the first day, don't hesitate to get to know Lisa; she has a great personality and is dedicated to the success of her students. ..Even though I didn't walk away with a great grade, I do know why and I feel that I got a lot from her class. She's way cool if you play your cards right and this class was definitely one of my favorites!!

Well first of all I'd like to say hi to Lisa cause I'll bet she's going to read this. I read the ratings after registering for her class and the first thing I thought was.."what am I getting myself into?...this lady sounds like a real b*tch. Don't believe em. Lisa's a great teacher and she's very supportive, something I feel is really important for teaching speech. She focuses mostly on delivery and organization, not on how big your balls are when standing infront of people to speak because lets face it, some of us aren't very good at speaking in public. After the course, I was pretty pissed off at getting a B because when it comes down to it, so long as you fullfill everything and listen... getting an A won't be hard at all.

Lisa might have been the best teacher I have had my entire time at Cal Poly. I read many Poly Ratings which said she was mean. On the first day she is very scary but once you get to know her she is cool. I think that many students might consider her to be mean because she is very honest. In her office hours she was very straight forward with me once and told me my topics would be difficult to met the requirements of the speech. While this was hard for me to hear I ended up choosing a better topic and got a better grade because of her honesty. This is a very easy class if you go to class and follow her directions. You will work hard in this class but it is well worth the effort.

All I can say is don't take this teacher, she was very hard to talk to and grades harshly. If you don't follow her instructions to the letter, expect a C, no matter how good your speech is. If you do end up with her as your teacher, pick a topic that she likes (she will give you hints), not your own.

Lisa said one thing that I'll remember forever on the last day of class: "If I don't hate coming to class, that says a lot." I think that summarizes the class well.

this was my favorite class by far...i remember starting the quarter absolutely dreading each day that i went to class, but by the end i ended up having a fun time. lisa is a great teacher, and although the first day of class can be scary and intimidating, it turns out to be alot of fun. a big factor for having fun in the class is having an open mind and always participating. her class is far from easy, but as long as you FOLLOW DIRECTIONS and DON'T PROCRASTINATE, it won't be that hard. i definitely learned alot from her class, and i'm glad that i stuck with it. definitely take her class cuz it's all about the experience, not the grade!!

I shall attempt to be purely objective. She does not allow any internet sources, even from reputable sites. She talks too much, often saying the same thing several times over and still not helping make matters clearer. In one instance she claimed she was going to let the class out early and ended up talking (I wouldn't really call it lecturing) for the entire period, saying the same few points over, and over, and over. She grades very harshly, but this seemed to get better through the quarter. She requires reading out entire citations (publisher, date, etc.) during a speech and then demands that it seem "natural". She's rather unreasonable about attendance, marking people absent because they left after 20 minutes of class had gone by with no professor, TA, or anyone showing up. For some reason she also seems to want to talk about her ethnicity every lecture. Lastly, she stressed how essential the textbook was to the course but I read about 3 chapters and did fine (with a B). It really just said what can be figured out from common sense.

I hate this teacher with a passion. She sucks and the workload is killer. She thinks that college is for thinking not drinking. But I think it is the other way around. If you are taking speech do not pick her because she is a bad teacher.

When I read these ratings before I took this class, I was pretty scared to take it, I didn't want to take a HARD, MEAN teacher for scom. Well, let me tell you, don't be scared of Lisa! She ended up being one of my favorite teachers, and the class isn't too hard if you follow directions. The reading isn't really neccessary, and she is helpful during office hours. Try to start working on your speeches early, or atleast get a topic and ask her about it! Lisa did a good job and I had a lot of fun in her class, she is great!

Lisa is the best professon I have had at Poly. She is tough and makes you work very hard for your grade. Her class is only worth 100 points so everything counts. She gives you chances to do extra credit and if you take advantage of it you will do well. She will answer any questions you have during her office hours. She is a professor that I have recomeded to many of my friends. I have heard that if you have a social life don't take Lisa, well I have a great social life and if you don't wait until the last minute to do your speech you will be ok. She does not give any tests in her class but you are required to do speeches. You learn a lot and she challenges you.

Lisa has been one of my best professors here at Poly. She's intimidating at first, but don't be scared off because she is so helpful and open. Her expectations for the class are clearly laid out and you will know how to get an A (or an F) in her class. Her lectures are will not make you fall asleep, and are actually quite entertaining. You also leave her class knowing 25 new people by name. Lisa is an excellent professor and I highly recommend to take her for SCOM-101....just know that she isn't an easy A, but you will take alot with you from her class.

First off, she doesn't like guys at all. If you are a male you must take this class CR/NCR. Otherwise you are almost sure to get a C-. If any student wants any grade other then the C you must spend many hours in her office. Also she wastes large amounts of class time talking about herself and why she feels like shit.

Oh, Lisa...she was such a bitch on the first day of class, so if you're planning on taking her, don't let that scare you off. It's her strategy to weed out the weak I think. : ) She really is a cool person and a good professor. She's fair and objective, which is probably difficult considering she has to judge speeches. The class was really nice because you actually got to know everyone's name and everyone was really supportive of each other; a very nice break from the usual class where you just sit and listen anonymously. She's very funny and can keep the clsses attention well...essential considering that she usually lectured for the full 2 hours without any sort of break. The research you have to do for the speeches isn't as bad as it sounds, it can be really really interesting if you choose a good topic. Remembering that class brings a smile to my face now (although I was a bit of the nervous type during the class); I would recommend her to a friend. :)

ok the first thing that Lisa will come off as is a HUGE BITCH... and she knows it (she reads these). But that is just Lisa. You need to get on her good side. It does help. The way that you do that is just follow the directions in the class. If you dont she will call you on it. She is a funny teacher but she set expectations that are realistic but hard. She is a hard grader but does give the opportunity for extra credit. My recomendation is to take advantage of the extra credit and do as much as possible. Overall Lisa was a pretty cool teacher to have.

Wow, she is a very unique teacher. she comes down to the level of the class and makes the lecture enjoyable. the fact that you can give a speech and say the word fuck w/o ruining your grade is nice. however she expects alot out of you and grades pretty hard. if you want to have fun and know everyone in your class...take her...but you will have to work your ass off to get a good grade!

Despite what others say, she is a great professor! She makes the class really interesting! She is a hardcore San Francisco Giants fan and hates the Dodgers, she loves talking with the class when she is not pressed for time and she's laid back during most classes (unless the class pisses her off). There is one quiz, two speech midterms, an outlining exam and a final speech! There is not a lot of reading required but you need to do it (this is one thing that pisses her off). This class is not a walk in the park, she knows when you did your speech at the last minute or if you memorized it. But if you put the effort in and improve throughout the quarter you'll most likely get the A!

She was kind of a bitch at times but was able to present the material. She isn't that bad.

Lisa comes off really strong!!! She begins the first day with a speech, and assigns tons of reading in thefirst few weeks of class. Her lectures are interesting and she definitely isnt boring to listen to (it would be impossible to fall asleep). The class is composed ota1-2 minute introduction speech, 3 minute impromptu speech, 5-6 minute object speech, a 7-8 minute public policy peech, and your final is a 3-4 minute presentation speech. After each speech you are to turn in a self evaluation (which are graded rather hard), and there is one writtenb outlinig exam. Lisa expects her class to be taken seriously, to follow her directions, and know and research and cite your topic. Although i hated her class in the beginning, she is a great professor who really does make you earn your grade, but w

Lisa is a great professor. The only reaon people talk so much crap about her is that they are too lazy to get off their asses to do some actual work. She taught me not only the fundamentals of speech, but more importantly, how to voice my opinion so that people will actually listen. There are opportunities for extra credit in her class, so anyone who is willing to try and work hard should get at least a B. Lisa is blunt and straight-forward and doesn't give any bullshit. On top of being a great professor, she is a genuinely cool person, always joking around and keeping the class interesting. Just give her the respect she deserves, and she'll treat you the same.

Alright you guys...I don't know about you, but I don't take pride in being called a bitch...Lisa Kawamura might, however. I won't call her a bitch, but I definitely will not call her a good teacher. To say that she's a good teacher, but that you just need to get on her good side and become a "favorite" is a contradictory statement. There is no way you should ever have to get on the good side of any fucking teacher. A good teacher does not have favorites, Lisa. Lisa has the ability to make classes enjoyable and to make lectures about public speaking tolerable...she just needs to throw all her damn biases out the window (funny, according to her grading scale, Lisa hates biases). I don't give a fuck if she likes the Giants and I do not care if she likes topics about food more than others. So, if you take her class, be prepared to be shocked, be prepared to laugh, be prepared to get a shitty grade, and then be prepared to deal with an unreasonable person. Peace.

Uberbitch.

fire the bitch

I didn't work as hard as I should have, ie, I wrote a lot of speeches the night/morning of, which explains why I got a C. But, for reals, if you go to class, read the book, take notes on the book, you're set. follow her guidelines. go to office hours. good things to know: for object speech, be very objective! if you use evaluative language you'll lose points for public policy speech: find a specific policy and show the harm in it. showing the harm it has on society is very important. then show a specific plan to fix it. visual aids aren't required, but will help your grade fo sho. i guess a lot of people are scared of lisa, but she's not that bad. people just freak out about speech in general especially with an assertive woman at the wheel. summary boards are good too, because then you don't really need a notecard which will get you better delivery points. just don't talk to your board or notecard. eye contact is good. quotable quotes: "watch the band camp tone" "you don't need to hold you note card with two hands, it's not that heavy" "shit" going to class every time is an easy way to get extra-credit points so you should do it and it's a very good way to learn everything and get a better grade. peace

Hmm how to describe Kawamura??? how about Satan? Butter lover? Fat lesbian chowder slut? Well theres a few. The only thing worse than listening to her yap her trap for two hours is staring at her fat rolls trying to escape. This bitch should call up fucking country crock and see if she can get a job testing their products. Shed be a lot better at that then she is at teaching thats for sure. Well i guess you might like this class if you are a flaming dyke looking for a fat asian bitch. But if thats not the case you should probably take a class where the teacher doesn't ooze crisco and smell like old woman. good luck

Lisa is the kind of bitch that loves to eat footlong hotdogs at a giants game. The class is not hard and she is brutally honest. Everything she says has to be right, and she looks high all the time cuz her eyes are so chinese. You can for sure pass the class if you have tits and go to her office ours. If you got a dick, do not get on her bad side, and think before you say anything, cuz if you say something wrong, she will put you down. She likes to cancel class to attend her pie eating contests so that is always cool. The class is a lot of work. You are not allowed to use online source, which totally sucks Lisa's left ass cheeck and it also has to be atleast a couple of years old. It is a lot of work but if you got to her office hours and bring her some eggrolls you should be fine. If you take this class, be prepared to do alot of work and be confused alot of the time. She is willing to help. That is the only thing good about her. Fuck the Giants.

Lisa is an awesome person, but she grades really hard. Being a lower level elective, this should have been an easy class. You learn a lot, but it isn't enough to get you a good grade in the class. This is not a class for the weak minded...

At first, I read the polyratings and wanted to drop this class. Lisa is an awesome teacher. I hate speech, but she made it fun. She cussed a lot, which kept class exciting. She understands what it's like to be a college student. If you put a little time into her class, she can tell, and will give you a good grade. Only thing wrong with her is that she's a die hard Giants fan. I'm a Dodgers fans. But she didn't know.

You have to work your ASS off in this class. I got an A because I fear her as a teacher and as a human being, and eventually that fear became motivation to give a REALLY good speech. The reason it is so difficult to do well is becuase she is very nit-picky about everything: outlines, research, the way you speak, the way you stand, the way you dress, but its totally worth it in the long run. I respect her teaching methods, and she is always willing to help. I'm not going to lie, be prepared to lose a lot of sleep if you want an A in this class.

OK, heres the deal. Expect to be challenged. If you want the easy speech class to just get by, this is not the class for you. Kawamura pushes you a lot for a speech class, and she has high expectations for her students. She grades hard on the speeches, but you can make up the points with outlines and self evaluations. I got a 50%, 85%, 70%, and an 80% on my speeches but still got a B+ in the class so you can do well. It just takes more effort in her class than others.

When you look at the below comments, you notice that people comment on Kawamura's bitchiness. I personally found that she can, at times, be a bit moody, but that doesn't mean she's a shitty teacher. She makes you work your ass off because she wants you to learn--that's her job. Advice I can give you: once she informs you of all the speeches you are to give in class, research and plan out AHEAD of time. What fucked me over was the fact that I lacked superb time management. Lisa will be blunt with you if you show her your outline, which is good--now you know you won't get as shitty of a grade. Overall a pretty good teacher; if you want an easy A, don't take her.

After taking Lisa's class I can honestly say that the only thing that I learned was how to cite sources within a speech. In the begining of the quarter she starts out by having her students read a book on how to give speeches, and then she lectures on it the next day. Once the book is finished she has her students present speeches week after week until the quarter finally comes to an end. This may seem fun and easy to some people, but from my own personal experience let me tell you that its not. Each speech must consist of an attention grabber, a thesis, a significant statement, a preview which introduces the main points, presentation of the main points, a review, and an end with impact. It

well well well...i was in your place a while ago, checking out polyratings for potential instructors and thought kawamura may be chill...definitely not. she is a bitch from the start making generalizations from the moment you walk into class the first day. speeches are intense in her class compared to other speech classes. after many hours of library research and preparation she will still fail you unless you go to her office hours three or more times (in that case she will see you try and will give you a decent grade no matter how much you fucked up). Before the beginning of each speech she makes you stand in front of the class while she examines your outline and usually gives you shit about how much you fucked up on it which makes you think to yourself that you have already failed before you even bagan your speech presentation which is a great form of constructive criticism...not really. advice to the ones who might take this class - DONT. advice to those who are in it now with time to drop - DROP. adive to those who are in week seven dreading a failing grade - WITHDRAW and know that you fucked up with ur decision to take her. all those who are stuck in her class i have one last bit of advice... drink before your speech because that way you wont care how much you fuck up or how much she hates your speech, all you care about is that you got your shit done, had fun, and made the class know you can give a speech after have been drinking mid-day. cheers. oh, if you dont drink then slit your wrist cuz your life is pretty much over.

Lisa is very nice, however, she is anal and she will even tell you this on the first day of class. She likes things to be very specific and compared to other instructors of the same class her section is harder. Research is required for every speech given. If you just want to take the course and do as little as possible for it to be over don't take her class, but if you want to actually learn something then this would be a good class. Even though her class is harder than others I learned a lot and enjoyed the class cause she is very nice and is fun to have class with.

I dont know what to say about Lisa except for she is a PSYCHO BITCH from HELL she made my first quarter at Cal poly miserable!!! If you read this and thinking of taking her class please dont, save yourself the misery. i dont know how I pulled the grade I did, honestly i was expecting to fail. And the worst part about Lisa is that she thinks she REALLLLY funny but she's not, everyone just laughs bc they're sucking up. Whenever I see her around campus, I give her a dirty look and think to myself, WTF is her problem!!! the only thing that i guess is good about her is she doesn't give any written tests but that is not saying much compared to what a douche she is

So the first few weeks are lectures on the text which wasn't bad at all and i think she's really funny. Then come the speeches. If you think you're doing too much work, you haven't done enough. Nothing you do will ever please her so just get over the fact that you can't be perfect and don't stress because everyone in your class is in the same boat. There are no written tests. Only go to her office hours if you need more info on the assignment, need a topic? don't ask her! she'll just make you feel like crap and shoot down all your ideas. So just do an excellent speech on a topic your confident about and you'll be fine. I have never learned so much from a class. I hate her grading criteria because she expects you to be super duper debate freaks, but the knowledge I gained was amazing...that's why we're here isn't it?? So its up to you, if you like throwing up before a speech and the stress of never being prepared than sure, go for it. She's not hard to figure out. I am the biggest procrastinator ever, I researched my speeches 1-4 days (you have an average of 2 weeks to do each one)before I had to give them, I was gluing down my visual aids minutes before class started and practicing on the walk to class...Don't take anything she says to you personally!!! You have to be the one with the positive attitude or you'll go crazy. One day I'd hate her and the next I was so excited to go to class...its like a rollercoaster. Anyway, I liked her, I wouldn't change anything about my speech class experience... PS. you need new clothes...her dress code is nuts.

The first thing you should know about Lisa is that she's very anal - and she makes so secret about letting you know during the first week of class. So make the effort to follow all instructions and most importantly, get the margins right on your outlines for your speeches (that's a big deal to her). The first half of the quarter was all lecture and review of the textbook. Not bad. Then all of a sudden, every class became a speech day. You had 2 small speeches and 3 major ones. And trust me...do not procrastinate. You need to start with enough time to visit her during her office hours numerous times for each speech. If you make the effort and visit her during her office hours, yes, she will be extremely blunt, but it helps, because you know your topic is okay, as well as the direction you're headed. This is probably the hardest SCOM 101 class to take. Lisa knows a slacker when she sees one, and you cannot expect to get a high grade if you half-ass all the speeches. So, in general...GET YOUR OUTLINES FORMATTED CORRECTLY. GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS ALL THE TIME. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. AND NARROW YOUR TOPICS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. It's hard, but not impossible.

I am not a mean person and i am not going to rip on lisa but my biggest advice is do not take this class, please just wait until next quarter. It is not worth it, wait for a better professor. This is a GE 101 course and you do not need a class that is going to consume your quarter when other speech 101 and 102 classes are just as educational. Everyone i talked to enjoyed their speech classes and learn alot from their other professors and never felt stressed out or angry. So do yourself a favor and save yourself the bad experience.

last quarter when i was signing up for all of my classes i read the poly ratings on Ms. kawamura and i figured it was jsut a couple of angry bitter students who wanted a little bit of revenge, so i went ahead and took the course. Little did i know that all of the reviews you read about her being a psycho bitch and totally off the deep end are so true. She tells you exactly what she wants and if you don't do it in her exact format with her exact she will give you no credit on seveal assignments. she won't announce when she is collecting regular papers, but when you try to give it to her later that day at her office hours you'll be lucky if she gives you half credit on an assignment. Her excuse is always "YOU SHOULD HAVE READ THE SYLLABUS". It is seriously like she enjoys humliating her students, she treats us like children and on several occurences SHE TOOK 2% OFF EVERY STUDENTS GRADE BECAUSE THE CLASS WAS TOO NOISY.... LITERALLY EVERY STUDENT LOST 4% OFF THEIR FINAL GRADE BECAUSE THE PSYCHO BITCH WAS ON A POWER TRIP!!!I know that you probably think i am just some bitter kid who is looking for revenge and that may be partially true, but all of my other grades in classes were A's and B's and i honestly believe that if i had had any other teacher i would have gotten a B easily. STAY AWAY FROM KAWAMURA AT ALL COSTS! SHE WILL SUCK YOUR SOUL OUT OF YOUR BODY JUST AS BAD AS SHE SUCKS ANY OUNCE OF FUN OUT OF HER PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS.

You are going to have to work hard and god help you. She is somewhat helpful in officehours, but she just doesn't have that many and will leave students hanging. She did take 4 percent off the whole classes grade for talking too much. Yeah, kinda crazy. Way too much work for a GE class.

The thing you have to realize about Lisa is, she teaches this class like a REAL CLASS. There's no hand holding, no hand outs, and no easy way. If you're willing to work hard, you'll do fine. She's very clear about what you need to do, and when it needs to be done by (One day late is half credit, after that is no credit). She's challenging, but you'll learn a LOT from her.

i just have one simple thing to say i got PHYSICALLY ILL before each speech and the sad part is i loved and was actually told i was good at giving speech's. I somehow got a B but i doubt many will be that lucky! WAY TOO MUCH STRESS AND WORK FOR A GE 101 CLASS!!!

fuckin bitch, needs to get laid.

She is not that bad. She is anal and a strict grader, but she makes that clear so just do what she says. She is funny (sometimes) and makes class interesting. She tells you that you will fail if you don't practice your speech 30 times and starta at least a week before it is due...I would practice 1 time to make sure the time was right and I wrote every single one the day of, and I got an A-. I wouldn't go out of my way to take her again, but if I had to it wouldnt be the end of the world

So kawamura on the first day decided to come out to our class about her homosexual orienation. The crazy bitch thought that we cared that she was a lesbian over a straight girl. She then proceeded to show us her strap on dildo and gave us an object speech about it. She then proceeded to psychologically atack members of the class using her evil weapons of persuasion that she recieved from the devil in exchange for her soul. She is a fucking bitch PS. I got an A and i still fucking cried many times due to her discouragement.

FIRST OFF, I AM A PRETTY FAIR EVALUATOR OF TEACHERS. I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT I LEARNED SOME GOOD INFORMATION FROM HER CLASS. BUT, SHE WAS AN UNFAIR GRADER, AND YOU WORK YOUR BUTT OFF FOR A NOT SO DECENT GRADE. I FELT LIKE I WAS IN THE DARK ABOUT WHAT SHE WANTED IN SPEACHES, OUTLINES, AND SELF EVALUATIONS. SHE SEEMS LIKE SHE LAYS IT OUT CLEAR, BUT REALLY, SHE DOESN'T. IT'S LIKE YOU DO SOMETHING WRONG AND SHE SAYS THAT YOU DID IT WRONG, BUT THEN YOU GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO IMPROVE IT, AND IT'S STILL NOT THE WAY SHE WANTS IT, EVEN THOUGH IT SEEMS CLEAR TO YOU. MY GUESS IS THAT YOU CAN STILL LEARN ALOT FROM ANOTHER CLASS, BUT HAVE A FAIRER TEACHER. KAWAMURA IS A DIAPPOINTMENT FOR THE WORD "TEACHER." SHE IS TOO PROUD TO ADMIT IT, OR EVEN EXAMINE THINGS SHE DOES WRONG OR COULD IMPROVE UPON. PS SHE HAS THE BIGGEST BOOBS OF ANY ASIAN WOMAN I HAVE EVER MET PSS AND THAT ISN'T GOOD THING, SO MAYBE BIGGER AREN'T BETTER

Professor Kawamura is a good teacher. She can effectively teach the material and if you pay attention to what she is actually talking about you CAN do all of the work RIGHT the FIRST time! It is possible, even though people say it isnt. All you have to do is step it up... and thats what is great about her; she challenges you to do your very best. I learned so much from this class and Im glad I went through it.

Avoid at all fucking costs!!! ive never worked so goddamn hard for a class...ever. It simply does not matter how much effort you put into the class, she will give you whatever grade she feels like, no matter what the quality of the work. In all honesty, the only thing I learned from the class was to hate public speaking more than I already did. This class should be an easy a; it is from any other professor. She however, will make your life a living hell!! Avoid the damn class!!!

Not an easy class. If you are in LOVE with speech though, this the perfect class for you! Lisa is really really into speech, so everything has to be perfect when you speak or else you won't get the grade you wanted. I worked many and many hours on my speeches and didn't get the results I wanted. If you want a challenging course then take it, otherwise choose a different teacher.

One of the worst teachers I have ever taken in my entire life.

For the two comments below this, get over yourself...you got LUCKY and got A's. She is not a fair teacher, and is completly unprofessional when she slams students after they give thier speech. I went to her office hours for every outline. Everytime she said it was perfect and had no faults and every time she gave me no credit. She is undeniably sexist and will admit so. I've taken much harder classes at Poly and had a much easier time, not because I dont work hard so keep your fucking comments to yourself. She's a bitch piece of shit...dont take her and dont listen to anyone who tells you otherwise

Staight forward class but very difficult to do well. Shes nice to females.

Lisa was an amazing teacher. She honestly wants you to be a competent public speaker. Some people do not like how tough she grades, but honestly, if you just follow directions, which she admits she is anal about, you will do fine. She was one of my favorite teachers this quarter and she is extremely helpful when you go to her office hours. And the only work you have to do is read a little, do speeches, write outlines for your speeches, and take a short-answer final exam, which was a little tough, but overall, not too bad. If you want to legitimately learn, take Lisa's class.

I personally would not take this professor. I do know that a few people in my class liked her. I did not. She was extremely strict and graded me down even when I did everything the assignment asked for. The class is way too much work unless you like to be challenged. Expect 6 chapters of reading due every class period. Plus, there is three speeches you must give in the last half of the quarter. She gives you all three speeches at once. Also I attempted to withdraw from the class but was denied since it was past the 7 week deadline. I did so because I missed two days of class and one of my speeches to go to my grandfather's funeral and she would not let me make up the speech. Which is really unfair, but you can make up your own mind...she might be a good teacher for you because I do know that some kids liked even though I thought she was the worst I have ever had in terms of teaching, not even because she wouldn't let me make up my speech.

By far the hardest 101 class I have ever had. She is sexist, stupid, and bitchy. Do yourself a favor and don't take her class. Look at the rest of the comments below. Not so good are they. If you have no choice but to take her class then follow all the directions and be as specific as possible when writing evaluations.

Before taking this class, I look Lisa up on polyratings and I was super scared. She sounded like a bitch! After going to her class, I thought of her differently. The class is hard especially for a GE. She is a tough grader but she also tells you exactly what you need to get a good grade in her class. The speeches were time consuming and structured but if you did it to her requirements and showed that you practiced she would give a passing grade and higher. She is very opinionated but also pretty fun in some classes. Most of the classes were insanely boring. The class is doable, it just takes effort but trust me, I am really glad it is over. If you want an easy teacher don't take Lisa.

Avoid this teacher if possible. Don't look at the grade I received and disregard my post, thinking I'm a slacker or something. I've taken much harder classes than this one, and I have never received lower than a B in any other class. YOU do not decide your grade in this class. SHE does. I put a ton of effort into my speeches and I'm not a bad speaker. Plus, this has less to do with her teaching than the previous things I've said, but she's mean. It really felt like she didn't care at all about her students. She's definitely the worst professor I've had at Cal Poly, and I would never take a class taught by her again.

Despite the fact that Kawamura thinks everything she has to say is way more important than it actually is, she's a good teacher who wants everyone to perform at a high level and isn't afraid to encourage it through tough grading. You'll probably either like her or hate her for her personality; I personally withstood her by contradicting most of what she said, exposing her double-standards, and insulting her Crocs. I got an A- through a combo of decent preparation and just being good at public speaking, so I guess I was kinda lucky. Whether you give a fuck about public speaking or not, you need to in this class to pass with a C or better. And if you don't mind being a little bitch, feel free to suck up/ be a favorite, didn't seem to hurt anyone in my class. My recommendation is definitely take this class if your major has anything to do with public speaking, or if you feel like working hard and learning *scoff*, otherwise, if you want to skate by as I wish I could have done, take someone else or 102, which is easier than 101. If you do take her, give her hell, she can handle it.

Lisa was a good professor. She cared for her students and gave them the benefit of the doubt as long as assigned work was done and instructions were followed. If I had spent more time preparing for speeches, I would have earned an A instead of a B+. She was easy to approach with questions and was willing to help as needed. We were required to make four speeches and do a few writing assignments as well. Lisa does take roll and is very active in the class. Her lectures were not boring and her grading was fair. I recommend Lisa for SCOM 101.

I've never done polyratings and I'll probably never do it again, but I felt like I really needed to speak up about this one. Please, if you have a life, if grades matter to you at all, if you want to keep your stress levels manageable:DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASSES FROM THIS WOMAN! On the other hand, if grades really don't matter to you, you have a lot of extra time on your hand, and you have had experience with these kinds of people because you had perfectionist, obsessive-compulsive parents: by all means, go ahead. I have never had to work so hard for an A- in all my life. For my second speech, she accused me of plaigerism and cheating because I had used internet resources and not cited them correctly. She forbids internet sources, and to my dismay, she also forbids articles taken from the internet. She pulled me aside after class and yelled at me until I cried. No teacher or professor has ever made me cry except Ms. Eagen in the third grade. She is too young, too spunky, and overzealous. She doesn't understand that this is a 100 level course, that it is a general ed. course, and that most of us are taking more than 4 units. If you have masechistic tendencies and decide to torture yourself with her class, don't bother reading the book, even though she threatens certain death. Learn from my mistake, and take someone else. Speech is supposed to be a joke. You are supposed to prepare your speeches the night before, not spend weeks agonizing over finding more than 7 non-internet sources, memorizing your sources (which you must refer to throughout your speech), and basically memorizing your speeches, because you only get one note card which you are marked down for looking at. We all have that horrible teacher that we we tell horror stories about to our yuppie buddies while we're waiting on the 17th tee. I have two: Ms. Eagen and Ms. Kawamura.

Although Dr. Kawamura gets a bad rap, I don't think she deserves it. She is one of the most intelligent and pumped Professors here at Cal Poly. Even though she says she could care less about her students problems, she does care and always makes time to stop and talk with her. You may not agree with what she has to say, but seldom do others always agree with what you have to say either. She has the vernacular of a student, so don't let the shock take you away. She comes off as gruff, but she really does care. I won't say her classes aren't hard, because they are. If you want an easy A take someone else. If you want skills that will help you in life, take Dr. Kawamura because in the long run a speech grade won't amount to crap. Take her and learn what to do, it will pay off later on.

I love Lisa! Maybe it's because I'm the type of person who can be considered a bitch and who hangs out with people who others would consider bitchy. Maybe because I think it's funny that she makes fat jokes about herself. (Once again, I have fat friends who don't give a shit.) But seriously, the lady knows Speech. She presents it in a straightforward manner. She follows most of the guidelines presented in the textbook. She tells you the important stuff and let's you KNOW it's important. I HATE PUBLIC SPEAKING. I was nervous for every speech in that class and on more than one occasion faltered while I was up there. I kicked ass during the final though, so that raised my grade all the way up to an A. She's been teaching this for a while. She knows that not everybody will be the best public speaker in the world. There was a foreign exchange student in our class with very little grasp of the English language. Now, I'm not quite sure what grade he ultimately received, but Lisa was very patient with him. I think she grades more on if you actually just TRY! She also tells you exactly what to do in order to get a good grade. Advice to anyone who's taking this class: 1. Attend class. 2. Pick topics that interest you. (Your enthusiasm for it will show through your speech.) 3. Do your research ahead of time. She doesn't allow Internet sources unless you've already had more than enough credible paper sources. 4. Really practice your speeches over and over with any props you may need. So she's outspoken and "a bitch". Get over yourself. She's one of the few professors on this campus ever with whom I've felt comfortable being myself.

Lisa is an awesome teacher, she just tends to intimidate a lot of people, and come off as rude to the rest. I, however, had a teacher like this (young, loud, able to throw insults when needed) all 4 years of high school, so I was used to the style. She has all sorts of things she does that aren't exactly "fair", but she will tell you about them. She constantly talks about her favorites, and talks about the dumb classes to the smart ones. In the beginning of the year, she assigns a fair amount of reading. It is boring and fairly useless stuff, but do it, it will make you a favorite. Participate, it will also make you a favorite. The class is tough, she grades hard, she doesn't take crap from whiny kids, but just suck it up and learn. She tells you what you do wrong, something that might seen kinda crappy at the time, but if you use it, can help you greatly. I can truly say I'm glad I had her, because I am a business major, so I'm likely going to be doing speeches from time to time in my life. I would much much rather have a hard teacher who teaches me a LOT than a teacher that lets me slide through without learning. Remember, college isn't all about getting straight A's, you are here to really learn what you will be doing for the next 50 years of your life. If you don't need to speak publicly ever, don't take her. If speech pertains to your future at all, take her.

Speech Comm. 101 is generally pretty easy, atleast for me, I have had some speaking experience. In 101 you are required to do an impromptu, informative, public advocacy, and presentation speech (in that order). You are required to do a self evaluation for all (or atleast 3 i cant remember). Lisa kept the 2 hour lecture fairily interesting, and once she covered the material she wanted she would often let the class leave early. She takes attendance seriously and rewards you with 3% extra credit if you are there everyday. On the otherhand you are only allowed to miss 2 classes without point deduction. Most of the speeches are pretty cut and dry and are similiar to what you will get in any other speech class. But she doesn't do joke speechs so the material has to be serious and she doesnt allow the internet for research. This is the biggest probem I had with the class. She also requires an average of 5 different sources per speech so not having the internet makes it more difficult. Overall the class is easy, lisa does not rip you apart and critize the hell out of you, in fact she is fairly nice if you do bad. Some say she grades hard but I didnt see it. There are easier speech classes so if you can get one of those I would, but if you get Lisa Kawamura I wouldn't worry.

She is a decent teacher. I read the poly ratings at first and got scared. In all, the class is hard but it is possible to do well. I got C's on all the speeches but she gives many oppurtunities for extra credit and I ended up with a B. She is probably harder than the other teachers but you will learn something.

All I can can say is that those who complain are worthless peices of crap only worthy of sitting out with the heaps of dun by the Ag dept. Lisa is a truly passionate prof. who recognizes the importance of her topic and most importantly stimulates your mind to get off its ass and think for once. I'll admit, the class is tough and if you want and easier teacher, go back to friggin' high school! From her class, i realized that i was not just doing work to enrich my GPA, but rather to enrich my mind. Lisa is just like any other person: you give her your respect, she will then give you hers. No rooms for ass kissers in this class. No rooms for whiny little bitches. Her teaching style will shake the foundation of your beliefs and make you look at this world in a whole new way.

She's absolutely UBER-STRICT when it comes to grading stuff even though she seems pretty nice. You could give the perfect speech, making the audience cry because it was so artfully presented and she'd still give you a C or worse cause of some obscure thing that you did wrong. She also makes you cite all your references DURING the speech, making it extremely difficult to flow with the speech since after every fact you state you gotta tack on where it came from. I also don't like the fact that she offered extra credit, I volunteered for the extra credit, and she says "I don't think you need any extra credit" and then for the final grade she slaps a C+ on me. Not very cool when you lie to your students.

Lisa is a great instructor, and deserves a lot more credit than she is given. She is a tough instructor but she is very, very clear in what she wants. There will be no question about how to get a desired grade in her class. She expects a lot out of her students, and at times seems to be a bit over the top for a GE course, but there's no confusion. Pay attention to details and do everything exactly as she tells you and you will do fine. Start speeches early too, the research takes longer than you'd think. She also grades easy if she can see you really put out a lot of effort, so you don't have to be debate team material to get an A.

WARNING-DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER!!!!!!!!! She is the biggest BITCH you will ever meet. Unless speech is your life, you will hate this class. She is way too picky and expects you to treat this class as if it is the only class you have. I would wait to take another teacher if you can. You will hate yourself for taking her. She made people cry in my class! She is the biggest bitch ever.

Lisa is a good speech teacher- just follow her rules. The only thing I didn't like was that she doesn't allow missed speeches unless it's pre-approved by her in advance. I couldn't make it too a speech for unplanned reasons but I didn't get any slack. This dropped my overall grade to a C despite getting an A on the final. Just do the work, don't miss your speeches and you shouldn't have any problems- yes, she is a bitch, but you will learn and survive.

Lisa Kawamura... where should i start. She is a nice lady. Let me tell you how to get an A in her class. First of all go to the bathroom alot. She likes if when you leave in the middle of a speech. The come back right after the next speech starts. that part is important. Another thing she likes is when you do speeches about things like why we SHOULD drill in ANWR, Why we SHOULD test on animals(especailly pointless painful tests), and last but not least why femenists are bad. Over all just make sure to ask alot of questiuons that were covered in the night before's reading. she likes to go oever things that you should know.Seriously.don't worry about grammar on your papers. she doesn't even read them. One more thing she has this assistant I forget her name but don't talk to her whatever you do And don't give her your IM name. She will talk your ear off. She acts like she has nothing to do with your grades but she does.She likes to flirt with the students so take advantage of that. ask her out on a date or two and your guarenteed an A. If you want my opinion. Take Lisa. you'll have tons of fun and only about 4 hours of homework anight. Not bad for a General Ed class.

Lisa inspired me. I have had public speaking classes before and I know that I need to improve so I "semi" looked forward to taking this class. After the first day, I was scared out of my wits, it being one of the very first classes I took at CAL POLY. My friend was going to try to crash the class but he was scared out of the room within 2 minutes. But I am so glad I stayed in there. She taught us how to do proper research and really how to be professional about speaking. I believe her when she says that we will need this skill in life more than we know, no matter what our profession. I got to talk about some favorite topics of mine and then some I learned about and, again, "semi" had fun with them. It was not as hard as I thought it would be after the first day, but it was challenging, being the only class that required some real thought. I DID go to office hours and she helped clear up things as well as steer me in the right direction for speech topics. I truly respect her and am looking forward to another class with her. I know that being around her disciplined yet uniquely enchanting environment will make me a better speaker and person.

kawamura is the biggest bitch and worst teacher ever. I was thinking of becoming a SCOM major but this hor changed my mind. avoid this fat lesbian

If you want to have an easy GE(god forbid) don't take her. I came to class every day, did all my speeches, went to office hours, did the extra credit, and still she gave me no credit. She makes you do a lot of research and marks you down for stupid ass things like saying guys and girls (it should be guys and gals). She picks favorites so get on her good side. When I went to her office hours she told me to go read the book. The only homework is the 4 speeches but I spent 15+ hours preparing for them and got D/F on all of them.

I hope that whatever crawlled up her butt decides to eat out her intestine. Play's the "oh, I am a WOMAN of COLOR" card a lot; to the point where she is against "white Christian conservitive males" despite being a Christian herself. Only homework is to read and prepare for speeches. Doesn't sound like a whole lot, but if it isn't perfect, forget getting a B, pray for a D. The only good thing about this class is that she does bring (usually) a lot of energy to class. Definetly not enough to ,ake up for everything else. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok well where do I start...at first I thought Lisa was cool, she was funny, and cussed in class...oh how wrong I was! While I think that she is a cool person outside of class, she is just the pickiest professor I have ever had...I never had a problem with giving speeches before this class...I tried my best on every speech, but they never seemed to be good enough...my advice is if you have to be in her class, pick a topic for your speeches that agree with her liberal views...good luck!!

Ahhh...Lisa Lisa Lisa, where to begin. I'd have to say overall I like her as a person, and I'm guessing on a more personal level she is really cool, but as a teacher she sucked. I thought for the most part her lectures regarding the book were very well. Once you complete that part you are in for some trouble, she assigns all of the speeches at once. You just sign up for spots on her office door and hope you don't get screwed with the first day. When she describes the speeches and the parameters you must follow, almost all of the guidelines she sets are contradictory to eachother. Also, if you suggest an example topis to her she will tell you it doesn't fit the assignment, regardless of if it does or not. Basically if you ask her anything, she'll find a way to make you wrong and feel stupid and make herself right. Basically what I am trying to say is that if you can, don't take her. I'd say only take her if this is the only term you can get speech ever. Otherwise drop it and try again next quarter. Oh and Lisa, if you read this, did you ever wonder why you aren't married....

oh man, so i took scom 101 with lisa of fall 2002 and looking at these reviews i had to throw down one...lisa KICKS ASS!! she is by far one of my more favorite instructors here at cal poly. i gotta admit her class req's do suck in that they are more time consuming and effort exerting but she lays out everything she expects to hear in your speeches over and over again! how many times do you people really have to hear it to get it?? anyway...she is really cool and personable so it's easy to confront her with any questions you may have. it's not too difficult of a class: i fucked up my speeches so many times b/c of nerves, never went to her office hours, never read more than 3 chapters in that book before i said "fuck that," did all of my research within 72 hours of the speech exams, and still got an A. just treat it like an actual class and shit comes easy....

Ok I will admit that this was one of the most challenging classes that I have ever taken in my life. I did not like to speak in public before this class. Lisa taught me that it really is not that hard as long as you follow the format. Follow the guidelines for the speech and you will get a good grade. Promise. Do not be intimidated by Lisa, she knows what she is talking about, and she is an amazing teacher. Ok... start the speeches early and get the topics approved by her. What you might think is a good topic may not be suited well for the type of speech. Talk to her. She is a really nice person. Listen to what she has to say. Don't keep making the same mistakes over and over, it makes you look like an idiot. Lisa's class is not that bad as long as you follow the instructions. If you want to learn how to speak in public, take Lisa, she will teach you how. She rocks. Oh yeah... do your speech on the first day... she is more laxed on mistakes, which means a better grade.

Lisa isn't half as bad as everyone makes her out to be. I totally sucked on two of my speeches and still pulled out an A. Just follow her instructions, do all the work, and go to office hours and you will be fine. Oh yeah, and don't tell her if you are a Dodger fan....

This lady is funny, crazy and cusses much more than i do after a night at the bars. She is funny but her teaching style SUCKS. First of all she sits in the back of the class with her shoes off eating a salad, a yogurt, a diet soda, chips and everything she finds in her way. meanwhile the students are giving a speech in front of the class and the rest of the students have to put all of their things under their desk and sit straight and listen. Her grading is very ackward, students know who gives good speeches and who doesn't. Every time i give a speech I got a good response from the class but not from her, she is ANAL about being ANAL, and she will admit to this. She calls her self an "ANAL BITCH" at the beginning of the quarter and admits to being raised by a "BOSSY ASIAN FATHER" and that is the reason she likes to impress students with her stupid speech tips. She does not care if students learn or not she only cares about making you feel stupid cause you forgot to quote your sources in the speech. This class helps her feel better not the students. She knows no one likes her. She says so herself. If you take her just be careful, even the SCOM major in this class did not like her come on she honestly BLOWS. SO MY BEST ADVICE IS TAKDE SCOM AT A JUNIOR COLLEGE OR WITH SOMEONE ELSE, AVOID THIS BITCH.

if you are really willing to try something knew Lisa's class is the one to take. yeah its not as laid back as other speech classes but it makes you do a speech on something that interests you. there are 4 major speeches. in each speech minus the impromtu speech which is the 1st, all other speeches YOU get to pick the topic and got which ever way with it. there is also a formal outline due with those speeches. honestly its not hard. and the #1 rule she will tell you is that she is anail about the outlines. if you follow the mla guidbook it is a peice of cake!! ****make sure to follow her directions!!!!!!!!!**** if you are having trouble thinking of a topic... just go and see her. she honestly is a good teacher but dont be a jerk to her and everything will is awesome!

bottom line- listen to her instructions and you will get an A. its really not difficult. she acts like shes a hardcore grader and all, but do the basic work and you will be fine. she lays everything out for you plain and simple. the only reason people get bad grades in this class is because they cant follow instructions or fake their works cited.

Psycho Bitch!!!!! Fucking A Man!!!! Avoid Kawamura at all costs. The first day she presents herself as a nice lady who wants to help but then all hell breaks loose. She rips on everyones' speeches in front of the whole class. She has favorites and she's not afraid to fail students. If you do get stuck with her i encourage you to do the extra credit. I did and i escaped with a solid B. Woohoo!!! go to class everyday and go to office hours to ok your speech topics. You'll be fucked if you don't. Good Luck Everyone.

I took this class three years ago and managed to get out with a B. Now that I am a Senior I can still confidently say that this was the worst class I have EVER had and Kawamura is the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly. It is hard to put into words how biased she is in her grading, how monsterous of a bitch she is (a title she herself told us she takes pride in) and how much a waste of your time and energy this class is. I came into to Cal Poly an optimistic freshman ready to go for my first quarter and left pissed off at how Cal Poly could have ever been stupid enough to waste their money on this "woman". I spent more time on this stupid GE than my 5 unit science class or my two Honors classes. I spent SO much time on my speeches. My first one was on Hydrogen Fuel Cells. I spent two weeks researching it and 5 hours (yes, really that much) drawing a poster. I forgot to mention in my speech one of my sources (yes, you must cite as you speak) and so I got a B- on it. Also, I think it was over her head and she doesn't like that. If you get stuck with her, pick something Asian, food related or pointless; preferably all three. The person who talked about those stupid Japanese drinks with the balls of tapioca floating in them got an A ,so did the guy who did a speech about Jared the Subway guy and so did the girl who talked about GAP jeans. And it certainly helps to get in a jab at Bush every now and then and also be female and Asian if at all possible. I might also add that a subsequent solid effort on my second speech got a C because she didn't like the politics involved. By my last speech, I had stopped caring and wrote my speech the day before and received my highest grade. I went every day, did the extra credit and worked my butt off, so whoever these peole are who love her so much and think she is a great teacher with unusual mehtods, they are wrong. She is a rude, abrasive, unpleasant and biased person who I think is just bitter she never got that PhD. F- to you Kawabitcha, thank God I never have to take you again.

Lisa is a really hilarious lady. But that is the extent of her, she is a horrible teacher. She gives you guidelines for your speech, and asks you to be so specific that it's like impossible to pick a topic that pleases her. Take this class if your only looking to get a C. It's fairly easy to get a C, if you do everything, participate, and GO to class EVERYDAY!(she does take attendance, and take points away for abscences) Getting an A or B is practically impossible, and she totally picks favorties, so if you piss her off, or your not in her "favorite" class your basically screwed. She takes no excuses, and cuts no slack, she told us that she wouldnt give us an extension even if one of our parents were to die, that we'd just have to retake SCOM 101 again.

The ratings that Lisa gets are completely ridiculous. She is a great teacher if you give her a chance. It is true that her class is a lot of work, but if you show her that you are putting in an effort you will do fine. It seems to me that most of the people who have rated her lately are freshmen who are just bitter that they actually had to work for a decent grade...

although lisa calls herself an "anal bitch" she really isn't. she just tells you that all quarter so you try your hardest (and honestly you'll get way more out of class). in the end, she always gives students the benefit of the doubt and even rounded up peoples grades quite a bit. shes funny and keeps class interesting...if you get over the fact that she is incredibly sarcastic and dont take the things she says personally, you'll learn to really like her. follow directions, dont be an ass and you'll do fine.

Lisa's a great teacher. The bad evals come from the fact that Cal Poly has the laziest and least interested in learning student body. I probably would have hated this class when I was a freshman, but after being in school here for four years and seeing how stupid and shallow and lazy Cal Poly students are and how most teachers let students get away with being like that I realize that she's a good teacher. Yeah, you can't get away with being a pure bull-shitter and she calls you on it. Yeah, you have to follow directions SO WHAT? Isn't that all you fucking engineering and science students learn anyway? How hard is it to type shit out correctly? How hard is it to actualy reseach and practice for a speech? Not very. But if you'd rather watch your idiot box and stay plugged in to a computer instead of learning and reading and actually talking to people then don't take her. Actually, if you're in your third year or beyond then you'll do just fine. If you haven't been here for a while then dont take her. You'll be miserable and so will she.

So basically I started out the quarter scared shitless by Lisa and her warnings about how anal she was. She lies. She really isnt that anal, and if you're afraid that you aren't doing something right she LOVES to see that you care and will help with whatever you need at her office hours. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OFFICE HOURS. Even if you think she's a total bitch in class, shes really personable outside of class and I got to know and like her at office hours. I could hardly speak a word in front of the class in September, and now she's talking me into maybe joining the debate team. I think Lisa is an inspirational teacher, she just wants everybody to put in their full effort. The fact that she's hard on her students individually just shows that she cares.

She is a fat chinese Sumo rice smelling bitch. She drives a toyota prius that she makes look like a lowrider. Lisa get a life, wait please take your life, do us a service. Hey guys even if you want to learn this man/woman is not a good teacher to take, yes i got a B, but i was doing more work for this class than for my Calculus 5 class, just think if that is worth it.

She's great at presenting material and class flies by, but I'm warning you not to take her. Not only was her class more stressful than my major courses, but most importantly, I really hated going to her class because of her rude and sarcastic "humor". She makes stereotypical comments about you while you're sitting right in front of her. She generalizes every cal poly student as naive, lazy, rich white kids as if we don't know anything about any other culture or age group or what it's like to have to work hard. I won't get into specifics but she can be very insulting when you participate in class and especially when she's verbally critiquing you after your speech. In front of the class she will critique you and sometimes it really doesn't fall under the category of "constructive criticism". Trust me, you will dread going to her class.

hmmmm.. Lisa is an interesting person. You hate her at the beginning, but then you get used to her. And then you kind of miss the class. A little... not alot. From what ive heard though, no speech teacher enjoys teaching 101 because everyone has to take it.. but still she can be rough sometimes. Just know this. Your speaking skill will improve even if you hate her rules on speeches. And also, if you go the public speaking contest, you will look around and see Lisa's students because they will be the ones that are not using a podiom and not reading off of a paper. If you are looking for a no-brainer GE, dont take this Lisa's class. If you actually want to work a little bit in order to improve your speech potential and dont mind a teacher who cracks the whip... take her class

You know, I don't really like this lady very much. We had to give an impromptu speech (she gives you a picture and you have two minutes to prepare an essay format speech and then you have to give a 2 minute speech on it). It was hell. It gave me fucking anxiety attacks the week leading up to it. She's a spaz too, which doesn't come across as genuine. All she ever talks about is 1) how fat she is (she's not) 2) that she is Japanese 3)how she is old (she's not) and how you better not where Dodger caps in her class. Did I mention she talked about how the best time for her to think about a speech is during her morning dump. That's fucking gross. Whatever, I took her because it's the only way I could get speech, if you have an option go elsewhere. The one good thing I could say is that you really do become close with your classmates, and everyone is very supportive of one another.

Great

Anyone who has problems with her is just fucking stupid or lazy. Or both. Crystal clear about what she wants. Very straightforward in her assignments and requirements. Considers speeches test--easy. Anyone who learns less than a B in her class doesnt deserve to be at a university. Yeah shes bossy, self-absorbed (ALL her examples about what to do are about her or how shes been fucked over) and loud, but she's clear. Don't like to follow directions? Take someone else. Good at doing so? Take Lisa, you'll easily get an A.

Course rocks, less-than-inthusiatic students stay away. If you want to do good work, take her, if you want to waste your parents' money and get an A for a speech on whether or not there are fish in the ocean then take some one else. The class is great, the students suck--which is not Lisa's fault.

Great teacher. Yea it takes work but that's what your going to a univeristy for. To learn. She is really anal about how things are suppose to be, but she tells you that from the beginning. Everything is crystal clear, if you have a question she is more than happy to help you out. She's haliarious, makes class zoom by. Just follow the directions people, if she says make a speech about a tangible object, don't talk about pi. It's not tangible, very simple. She's fun and entertaining. No tests, all speeches are you Midterms, quizes, etc. Turn in outlines of speeches with your research attatched. Know how to cite your sources before you turn it in. Ask her if you need help!

Ok...let's see... First she makes your life a LIVING HELL! It's true. The first day of class she tells you that she is anal about everything and she is. There were mutilple times that I broke down in tears just trying to work on the speeches because either she didn't like my idea (it's too commonly known and crap like that)or just trying to make everything perfect. Besides just figuring out your speech you have to write an outline but a FORMAL outline with complete sentences that IS NOT the text of your speech. Even when you think that it is not the text of your speech it is. For our impromptu speech (where you have 2min to look at a picture that you have never seen before and then you have 2 min right after that to give a speech but not about the picture but about something else that you have to connect to using the picture) I received 2.5 points out of 5 so I failed that speech. But most of the time 5 points doesn't matter but in her class it does because her whole class is only worth 100 points. So by getting a couple points off here and some off there there is no way to get an A. At one point I thought that I wasn't going to pass the class because I kept getting D's and C's on my speeches and outlines and personally I think that that is crap because I have no problem whatsoever talking in front of people. All my fellow students in my class all bitched and complained about her too and we were all very relieved when the quarter was over. Basically I spent more time working for this class which was only a GE than for my major class. Whatever you do DO NOT take this class you will save yourself from becoming irritable and upset for a quarter.

Lisa's class is probably the hardest 101 class there is. She had way too high of expectations and definitely didn't make me ever want to take a speech class again. She is on a huge power trip for sure. You will spend days and days on a speech just to get a C or a D on it. It sucks! She is ridiculous and I do not reccomend her to anyone. If you do take her because she is a last resort, just know that you will have to work your ass off! I don't know anyone who had her that liked her. Stay away from her at all costs!

By far the worst teacher I have ever had at Cal Poly. If you are fat, a lesbian and asian, then she will love u. Otherwise avoid her at all costs. She doesnt like anyone else.

Ok so basically this teacher is a joke. She thinks she is the smartest person on this earth when quite frankly she is a fucking idiot. I would avoid this teacher at all costs. She expects crazy outcomes for a stupid public speeking class and is not helpful in the least bit. She tells you to come to office hours but then is so rude to you that you are afraid to ask her a question. i cant believe i wasted ten weeks of my life on this bitch. all of the kids in my class worked extremely hard for this class and the best grade i heard was a C. i always got excellent feedback from my peers but she decided that i didnt know what i was doing. im a fucking journalism major. lisa is an idiot and i hope she reads this to figure out what a fucking bitch she is. she deserves to be fired. she says she wants to challenge us but all she is doing is discouraging her students from putting effort into their school work. you would think that if you try really hard you would get a good grade not a D. ive never spent so much time on a class and i was throughly disapointed with the outcome. i think i learned more in oral language competitions in the fucking fifth grade.. fuck you lisa and whoever gets her i have one piece of advice... DROP THIS FUCKING CLASS!!!!!!!

I would probably avoid this class. Its hard as shit and she doesn't really help you. She will tell you how this doesn't really matter to only find out that it really matters. The worst part is she tells you to just follow the book and that universal speaking syles will get you good grades. But then grades you on her specific style of speach she wants. Yet she won't tell you what she wants, making you figure that out on your own. Overall, if you want a hard class, take it. If you want a class thats moderately hard and you will easily get a B in take someone else.

Uhhh she's decently nice, but it's a ton of work for the shitty grades she gives. One tip, take notes on all the BS in the lectures in the beginning, especially outlining. I likely failed the final because I didn't. Anyways, way too much stress for a 101 class, take someone else.

READ THIS. A whole lot of bullshit... When I first came to polyratings to check out speech professors, I read the reviews on Kawamura, and decided that she was a fairly good teacher. I gave more credit to those with A's and B's, ignoring all the people with lower grades who said she was horrible. BIG mistake. I have never in my life absolutely hated a class to this degree. When I think about last quarter, it literally depresses me. I put in so much work, and continually got bad grades on everything. I'm not going to resort to name-calling, but Lisa is far from kind. She is anal as fuck, and the only way to get any credit from her you must visit her office hours regularly. One problem, however. The only chances you'll get are 20 minutes on tuesday and thursday, and 1.5 hours on wednesday. The result is that large groups of students will often be standing outside her office. If you are unable to make the office hours, then you will undoubtedly get a big fat ZERO on every outline that you turn in. This puts a big dent in your grade since she grades on a scale of only 100 points (every point = 1%). btw... A 4 PAGE OUTLINE DOES NOT DESERVE 0 POINTS JUST BECAUSE THE MARGINS ARE OFF! As the quarter progressed, my speeches did get better, but there was one problem. The credit I received somehow decreased with each speech I gave... Have I not made it painfully clear yet? Then read on... Lisa doesn't exactly educate her students. The first few weeks of class, she will overload you with reading assignments. Within 1 class period, we were expected to read around 60 pages in her text. When such an unreasonable amount of work is given, it discourages students from actually completing it, but she somehow fails to understand this... She doesn't really tell you anything useful during classtime. She will, however, make fun of other students behind their back. She doesn't include names of course, but it's still highly unprofessional and unethical. My personal favorite was her account of a student who was absolutely terrified whenever he got up to give a speech, stuttering uncontrollably. She had a blast telling the story, and it did elicit a few chuckles from the class, but most of us were probably able to see that the student's reaction was a direct consequence of being in Lisa's class. By taking Kawamura, your GPA will surely suffer. The problem is that you put so much work in, and rarely ever see the returns. You waste a great deal of time that you could devote to your other, more important classes. My advice to you would be to take a different teacher. If you somehow get stuck with Lisa, then drop the class and take something else. Speech can wait... What I am left with after having taken this class is an understanding that unfair teachers really do exist. Lisa is the epitome of a bad teacher. There is only one thing that I can appreciate now that I'm done, and that is the fact that I never have to see her face again... and believe me when I say I thank God.

I learned a lot from this class but HATED every minute of it. I did not enjoy having Lisa for a teacher. She made the class impossible and could not have been more anal. She is totally unclear in her directions and does not tell you how to improve. This class pretty much made me sick to my stomach each time I had to go to it. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE SCOM 101 with Lisa

If you are considering taking Kawamura, please, for your own sake, look over the comments written about her. Not so positive, are they? Do you think that there might be a reason for this? Avoid this class... Do not take her section simply because it is more convienent for you. You have been warned.

horrible class. i was prepared everyday, did the reading and went to office hours. i gave all my speeches to the specific reequrirements and beyond, did homework and EXTRA CREDIT. how did i get a C you might wonder...? yeah me too.

DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER. I was a hard working student and she managed to cut me down in so many ways that I felt like a was worthless in her class. She will give you a grade based on whether or not you are a kiss ass. And if you are a guy then kiss a good grade good bye, unless you are a metro sexual who will get on your knees for her. I have never hated a teacher or a person as much as I hate LISA KAWAMURA. She really needs to realize that SCOM 101 is a class that is for beggining students. It is not for advanced speakers who know it all already. Anotehr thing is she will make you learn from a book. I personally do not pay all the money that it costs to go to Cal Poly to learn from a book. I would buy the book and readt it if I just wanted to know the basics. I pay for her to teach me through lectures. OVER ALL DO NOT TAKE THIS HORRIBLE HORRIBLE TEACHER. TEACHERS MAKE COLLEGE VERY EASY OR MISERABLE, LOOK FOR A SCOM TEACHER WHO WILL MAKE LIFE SIMPLE AND FUN WHILE YOU HAVE THEM.

DONT BELIEVE ANY OF THESE STUPID EVALUATIONS--THEYRE ALL BIASED AND DIMWITTED

Don't take this class unless you want to work harder than is necessary for a 101 class.

this was the hardest class i have ever taken in my life. if you want to fail a class take this one. kawamura made my life hell for my first quarter at cal poly.

All of you who complain are a bunch of FUCKING PUSSY-ASS BULLSHIT WHINERS! She's fine as a teacher. But when you cannt follow directions you get a bad grade and then say she sucks. FUCK YOU! YOU SUCK you fucking lame ass, no stydying, no ability to work mother fuckers. Move back to your fucked up ass rich world where everyone tells you your great even if you cant write a simple outline of bibliogprahy and then stay away from peple who tell you the truth--that you suck. FUCK ALL OF YOU WHO GAVE BAD EVALUAOTIONS-YOU SUCK NOT HER!

ok so i understand why all of you pussies don't like her, but to be honest, its just because you all are fucking lazy. lisa does require a lot but what the fuck were you expecting when you got to poly? if you want to call her a bitch, go ahead because she does the same thing, but you all suck at life if you can't figure out how to follow the outline for an outline. she clearly lays out all of the directions and only the idiots that don't follow or ask for help cant get a good grade. take her if you want to learn something, and if you dont, then just shut the fuck up.

WORST TEACHER I HAVE EVER TAKEN, EVER. Besides from being sexist and fat, she is an awful human being. I have no idea how she still teaches here at poly. If I had failed this class I would rather not graduate than take it again with her. My 12 year-old sister could teach this class better than Lisa. She is completely irrational with her grading and will just assign letter grades at random. If you are still reading this, avoid Cowamura at all costs. Lisa, may you ever be remembered as the worst teacher of my life.

If you are going to take this class do the following: FOLLOW THE FREAKING DIRECTIONS!!!!! seriously..I did not fail this class, but i am not a speech retard, and i still got a C. Also do not bother to go to her office hours because she will just confuse you more. so READ READ READ the MLA format book that she makes you buy. That is the only way to get an A.

I ended up dropping this class. She's not a terrible teacher. She is passionate about what she does, but she makes it almost impossible to do well in the class. It seems the crappy speakers as well as the pretty good speakers all got poor grades on their speeches. If you really want to learn how to be a PROFESSIONAL public speaker, take this class because she expects a lot. But, if you are like me, who has different priorities, then do not take this class.

Do not take this teacher if you are not willing to put in a lot of time and effort. She basically makes you read a whole text book in 4 weeks which you don't technically have to do but will help you out loads when preparing your speeches and then you will not have to cram for the final, from which 75% of the final is based and the other 25% from lecture notes. As far as the speeches go, be prepared to spend at least 15-20 hours per speech after you factor in researching, outlining, preparing, visual aids, and everything that goes along with it. Although she is a fairly good teacher, she needs to remember we are 101 students and not part of her debate team and grade us accordingly. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO START THINKING/PREPARING YOUR SPEECH. You will be incredibly sorry and most likely have to pull an all nighter to get it done. Although I do feel like I am a much better public speaker after taking the class, I would recommend taking someone else if at all possible.

Great tits for a japanese chick! FUCKING HUGE! Take her, their worth looking at!

I think Cal Poly has a big problem with its attitude. She was clear and easy to earn an A from but most of the studetnts were so stupid they missed how to do it. I cant understand how this is the best school in the state but people cant follow directions. Class is easy, most studnets are bitches, crybabies, and need there parents to continue to whip there ass. GROW UP!

yo shut the fuck up!!!! you probably sucked on her boobs thats why you got an A you faggot!!

Professor Kawamura (Lisa) is hands down, one of the most matter of fact professors I have ever had. I personally appreciate that. She is cut and dry, and tells you exactly what you need to do for the grade you want to earn. Most people, from my experience, just didn't try that hard in her class, because they don't expect it to be difficult. If you like honest professors who are clear in their grading policies, fair in applying them, and who acutally know what they are talking about, then enroll in Kawamura's course. And to the jack-asses commenting on her physical appearance: fuck off.

It's interesting to see how many of the students rating Lisa poorly have atrocious spelling and grammar. Read into that what you will. Regarding Lisa, it's true that her class is difficult. I found out during the quarter that I had a natural gift for speaking, which helped me get through the class. My speech structure and organization was rather shoddy, which was offset by my good presentational style and delivery; I got the appropriate grade in the end. Lisa offered extra credit for entering the public speaking competition, so I and others from my class entered it. It was a lot of fun and her students all did much better than other students from other SCOM 101 classes. I thought the written final was more difficult than it should have been, but still doable. I don't have a knack for rote memorization, so I expect I lost some points on the final. In all, I'm glad I took her class instead of skating through one of the hand-holding courses. I don't care much about my GPA (I've since graduated), so I'm pleased with my non-academic progress as a direct result of her instruction.

What a joke-2 easy all of you complainers are a bunch of whimps. Grow up, lisa is fine as a teacher, not extra good or bad. She just is. The rest is your problem.

To the person 2 comments down from mine...you are a douche who probably kissed Kawamura's fat ass plenty of times throughout the quarter.

Kawamura is a good teacher, but she is very demanding. She will assign A LOT of reading and two short speeches during the first four weeks of class, and major speeches will begin after that. There is also a written final at the end, which tests the reading and lecture notes. She is also very strict about the way speeches are to be presented, and will mark you down significantly if they are not done EXACTLY in that way. If you are unsure what she wants in a speech, ask! I ended up withdrawing from her class because I suffered from a heavy workload, and speech is a GE course that I could wait a bit longer to take. She was very understanding and let me withdraw without any problems. From the time I was in her class, though, I did learn a lot about public speaking and believe she teaches it well. If you are a speech communication major and/or you are willing to work hard to become good at public speaking, Kawamura is the teacher for you. If you only need this class for a GE requirement and just want to get it out of the way, take someone else.

The only reason you would take this teacher is if you want a left wing feminest bitch. Anything that has anything to do with republicans or is right is wrong. She'll try to convince you to join her side and does not like to argued with. Basically she is a close minded whore who probably has no friends because she is too fat and will eat them if she can open her squinty eyes. Kawamura = Biatch

To the person below: FUCK OFF!!!!!! You don't even know how to spell you fuking right-wing, redneck fuckoff. Perhaps if you had learned to present you ideas in a fairly coherent manner than you wouldn't be so bitter towards Lisa. Instead, you project your failures onto her and claim that she is to blame. She could literally care less about your stupid ideas as long as you present them in a somewhat professional manner: had you listened to what she said about HOW to present ideas not WHAT those ideas should have been and you might have had a chance at a decent grade. Instead you get all pissed off because she calls you on your incoherent speaking and presentation style and you blame on the all too easy notion that she must not like your ideas. Go back to jr. high school and learn some responsibility, then maybe you will deserve to be at a school like Cal Poly. Stop blaming people for your failures.

Lisa is hands down the worst teacher I've ever had. 1. There is really no way to explain how much I dread going to this class. I prepare, I listen, I participate. Yet the workload is ridiculous and you always get average to poor grades unless you talk about gay rights, feminism, or something along those lines. I've given kickass speeches and gotten 3.5/5, while a peer has given an okay speech on women in sports and gotten a 4.5/5. 2. I'm from San Francisco; I'm not homophobic and I consider myself liberal and open minded. However, I cannot stand listening to her make continual cracks about conservative/right wing beliefs. She wants to shove her own beliefs down your throat--and if you don't make it obvious that you totally agree she will take low blows at you during verbal critiques and try to catch you unprepared during class. 3. She shoots down any topic for a speech she doesn't like. Period. For the object speech, I tried doing everything from Hemp to a rare flower to a certain type of cathater, and she repeatedly said no. She wants to hear what SHE wants to hear--anything else will hurt your grade. Bottom line: Get another professor. This class is not worth it, not even for people who are totally chill with working their ass off.

to the person two below this one. way to protect a teacher and talk shit over polyratings. i guess that means you are a real badass. more like a preteen girl. kawamura doesn't give a shit how good your speech unless its about feminism, gay rights or some other topic involving those areas. congrats on getting into cal poly though. i can clearly see you belong with all the engineers. go play WOW fag.

If you want to get a B or A, be prepared to work your ass off. If you do everything perfectly that she tells you to do and deliver the speech flawlessly, you will only get a C. Her words, not mine. Also her words:"If I deducted points for everything you did wrong, all of you would get zeroes." She knows what she is teaching and helps you improve alot, but it is all a futile effort, because you will still probably only get a C.

Her golden rule is to follow directions. If you do just that, you are guaranteed at least a passing grade. Each speech is just like a research paper, so get started in advance. If you allot enough time per speech, you will be fine. It is entirely possible to pass this class with higher than a C. She is a great teacher, and I've learned a lot over the quarter. She is a hard grader, and will most probably give harsh critiques. Take them with a grain of salt, and remember that they are not directed at you personally. You have to work for your grade in this class, it is not an easy A. On that same note, it is extremely gratifying to succeed in her class. Good luck!

Take the time to go to office hours, she is more than willing to help! Follow directions; she is a bit anal, though.

Hardest class I've ever taken! Learned a lot.

Lisa is a great communications teacher. I learned a lot in the class, but it was really hard for me. Start your speeches before two days before they're due, fa'sho. If you try very hard, you can do well. Still, I have no idea how I pulled off an A-; she is a hard grader. Take notes on all lectures. Half of the final was on lecture. If you are strong in English or Communications, take this class, as it will challenge you. If you are an engineer like me, and want an easier A because you're overloaded on science coursework, then take an easier teacher.

If you want to learn, take Kawamura. If you wan't an easy grade, don't take her. She may seem a bit intimidating, but you will realize as the quarter unfolds that you probably made the right decision in taking her class. She is very helpful, and she really wants to give her students good grades. You can almost prep your whole speech at her office hours, and she wouldn't mind.

It has been 2 years since I have taken this class, after all of my upper division courses that I have taken, I still believe that this was THE WORST CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN. The reason I am writing now about how horrible this teacher is because, this class is fucking with my GPA. And i thought about it, i spent up to 10-14 days on my presentations and yet, I would get knocked off points because my board fell over because she left the window open and Kawamura would not let me close it. If you take this class, be sure that you want to be on the debate team and don't think you can speak about how to throw the perfect BBQ. I could not go to office hours and I told her this and she said that I had to make time to see her, even if this meant missing my other classes. So I wanted to let everyone know about how much I hated this class and how I basically had to pray to get a C+ in this class. This bitch couldn't round up to a B- after the extra credit I had to do, after embarrassing myself in front of strangers. Oh I remember, i got lost getting to class on the first day and she stil knocked me points for being late to class. Kawamura if you are reading this, and I hope you are, I got told that I was a very talented speaker, so FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor baby. Do you need someone to wipe your dribble? Did mommy not give you enough love or attention? You are literally a waste of space. Get some therapy, there is no way ONE professor from years ago could affect your GPA. Grow up and learn to follow directions. If you had done that you would have done fine in her class. Since you complain so strongly you must not be that smart/capable. Hope you enjoy the welfare line and public assistance. Hopefully you are sterile and cannot breed. We would all be better off if you did not. Please, get a hysterectomy or vasectomy.

Lisa Kawamura expects your speech to be perfect to receive anything higher than a B-. Please, for the love of God, do not reveal your political standing if it is anything to the right of say, Stalin, SHE WILL GRADE ACCORDINGLY. Now, I'm not going to curse at how terrible a teacher she is, or praiser her to spite other evals, I am just going to portray her as I experienced during the quarter I had to take her class. I have some politically right wing beliefs, and I felt extremely pressured to never reveal them in any class discussions, because in nearly the first week, she described herself as an extreme feminist and super-left wing supporter. I have nothing against such people, they are entitled to their own beliefs as am I. The only thing that made me want to drop this course, was that she tried to throw in politically charged questions every chance she could get. The only way I obtained more than a D as my final grade, was to do some serious brown-nosing and butt-kissing for the length of the quarter. I couldn't make it to her office hours, so I had to send her emails at least 3 times a week asking questions that i knew the answer to, but I made her feel like she was actually helping me, thus brown-nosing my way into a better grade. The advice I have for anyone that is looking into taking this class is "don't." the only way I would recommend taking her class is if you are either a super-anal perfectionist and want to explore your perfection, or if you are on the debate team, and Lisa already likes you. The advice I have for anyone that is already in this class, and there is no way to drop it is: make sure to brush up on your sucking-up skills, memorize her syllabus and anything she tells you to read, and spend at least 14 to 16 hours on each speech and know your material.

Now i am not going to say this teacher is bad, however I am going to say how she should not be a coms 101 teacher. She definitely expects way more then anyone can provided. Her homework is very heavy, and she expects perfection. An A is something that goes way beyond the requirements. She does not care about anyone, total feminist, and a sexist. Now if you are a person that likes huge challenges, she definitely provides them. For instance she will require you to get tones of academic sources about the most narrow of topics. She requires that you provided new information (not common knowledge). Now that does not mean your typical common knowledge, as she states but rather what she personally does not know, witch really will limit your topic selection. I personally had to run 15 different topics by her till she said it was know as for the citation during speeches, she is never satisfied she expects the speeches to be one long citation, yet still be flowing and perfect. Not to mention the citation packets, where you have to follow the MLA format to a T, as well as provide every sentence that you use from those citations, printed and highlighted. I Give this teacher a F-, meaning she is by far the worst teacher I have had in quite some time, not at all helpful, didn�t learn anything, but to fear public speaking and her class.

READ THIS.I read this in the reviews and felt as if it needed to be brought back to the front because it is spot on. A whole lot of bullshit... When I first came to polyratings to check out speech professors, I read the reviews on Kawamura, and decided that she was a fairly good teacher. I gave more credit to those with A's and B's, ignoring all the people with lower grades who said she was horrible. BIG mistake. I have never in my life absolutely hated a class to this degree. When I think about last quarter, it literally depresses me. I put in so much work, and continually got bad grades on everything. I'm not going to resort to name-calling, but Lisa is far from kind. She is anal as fuck, and the only way to get any credit from her you must visit her office hours regularly. One problem, however. The only chances you'll get are 20 minutes on tuesday and thursday, and 1.5 hours on wednesday. The result is that large groups of students will often be standing outside her office. If you are unable to make the office hours, then you will undoubtedly get a big fat ZERO on every outline that you turn in. This puts a big dent in your grade since she grades on a scale of only 100 points (every point = 1%). btw... A 4 PAGE OUTLINE DOES NOT DESERVE 0 POINTS JUST BECAUSE THE MARGINS ARE OFF! As the quarter progressed, my speeches did get better, but there was one problem. The credit I received somehow decreased with each speech I gave... Have I not made it painfully clear yet? Then read on... Lisa doesn't exactly educate her students. The first few weeks of class, she will overload you with reading assignments. Within 1 class period, we were expected to read around 60 pages in her text. When such an unreasonable amount of work is given, it discourages students from actually completing it, but she somehow fails to understand this... She doesn't really tell you anything useful during classtime. She will, however, make fun of other students behind their back. She doesn't include names of course, but it's still highly unprofessional and unethical. My personal favorite was her account of a student who was absolutely terrified whenever he got up to give a speech, stuttering uncontrollably. She had a blast telling the story, and it did elicit a few chuckles from the class, but most of us were probably able to see that the student's reaction was a direct consequence of being in Lisa's class. By taking Kawamura, your GPA will surely suffer. The problem is that you put so much work in, and rarely ever see the returns. You waste a great deal of time that you could devote to your other, more important classes. My advice to you would be to take a different teacher. If you somehow get stuck with Lisa, then drop the class and take something else. Speech can wait... What I am left with after having taken this class is an understanding that unfair teachers really do exist. Lisa is the epitome of a bad teacher. There is only one thing that I can appreciate now that I'm done, and that is the fact that I never have to see her face again... and believe me when I say I thank God.

READ THIS!!!!!!!(along with all the others that say READ THIS!)READ THIS!!!! First let me say that I was a straight A student in high school and have gotten nothing lower than a B in my 2 years at Cal Poly so far. With that being said, Lisa Kawamura is the worst teacher I have ever had any my life, and there is a reason I got such a bad grade. She spent nearly half our class time telling us about her views on the world and whenever I would ask a question in class, or actually go to her office hours to ask, she would just tell me I had to read the book, even though I had and thats why i was asking questions about it. As far as the actually speeches, I've been public speaking for many years now and recieved awards for it and spoken in front of hundreds of people at a time far more important than Kawamura, but somehow the best grade I ever got on a speech was a C. On our IMPROMPTU SPEECH i got marked nearly half off for not being 'prepared enough'!!?!?! for an impromptu speech?!?! basically due to the crapiness of her teaching and grading, by the end of the class i didnt even care anymore, because i knew no matter what i did it wouldnt really help. she definitely has favorites tho, but everyone else in the class is doomed. in closing AVOID KAWAMURA AT ALL COSTS!!! WORST TEACHER EVER!!!! AVOID KAWAMURA AT ALL COSTS!!! WORST TEACHER EVER!!!!

She is an extremely difficult teacher, but you will learn a lot. Just follow the directions and you will do fine. Don't be stubborn, if she doesn't like an idea, don't do it, you are obviously not going to get a good grade. Make sure to check with her before every speech, it will help you a lot. Don't worry too much about the final, you can't prepare yourself that well for it. Make sure you can take criticism, she is pretty harsh. If you actually want to learn, take this class.

READ THE BOOK. Best teacher to take if you want to be a good speaker. She is not the easiest, but if you follow directions and listen to everything she says the class will be fine. My one piece of advice to you is to actually read. The hardest part about this class was the final. I got A's on just about all of my speeches, and then failed the final miserably. The class avg. was 45%. If you do well on the speeches, don't blow off your final because its very difficult and very specific.

Holy smokes this was the most stressful class I have ever taken. She is very specific in terms of what she wants from you so sometimes it might be hard to meet the criteria exactly. She puts a lot of restrictions on research so even if you find a good topic it might still be hard to get enough research for it. I think the best way to study for the final is to read the book, take notes, and then the last however many weeks when there is no reading assignment, read through a couple sections in your notes everyday. She doesn't have as bad of a personality as these ratings might lead you to think. If you go into the class thinking that you are going to hate her, you probably will, if you go into the class with an open mind.... you still might not like her, but she isn't as bad as you think. I hated the class because I wanted it to be like other speech classes, where you have fun and get an easy A. This was definitely not that class. After all this bad stuff I must say that I feel like I can be an excellent public speaker because of this class. You really do learn what is important, but it sucks the whole way through... if you are lazy like me.

hell on earth.

First of all, I really don't understand why everyone hates Lisa so much. Ya, she's a difficult teacher, but I think some people forget we go to a difficult college. I think that public speaking is one of the most important classes in college, even if you don't plan on speaking a lot in your career, there are times that you may need to make a presentation, or just have good people skills. Lisa teaches you all of this, and yes she is a difficult grader, but as long as you follow directions and do what she asks, you will be fine. I've talked to other people from other public speaking classes, and they didn't learn half as much as i did in public speaking. So honestly, challenge yourself a little and take Lisa's class, she's also a really cool and knowledgeable person, who has a lot to offer and teach people. Give her a chance and don't listen to all the people who wrote on here how horrible she is, half the people only do poly ratings if they were a slacker and they failed the class anyways.

Just noting that as of this post there are 55 instances of the word "bitch" for Kawamura. With 182 evaluations before this, this is a 55/182 bitch to post proportion, that's 30.2%. I doubt anyone has a higher percent or "bitch" total on Polyratings. And after this post, her bitch to evaluations proportion is now 31.7%.

Honestly, I wrote all my speeches at 3AM the day of my presentation. I also presented as the last person of the last day of that particular speech. That is the person that she grades the hardest because they've got the most time to prepare. I've never gotten anything lower than a B- on my speeches. You just have to listen to her critique of other speeches, and then tweak your own. She likes clear and readable visual aids. She also likes to have sources cited repeatedly throughout the speech, and your sources must be current. Thats where I lost the most points. For the final, read the book. Make sure to look over bullet points and lists, as well as what she covered in class. Extra credit helps, too. Do the work, follow directions, and you will pass, no problem.

Lisa's class was a fun class, maybe not at 7 am, like when i took it, but non the less it was always entertaining. Although it was entertaining, it was also pretty intense at times. She does offer a lot of help and guidelines for every assignment, but compared to other COMS 101 classes, it appears as though it's one of the most difficult! if your like me, and don't like doing research, i would not take this class, because you do a lot of it, however she IS very entertaining, i am actually taking another one of her classes next quarter to fulfill a major course! Good Luck to any one who takes her class!

Lisa is not a bitch. She is sexist and a whacko liberal, but she does not care what your political ideology is, she will grade fairly no matter what, trust me I did many conservative speeches and got A's. It is a difficult class, she is very strict on what she wants. It does take a lot of work. However, if you fill in the formula of what she wants, it is incredibly easy. She gives 5of your grade as easy extra credit, and the rest really isn't hard. There is a lot of reading in the beginning, but it will pass. You will get better as a speaker, I definitely recommend the class.

I don't understand why everyone hates Lisa so much. She has a funny sense of humor and I never saw her butcher anyone's speech. She always polite and gave constructive criticism to all students. She is highly liberal and feminist though. Sometimes it felt like she was pushing her beliefs on us. I don't think she takes it in consideration though when grading. She is tough grader but if you get the structure down, have nice visual aids, and cite your sources properly, you'll be fine. Really study the book because in the final it ask pretty specific questions about things in the book.

Total moronic bitch. Especially at 7am. Wastes incredible amounts of class time by simply doing a lame little standup type routine at the beginning of class. For all you guys out there, going though a session of Lisa's class is about as painful as sticking your penis through a meat grinder. I did not enjoy much of the class, spending most of my time either goofing off, or wondering to myself and with others, "is this bitch a lesbian or not?"

Very classy! Your writing reveals your maturity, which explains fully why you disliked the class. The quality and sophistication of the comments on this page about Kawamura help make the student body at Cal Poly appear childish, immature and anything but well educated. We should be able to criticize a teacher without resorting to grade-school level comments: "Penis in a meat grinder." Let me guess, you're a food science major and that's the best you could come up with. Too bad the students commenting here make Cal Poly students look like vocational dolts.

I would recommend taking public speaking at a jc, or at least not with Lisa. This class pretty much ruined my first quarter at Cal Poly. First of all this class is not about public speaking. It is about research. Now that wouldn't be a bad thing if this was an english or a writing class. But this is a public speaking class. Other than what you read from the book, you will learn very little about public speaking. Your grades depend more on your topic choice and research than your delivery. The only advice you will get to improve your speaking is in generalities. You won't get any tips or methods to use to improve your speaking. Now unlike the other posters with bad grades I don't think I am being rude and abusive. I think she is a fine person and I respect her, but as a public speaking teacher I think she is garbage. As a debate or research structure she would probably be good, but for COMS 101 she has completely the wrong idea of what the focus of the class should be. Don't discount my review because of my grade. I don't blame her for it, its the result of my lack of effort probably (I do personally think I deserved at least a C but whatever) and I could have done better.

The comment below, presumably from the teacher itself, or one of it's buddies in that horrid dispassionate department cracks me up! Yes, Cal Poly is a school filled with lame ass people, especially the speech department...The students are bizzarely caucasian and blonde! As a graduate of speech communication, I can honestly say it gets you virtually nothing as far as job opportunities. Good luck people, get a real major: you will be glad you did! By the way, Kawamura is a legend, a horrible, yet strangely true legend! It is shocking that Cal Poly emloys such horrid people in that awful department. Can we say Winebrenner anyone???That is the worst of them all...AND NOW, their king!

She is tight. She is definitely a bitch, but she knows it. This class was a lot of fun. She grades pretty hard on the speeches, but if you don't say "um" you'll be alright. Also, definitely follow directions. The final is hard, but not worth that much so just ask her what will be on it and she pretty much tells you. Everyone hates her because she is mean, but who cares if you get a good grade.

First of all, she "tells" you at the beginning of the quarter what she "expects" of you for the entire quarter. Unfortunately, the assignment sheet she gives you isn't clear about what she really wants and expects, and doesn't really clarify a lot of things. So as a result, you'll try to follow the assignment only to find out she has either changed her mind on the assignment or has given a different definition of what she wants than what the assignment says. She grades really hard, and RIPS people apart in her critiques. I only got an A cause I went to her office hours and asked her. She liked me, but she's still really unreasonable in what she asks of her students. Overall, I would definitely avoid her. But there are worse teachers out there. Try to get someone else!!

To all you COMS 101 students who never have anything good to say welcome to this P.O.S web site devoted to individuals such as yourself desiring a place to bitch about how hard your education is. Why the f..... did you come here in the first place, expecting to bone a bunch of hot chicks, party, drink tons of beer and smoke a few joints before class? Some advice to you, quit half-assing homework that you should have done on your own. Try to actually LEARN the material since that is what COLLEGE is supposed to be right? Or is it drunken stupors partying downtown in this faggot ass conservative hypocrisy so called upscale American town? Run by three jack ass never graduated from college idiots riding the real-estate boom and convincing everyone not to vote for the market place to secure his own interests. Anyway point being, you're obviously a bunch of spoiled self-centered mama's boys who still need to have mommy come over and change your dippers and tell you to do your homework, wash behind your ears, and grow the f.... up!!!! But since mommy and daddy have nothing but trouble of their own they send your ass off to college, pay the f...ing bills for you, and hope to god you graduate so you will quit sucking every last dime from their bank account. But hey you're going to be a big Know it all college graduate soon right? You'll be so damn cocky having a degree from CalPoly that you don't deserve since all you did was bitch about how hard your classes were. That won't matter then cause by then you'll be telling everyone how smart you were in school and claiming that every class was easy. Good luck people quit complaining that the teachers are making it too hard, and do your own damn homework for a change!

I was so intimidated reading everyone's reviews about Lisa, but I found her to be a really good teacher and not a bitch at all. She's actually really funny and makes it easy to stay focused in a 2 hour class because she's so full of energy and she tells funny stories. To get an A in the class you have to exactly follow her directions, ask her about your speech topic in office hours and cite your sources a lot of times in your speech-she loves that. She grades a lot easier than I thought she would. All of you people who wrote such ridiculous reviews are obviously the idiots who didn't give a shit about the class and didn't put in enough effort. Lisa is probably one of the best professors I've had!

I didn't really like the class layout. Get lectured for a while then for the last few weeks give a few speeches that pretty much determine your entire grade. This doesn't leave a whole lot of time to find your weaknesses and improve on them, but if you work on it you can make it happen. I never once saw Lisa outside of class and pretty much just did what the assignment sheet told me to. She doesn't care about performance as much as she does substance, which may or may not be in your favor. She definitely knows how to crush someone with her critiques. I was expecting much lower scores than I recieved based on her critiques alone, so don't let that get to you and just try to use them to your advantage because she does know what she's talking about. She has a lot of good stories, too.

she makes an easy thing entirely too hard! there is not a "science" to public speaking sorry, its just public speaking you do it well or not. She makes the course too hard especially for a ge. You shouldn't fear failing because of technical shit she puts in along with the speeches. Also, she makes everything worth very little points, and grades way to hard, they are low valued assignments and if you do poorly your grade is affected greatly. The mid terms are 15 points! STAY AWAY!

Not the best teacher at Poly. Many people have a huge problem with her personality. She's a little bit flamboyant, but you can't hate a teacher for their personality. She does a pretty fair job of presenting the material, and the final is really easy if you've taken notes and at least skimmed the assigned reading (of which there is a lot). The speeches are a little bit harder though. I don't think it's possible to get 100% on a speech, although I heard someone did once... Not sure I believe it. No matter how textbook perfect you are, there will always be SOMETHING wrong. The grading system is pretty irritating however. The entire class is worth 100 points. Total. Overall. For everything. Missing a single point (which you will do a lot of) makes a pretty decent dent in your grade, and takes a good deal of work to save. Overall, don't take her if you have other options. But if you don't, sit down, shut up, hold on, and take it. It's not THAT bad, you will learn SOMETHING about speaking, and you only have to deal with her for one quarter :)

Professor Kawamura's class is difficult to describe. Lisa has very defined guidelines that she expects you to follow. If you do, then you should do well. She has one format for speaking and if you follow it, then you will get an A. Unfortunately, human error determines that it takes a couple speeches to figure it out. She tells you what she wants, but most people figured that she didn't really mean it. She did. By the end though, you know exactly what she expects. If you follow her directions to the letter from the beginning, then you will excell. She seems scary, but her bark is far worse than her bite. She's really very nice, but she doesn't make allowances. I actually got a full score on my final speech, which was a huge surprise, but was very empowering. I worked hard and it payed off and now I know that I can give a speech. You will actually learn something from Lisa. If you can follow directions, you'll like her. If you think you're too awesome to do what she asks, stay away.

Okay, back to the January 8th comment, left by some chick. The guy who wrote the "penis in a meat grinder" routine is hilarious. Obviously, the person who defended Kawamura enjoys the sweet nectar of Kawamura's ass, as you strike me as someone who kisses it considerably. Being a lover of Kawamura's obviously has it's perks, I would only imagine, such as an ill- gotten grade an the possibility of being crushed by her big fat rump. Kawamura is where boners and hope go to die. Kawamura's class is about as useful as Anne Frank's drum set. Kawamura's farts are undoubtedly responsible for the epidemic we know today as swine flu. She should move to Palestine, so she'd be forced to wear a burqa, so i'd never have to see her face again. And, Jan 8, whoever the frak you are, you strike me as someone who is half a 'tard themselves. Maybe you shouldn't be the group's spokesperson.

Unless you are a anal lesbian bitch you will not get along with her to the point that it will stop you from learning. THe grading system is wack. Shes a bitch in general and cal poly would be a much better place without her

Kawamura is a poisonous, man-hating bitch with control issues. Do not take this class if: -you have a penis -you have any beliefs or opinions whatsoever -you could beat her in an argument -you aren't on the debate team -you prefer the phrase "guys and girls" to "guys and gals" -you tend to say "bless you" after people sneeze -you have literally ANY OTHER OPTION. She is, quite literally, half dragon, half Rosie O'Donnell, and half giant dildo. Which makes her ALL gigantic bitch. Putting my penis through a meat grinder might have actually been a slightly more enjoyable experience than this class. Being male, of course, meant that I was automatically fucked. Although I tried to kiss as much ass as possible, and it seemed that she liked me, I still got the shaft on every speech I gave. And of course, the amount of time I spent on her class was FAR more than any of my major courses. I feel no shame in saying that I literally cried blood because of this class. LISA KAWAMURA MADE MY EYES BLEED BLOOD FROM INSIDE OF MY BODY. Halfway through the quarter, I literally started smoking crystal meth to numb myself to the pain I felt every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I began cutting myself, but not with razor blades like a little emo bitch. WITH MY OWN TEETH. I would sit in class and literally PULL OUT MY OWN TEETH to make knives to cut myself with, because the emotional trauma I suffered because of this class was so intense. I cried at least once a day. And not just angry man-tears. These were the little-girl, afraid-of-the-dark, I-want-my-mommy type of bitch-tears. I became a broken man. I'm still trying to regain my sanity and my testicles, which both mysteriously disappeared around the fifth week of the quarter. Kawamura literally spits poison and breathes fire. Please spare yourself the pain of taking this class if at all possible.

She has a bad rap and so people come in with a negative attitude but honestly if you read the syllabus and go to office hours she will help you out. She doesnt hand out As you need to work for them but if you have an organized speech with an interesting topic it wont be hard to get a B. Also dont blow off little assignments everything adds up and she gives out extra credit so take advantage of it.

Given the review two below, why not include more hyperbole like that she eats little babies and tortures young animals. Clearly, the worst so called human being ever. How is it legal for her to be alive? Grow up, or better yet get back on your meds, no instructor is THAT bad.

LISA IS NOT THAT BAD!! i was stupid and read poly ratings for lisa before i took her class. i freaked out and changed it to a credit/no credit course. that was a big mistake; i ended up with an A. if you follow her directions carefully, you will get an A. each speech takes a lot of work, but there are only 3 speeches you actually do research for and need to put time into. the biggest mistake you could do is not follow her directions and have a topic that is not increasing knowledge. trust me, she is not as bad as everyone makes it seem.

When signing up for Lisa\'s class, you have to ask yourself what you are taking the class for. If you are looking for an easy A, look for another class. If you are really looking to improve your skills as a public speaker, then she is an awesome teacher. She is an extremely tough grader, and shes a little odd, but you will walk out of that class as a better public speaker then when you walked in. There is a really heavy amount of outside work for a 100 level class. Taking her class has been an overall good experience though because I have no doubt that I can tackle any kind of Speech that will be presented to me in the future. Bottom line: If you want to learn about being a better public speaker, then you are in the right class, but if you are looking for a GPA booster this is no where you want to be.

DO NOT take this class...find another professor. There is no point in working so hard in a general coms 101 class when you could easily pick another professor and get an easy A. This class is a terrible experience and expect to get marked down on everything. You will hate having to go to this class. The speeches require way too much research and you will spend too much time on doing research and formatting a giant research packet (which takes hours) than actually working on your speech. For most people who dont care about this class and just have to get it out of the way, trust me you will want another professor. I wish I had taken another professor. This class is way too much work than its worth and you will be frustrated by all the wasted hours you will have to put into the background elements of your speeches. I wish I would have known this before I enrolled. Trust me, just pick another professor, there is a reason her ratings are so low.

Not as bad as people say. All you need to do is follow her instructions exactly and you\'ll be fine. I never went to her office hours and am a guy so you do not have to be a suck up to get a good grade...just follow intsructions.... pretty simple

Lisa is a wonderful professor. Her class does require work on your part but it isn\'t unreasonable. All you have to do is literally FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS! Always make visual aids. Doesn\'t take that much time and you get easy freebie points. If you don\'t understand something about your assignment or your presenting style, just go to her office hours and ask. I promise she won\'t eat you. She\'s actually really nice and helpful.

Kawamura is a very hard teacher. If you don\'t want to be doing a bunch of hard research (because she doesn\'t allow websites) then find an easier teacher. However if you end up with her, follow ALL of her instructions. I would recommend taking a different teacher though because some of my friends had different teachers and they had to do less than half of the work that I did.

I TOOK THIS CLASS LAST YEAR, ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH SHE\'S A BITCH DOOOOO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. DOOO NOT DO NOT DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. I HATE HER I HATE HER MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THIS WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I WOULD RATHER DATE A RAT OR A SPIDER THAN TAKE THIS CLASS. WELL BI YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THAT TALK TO YOUUUUUUU

first, this 101 course with lisa is way too time consuming to be considered a 101 GE class. I took it to fulfill my ge and to also improve my overall public speaking. I ended up have the most difficult time trying to come up with speech topics to her oh so specific criteria. she made it uneccesarily difficult. no online sources. and so many source citations in every speech. I am a fairly good public speaker and thought she graded a little unfairly. Shes harsh, but you gotta take things lightly with her. i dont think I ever got a A with her. Oh and the final, complete obscure recall from the 20+ chapters of reading that i did keep up with. Way more work and time and stress than any other speech teacher. take it with someone else. I didnt improve my speaking skills, all i did was write my speech the night of. I wasnt more comfortable after her class, i think i become more nervous because of how she grades. She wants you to do it her way...bottom line.

Luckily this class is fast becoming a distant memory in my mind. Lisa Kawamura made what should have been a positive, enriching GE into a weekly hell. The pressure and constant criticism was frustrating simply because I was not interested in committing my entire focus to a GE course. If you need to complete that requirement for A2, look for someone else. I got an A because I put in way too much effort at the end. The most irritating thing about Lisa was the way she dangled her sexuality in front of the class to make a point. All throughout the quarter, she referred to her boyfriend as \"my partner\" and never used the words \"him/he\". Her point was that language choice is powerful. She led us into believing she was lesbian and then-surprise! Lesson time. We were all prejudice for thinking that her \"partner\" was a woman. As I said, find someone else.

For the all the people who wrote bad reviews for Lisa or got a bad grade. She tells you, if you want a good grade FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. If you don\'t follow directions, you get a bad grade. Practice your speeches at least 3 days before, and that\'s the minimum. Don\'t memorize, she docks you down points. The speeches are easy if you follow the assignment and do what she says. The only reason I got a B was that I didn\'t speak for the full time required in the speeches. I gurantee you this class is an easy A if you put in the effort, just like all other classes. Lisa definitely knows what she\'s talking about, listen, learn, and come out a better public speaker.

This is by far the biggest group of haters against one professor I\'ve ever seen. Just like everyone else, I was skeptical when I first signed up to take COMS with Kawamura because of all these nasty comments. However, after being in the class for a week, I realized that she wasn\'t nearly as bad as everyone else said she was. Yes, her class is challenging, and yes, I can understand why people feel the way they do; however, the people who talk shit about her take it way too far. You\'re gonna have to follow her guidelines or else you will do poorly, but it\'s not that hard to follow directions when they\'re CLEARLY spelled out... Contrary to popular belief, Lisa is a nice person who wants you to succeed. That being said, she won\'t hold your hand during this class, so be prepared to take some initiative and do it yourself. \"Learn by doing.\" Overall, I would suggest taking this class if you want to become a better public speaker. Enough said.

I was very scared about this teacher before I took the class. She was very intimidating the first day and set her standards clearly. Yet, by doing so this weeds out the students who really don\'t wish to improve their public speaking abilities and are poor students. Her directions the first day of class are if you want an A in this class, follow the directions. She clearly maps out what she wants for you to do the entire quarter and if you do so you will get an A. Some recommendations about the class, practice your speech multiple times and do not memorize it. If you have questions, go to her office hours, she is a very nice person and deeply cares about the success of her students. If you get the opportunity i highly recommend you take Kawamura, I have heard worse things about other teachers and I really did improve my skills in this class!

Horrid

I took Kawamura for Coms 101 and failed, first because I am deathly afraid of public speaking and second because she made speeches unreasonably difficult, such as you cant talk about anything she\'s already heard a speech on...so guessing she\'s been at poly for a few years now theres basically nothing she hasn\'t heard already, third she is brutally harsh when evaluating, its one ting to be constructive with your criticism but she will let you have it. I\'m definitely not planning on taking her again the next time I feel brave enough to take public speaking again.

I have never commented on a teacher before however She has driven me to it! She is ridiculous and says that she gives you good instructions however sher writes them out in a 50 page syllabus and expects you to read the entire thing. She is more concerned with this website the first day of class than she is with the syllbus and doesn\'t really go over it. she gets annoyed when you ask questions about a project and therefor makes u feel intimidated to do so. She also gets on this website and writes herself good comments because she is that crazy. I like public speaking, but i hated her class. DO NOT TAKE HER. She makes a fun class hell.

Well, for context, I gave a 40 minute presentation as part of the graduation requirement for my high school, and got an -A. So naturally, I figured that taking a speech class like this wouldn\'t be so bad, and that I might actually have some fun. After all, I get a little nervous in front of people, but I don\'t mind speaking for few minutes. I was mistaken, and wish someone had warned me about her and her class. Lisa Kawamura intimidated our class through her critiques, and I actually saw a couple of girls break down and cry. Her grading is completely subjective, and I learned virtually nothing from the class overall except that GE classes shouldn\'t have to be that traumatic. And I do agree that her requirement that your speeches must be absolutely original material is pretty ridiculous, considering that she\'s been teaching for about 20 years. DON\'T TAKE HER CLASS. WARN YOUR FRIENDS TOO. I\'m also fairly sure she makes good ratings for herself on this site.

Bullied in high school and university and now seeking vengeance bullying students as a professor. Totally unprofessional(although she would boast otherwise.)Has an obnoxious sense of humor and loves a captive audience to inflict it upon. Extremely condescending. Has a fixation on her ethnicity and weight problem which she talks about constantly, victimizing herself and making students feel uncomfortable. The class isn\'t terrible but your going to have to swallow your pride and suck her balls to receive any sort of fair grading. Also, the entire second half of the semester is back to back student presentations which are boring but on good days you only have to hear her voice for her rambling critiques. Don\'t bother with the reading, but look over the book before the written final. It is also quite apparent the she knows about this site and is pretty obsessed with it, pathetic. I wouldn\'t be surprised if she does write positive comments about herself. Okay so this rant just got very personal and hurtful, but Prof. Kawamura has brought out the worst in me, not something an educator should do. Bottom line, do not take this class unless your the kind of person who doesn\'t mind placating a childish and demanding adult.

It is funny to read the comments on here after having taken Lisa. I was nervous too and don\'t get me wrong the class is a challenge and I didn\'t enjoy it, but its not the end of the world. Her syllabus and instructional materials are super clear and straight forward and yes, she expects you to read them, but if you don\'t then don\'t expect her to like you or help you out. Lisa\'s class is sometimes a rude awakening for the students that this is college, not high school and kissing up to the teacher is not the way to get a good grade. Go to class, follow her guidelines, and do the reading.She appreciates you showing your personality whatever it is. Her research will end up being so helpful to other papers you have to write. It is hard, but you will survive so try not to have such a bad attitude going in.

Lisa is a tough teacher, you have to play her game if you want a good grade in the course. If you follow directions, you will get an A. However, in order to fulfill all of the requirements for each speech and actually do well, you will have to spend a substantial amount of time working on your speeches.

Professor Kawamura, truly gave me the grade that i academically deserved. I don\'t understand though because i figured that our fuck sessions after class compensated for my lack of scholastic motivation. Kawamura is a bitch that can suck my chode all day.

a few tips: go to her office hours to get help on speeches-she\'ll get to know you, recognize that you\'re working hard, and give you a better grade. it\'s not enough to just go to class-you MUST go to office hours and establish a relationship in order to do well. she expects you to read the whole syllabus and basically have it memorized which is bullshit but make sure you look at it when you have to do a speech because it gives you everything. you have 5 speeches to make and all of them vary with directions. she\'s a jerk about citing research and you turn in a fat research packet with each speech. Overall, she\'s not that bad but make sure to go to office hours and follow her annoying syllabus.

Like everyone else who read these ratings before taking her class, I was terrified to show up to class. I pictured a monster of a professor. Well I found out that she isn\'t quite the monster that everyone makes her out to be, just very demanding. Don\'t be too scared! It is possible to get an A in the class, it just won\'t be easy. I definitely reccomend going to her office hours. It shows effort on your part and she will give you helpful advice that could bump up your grade. Just don\'t expect her to sugar coat it. She is VERY honest. Learn to take her advice for what it is, not a reflection of you personally. If you are looking to improve your public speaking skills and are willing to work hard, this is a great class for you. Professor Kawamura really knows her stuff and helped me be a better speaker. However, if you\'re looking for an easy A without a lot of preparation, this isn\'t the class for you.

You know that feeling, after you've completed something that you hated the entire time you were doing it, but when you're done, you realize it wasn't that bad. Never came when I finished this class. Fuck that bitch.

If you're thinking about taking her class, don't. I can confirm basically all of the negative things I've seen on this site, and there's a lot. Sure she states stuff clearly, you just have to look through her twenty page syllabus to find it because she expects you to memorize the whole thing. She's really immature and has a really bad sense of humor that she forces on you the whole time. She enjoys making students feel awkward and is obsessed with talking about how she's asian and the fact that she is overweight which makes it even more uncomfortable for everyone. She's obsessed with this site and should take a hint and change what she does instead of writing positive reviews about herself.

? ? ? ? ? ?? ?? ?. ???? ???? ???? ???? ????. ? ? ? ? ? ??. ???? ? ???? ? ???? ? ? ? ? ?. ?? ? ? ? ? ?. ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ?. ? ???? ? ?? ???? ? ???? ???? ?? ? ? ?. ? ? ? ?. ?? ? ? ?? ?? ? ?. ???? ???? ????. ???? ? ? ?? ?? ? ???? ? ? ? ????. ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??. ??? ??? ???? ???. ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ?. ? ? ? ? ?? ? ?. ????? ?? ?? ???? ? ?? ? ????? ????? ? ? ?. ? ? ? ? ?? ?? ? ?. ?? ? ? ? ? ?. ??? ??? ??? ???? ????. ? ? ?? ? ? ?? ??. ? ? ?? ?? ? ?. ???? ? ? ???? ???? ?? ? ? ??? ? ? ???. ? ? ? ? ??.

Don't Do It! Unless you hate yourself and are looking for ways to torture yourself, DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER! I'm pretty sure ANY teacher is better than her. Basicly, she make you print out a 50 page syllabus,and then expects you to know everything (ex. dates for test and speechs and how to write and outline to her liking). She expects you to just read the book then understand. Oh, and she refers to herself as a "fat short asian" and "yoda" like eight times per class. She is definitely the most emotionally unbalanced teacher I have ever met. She has serious problems that she takes out on her class. Advice if you are stuck with her class: Suck up and become the favorite, otherwise your grade will suffer! Also, make sure follow the syllabus word for word. Oh, btw, I'm pretty sure she puts positive comments about herself on polyraings. She talks a lot about this site in class, which doesn't help her lack of self-esteem for herself.

I have advice for anybody that is considering taking this class: NO. She is clearly biased; giving females significantly higher scores than males. Girls in my class who were admittedly bad at speaking consistently received 100% on assignments. She also requires reading a "Speakers Handbook" which turns out to be a waste of time and money until the final. The final is a test on the book... a Public Speaking final that is not a speech displaying what you have learned about public speaking, but on a book... HUH?!

First of all, these people who failed her class are idiots. You would have to blatantly have to try to fail this class. With that said, Lisa is a great professor. She gives A LOT of reading and expects you to follow directions to a T. The reading isn't actually that big of a deal as long as you do well on the speeches. I didn't read a single chapter in that book and got an A in the class. Make sure you know exactly what she wants out of your speeches and you will do fine. I am not a good public speaker and I would stay up until 4am the night before writing my speech and still manage to get A's. If you go to her office hours and regularly communicate with her she will like you and give you better grades. She's loud and out there but she knows her stuff. Take her if you honestly want to be better at speaking!

For all of you reading the polyratings about lisa and are seeing that some people liked her, its most likely because they are all girls. This teacher pretty much bases all of her grades based off of your gender. I witnessed guys give the most perfect speeches and receive a C while a girl can go up in front of the class and freeze and make several speaking mistakes and still receive a B. People all seem to say that all she wants you to do is follow directions, but its hard to follow directions when she is not even sure what the directions should be. She constantly contradicts herself making it impossible to know what she wants. She is the most unreasonable, judgmental excuse for a teacher i have ever had. It makes no sense to me that a person like kawamura is allowed to teach at all, let alone at a university. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!! As an engineer at cal poly, this class was the hardest for me to do well in.

Do not take this course unless you are taking a light load. The reading is nothing to worry about, just read every night and expect a single pop quiz at some point during the year. The speeches are not as difficult as they are time consuming. She has strict guidelines for the speech's subject and work cited. The sources must be no older than 5 years old, full text (you will turn in the entire work), and peer reviewed. All sources have to be verified through the school, which she goes over, but this makes the number of sources very limited. You end up spending most of your time looking for sources that work for you then throw the actual speech together in a day or so. I feel I speak well in front of others and was hoping to become a better speaker but this class is really more about organizing work cited and 'expanding knowledge' than speech which is way too time consuming and irrelevant. Overall its just too time consuming when you are taking 3 other courses when there are so many other COMS classes you can just sleep through.

Lisa was a pretty good professor overall. She curses like a sailor which is awesome, and her lectures are usually enjoyable. The reading load is really light and easy, but preparing for the speeches in her class are by far the hardest. Make sure you give yourself a good amount of time to prepare, and you should be good. She was also pretty helpful when writing speeches.

Well, she is crazy, no doubt. She wants you to do good in the class but expects too much out of students for a public speaking class on top of that, she has no idea what she is doing. She has a messed up view of how students learn and how to motivate them, and then pushes it to the extreme. Not her fault, she's just crazy. Ultimately, anyone can do well if you put time into her bullshit, and if you can handle the shit she says or it goes over your head, you will be a better speaker.

I looked into this class to see if the rumors were true. Sadly, all of them about her being a horrible teacher are spot on. I work in the Library with the Reference Librarians, and they all hate her. Her students come in all the time with these impossible requests from her. I don't know how anyone who actually tries to follow her works cited can possibly pass the class. Let me reiterate, it's hard to earn yourself the hatred of ALL the librarians, but she managed it.

If you have a penis, do NOT take this class. Yes, it is possible to pass, but it is a miserable experience.

She is...tough, almost beyond all reason. Honestly, I knew going into COMS-101 that I would suck at it really hard, but this class was way harder than even I thought it'd be. Her lectures are full of information, almost to the point that you can't write fast enough, but she repeats if necessary and will ask for feedback during or after parts of her lectures. The course material is all common sense, but her requirements are way stricter than other teachers', from what I hear. All in all, unless you go to office hours, she can't help you, but if you feel like you want to improve at public speaking, taking another teacher is not the best way.

This professor is probably the hardest and the strictest speech professor in cal poly, no doubt. I first doubted polyratings generally because I didn't want half the things people said about her on this site to be true, but it turns out, almost everything people say about her(excluding some of the immature comments about her) are true. First of all, do not expect an easy A from her, you definitely need to put in A LOT of effort to maintain a decent grade in the class. If you really want a decent grade(meaning an A or a B) attend her office hours to really understand what she wants from you and follow her guidelines! You'll be getting these descriptive assignment sheets and checklists that you can use for reference and from what she told me, as long as you follow her guidelines closely, you'll end up with a decent grade. Also, make sure you don't lose easy points on written assignments such as the self-evaluations and the occasional quizzes because if you're not a good public speaker like me, you'll probably lose a decent amount of points on the speeches. Lastly, make sure you get the extra credit points by either writing an extra self-evaluation or by doing other things - you can refer to her guidelines for more info. These extra credit points is probably the reason why I was able to maintain an A in the class. Good luck.

Honestly, she has potential to be a good professor. The first few weeks I thought what I had read on polyratings had been false, though I quickly realized that she was completely irrational on what she expected us to do for her class. She isn't the GE professor that accepts the fact that they teach a class students take for an easy A, she makes it ridiculously tough and unless you do everything exactly as she wants it and go to her office hours every week, you will not do well. She expects you to read the whole coms book and know specific details about each chapter for the quizzes and written final. If you do everything she says and follow the exact directions for the speeches, and start 2-3 weeks early, you will do fine, but if you're expecting to not do much for a coms class, like most people do, do not take her.

COMS 101: Lisa is very specific. She tells you what she wants from you and gives VERY detailed instructions. There were 5 speeches in the quarter, one on the first day, but it's simple: interview someone else in the class and give 5 interesting facts about him/her. She is very passionate about some things, like not using "guys" when referring to women (not "girls"). When I took this class, I read a review that said she was super emotional and had an emotional breakdown. She is passionate, like I said, but not emotional. She rarely got angry. She is, however, frank. If she doesn't like something, she will say so. Overall, if public speaking is something you want to learn, and learn well, this is the professor for you. If you want an easy GE, don't take her.

Do exactly what she asks and go to her office hours.

Lisa is quite the character, she lays down the law very early in the quarter and tells you exactly what she expects of you(even if it is overly demanding for a GE course). She is quite opinionated and can get very obnoxious at times because she never stops talking. Going to office hours, and getting on her good side in the beginning of the class is essential if you want to survive at all with at least a C grade. I dropped the class because her views and mine were exact opposites and I knew we would have had conflicts later on in the quarter which would have been detrimental to my grade.

I'm not one to usually judge a professor based on their poly ratings, because I have found in the past that many are misleading and written by distraught students who find their grades to be less than their expectation. A week before classes, my friends warned me to drop Lisa's COMS class, and boy, do I wish I had listened to those friends or read her reviews. First off, this class has an insane workload for a one hundred level class. I would not recommend taking this class if you are taking over 16 units, participate in a lot of extracurricular activities, have a time consuming job or just have a social life in general. Secondly, if you have prior public speaking experience, I would recommend to steer clear. I went into this class, hoping to refine my speaking and communication skills, because I had quite a bit of public speaking under my belt. Unfortunately, I feel as though I digressed as a public speaker by taking this class. If future employers or professors see that I received a "C" in this class, after actually seeing me give a presentation or witness how I communicate on a public level, they will either assume I seriously slacked off in this class or that something seriously went wrong in the grade book. The research process and specifications for the speeches are pretty grueling. Although, you will learn quickly how to utilize the library and online databases which will be useful in other classes in the future. Throughout the course you are expected "conform to the assignment" and "increase knowledge" even though I don't think anything Lisa said specifically increased my knowledge on a useful/applicable level, kind of hypocritical if you ask me. The written final is also awful. If you are great at memorizing asinine amounts of information, specifically memorizing every subtitle from every chapter of the textbook, then you will be golden. However, if you do not possess this skill set, you will hate your life. Lastly, you will know on the first day of class if your own personality is going to clash with Lisa's. If you know what's best for you drop the class, unless you just like a solid challenge. I hate to say this specifically, but if you are an aggie, you are probably going to clash with her more than anyone else. If you stay in the class, be prepared to stand your ground. I was personally singled out in class on multiple occasions about my personal values.

A few things to know going into this class: Read the Handbook (and know it), start your speeches two weeks ahead at the least, go to class, and read the handouts she posts up. Yes, the reading assignments were grueling, but it is worth it, because she gives one-point quizzes almost every class on the chapters that were read the previous night. Read ahead and don't fall behind! Pick your topic ASAP and start your research at least 2 weeks ahead. Don't spend too much time on presentation aids, but make sure the font is huge. Take time to practice the whole speech for a few days, with the visual aids. Go to class, because she marks off points for absentees or latecomers. Another thing, try to get one of her early classes, because she thinks they have better students. The handouts are long, but she really does provide a full-on outline of what she expects. I wish I looked at those outlines more often! I had a 7am class, and I was so tired, but I stayed awake because she's not boring... Take notes (it'll help you stay awake too) and ask questions. Half of these things I probably did not do, and so I ended up with a B, but I hope you know better than I did. Just suck it up, even though you feel like you're getting a bad grade. It's not the end of the world if your first speech went horribly. My class had 5 speeches which required a lot of research for most of them, so stay on top of your game. (Oh, and try to participate, even though you know you're one of the quiet ones!)

I have had to rewrite my reviews for this professor a number of times becuase every time I read it I know people are going to think, "oh this is some guy who never put the time into the class, got a D and now is ranting about the teacher." False. Professor Kawamura is dangerous to have as your COMS 101/102 teacher. Here is why. First and foremost, I think it is notable to say that in printing fees at the library, poster boards (required) and miscellaneous material to enhance poster.... I spent over $40 out of my pocket. Book wise...get Sprague's handbook. I made the mistake of purchasing some MLA handbook which we NEVER touched. If you need MLA help (and you will in this class) go online for guidance and save $20. My background: 3.75 GPA student, never had anything less than a B in my academic career, and put in more hours each week for this class than any of my other classes (at the expense of them too sadly). Now onto the reasons why you should drop this class immediately. Unless you like playing the game of trying to be the teacher's favorite and going to her office hours to do so, this will be a very grueling class. I like to tell people when describing this class that: Lisa Kawamura's COMS class is like an advanced speech class for seniors at cal poly. In no way is this a course that should be given to freshman (especially in your first quarter). First quarter is all about getting your feet wet and accustomed to college life. Lisa gives a lot of directions on assignments but not realistic expectations. She is extremely, extremely strict when grading papers (yes, you write papers in the class) and doing evaluations for your presentations. I remember in this class fall quarter all our research for our speeches had to be: 1) within a year or two years old, 2) from peer reviewed sources found within the Cal Poly Library/databases, 3) no websites (at all), citing sources within the speech, no papers when you are up to present (a 3x5 notecard- which you will get marked down on if you fumble with it). This perplexes me. The topics you are given by her are extremely hard to find in book form or in the Cal Poly databases- let alone finding the most recent information without the use of websites. It was utterly ridiculous. My roommate had a coms class at the same time and he just couldn't imagine all the things Lisa made our class do. My roommate was able to use websites choose his own topics, did not have a textbook to read in addition to preparing heavily weighted speeches, and also had fewer speeches than my class. Here's the kicker....in addition to the speeches you are given weeks ahead of time to prepare for, you will be given quizzes that are worth one point but will have 2 parts to them. With no partial credit. Absolutely unfair in my opinion. Still, it gets worse. You are assigned that speakers handbook which are what the quizzes are based on. You will be required to read several chapters a week- each chapter has an average of 25-30 pages. And you will be quizzed on what you were supposed to read (remember those small point quizzes?). Lastly, the final. You will be given a final based on the book (35 chapters total if i remember). It is cummulative and NOT multiple choice. It is fill in the blank, listing, as well as choose which question to answer. Like I said, this class is far more advanced than she will lead you to believe. Lisa is very charismatic, but do NOT let that lull you into staying in the class. NO GE COMS class should be THIS hard. I remember the first day of class. All waitlist hopefulls were rudely rejected by her. She told us how the class average was a C. She also explained to us what it took to get a C... as if that was our best bet. When I stated in the class the abnormal difficulty to receive an A in teh class, she replied and I quote, "Because the department does not like it when they see too many A's in my class. I get my head chewn off." And that is the best reason she can give. This is total bologne. It seemed like it was the goal of the instructor to not be helpful or see success in the class. Apparently all the things you would expect to get an A for, will only give you a C at best. (Unless you play the game and kiss her feet at office hours). I really am not kidding about her office hours. Show up more than once with legitimate questions, advice, and chit chat and it will show up nicely on your grade. Also, do not speak against her on issues such as gender, race, politics. I made the typical freshman mistake and contradicted her on a silly notion of words used to apply to males and females (guys vs gals, etc.) and that didn't go over well. You WILL be "marked" if you contradict her. Please, do your GPA a favor....avoid this instructor. When Lisa was gone the last 2 weeks due to a baby (which is why she does not appear on CP REG these quarters), we had a breath of fresh air when Professor Pope came in and took over. A much easier grader (my grades for my speeches increased by a letter and a half compared to Lisa's grading). In addition, she was extremely helpful in telling you what she expected of you and how REALISTIC her expectations were!!! I can't warn you enough of what a disaster this professor is and if I can help at least one student so be it. Good luck if you choose to not heed my advice.

Lisa was a good teacher in presenting material and teaching me about speech. I learned a ton despite what anyone says But she was pretty much a bitch and wouldnt explain something if you cant figure some things out on your own your screwed. If you want to learn as much as possible about speech take her, if you want to try and get a good grade in speech stay away. She really is a cool lady though. If you have to take her. Listen to what she says. She isnt joking. When she says something she means it. Oh ya, watch the equal rights shit and passive language, you will get reemed if you fail to do so.

If you have a social life and aren't a tool all weekend long that don't pick her. If you never party and love school, then pick her. but if you want a good grade in this class, then don't pick her. her tests are hard as fuck.

lisa is a bitch for lack of better words. she is super anal about EVERYTHING and and it makes your life a living hell. shes a nice lady (if u catch her at the righte time) and wants to help her students out, but dont expect a good grade unless u have a hisotry of sucking teachers dicks.

Lisa expects you to go about her class as if it were the only class you were taking. The amount of work given is not proportional to the fact that it is a 100 level class. On top of this, she straight up lied to the class in saying she did not pick favorites. I could care less as long as she was honest about it. more frustrating than anything else is that she had a way of manipulating people into doing whatever they needed to do to get an A...even if that meant putting in way too much work into a simple speech for a class. I would nt advise taking this class.

I notice that you don't have to prove in anyway that you took the class to post here. That needs fixed or people will just post what they want about people they don't know.

She wants the students to use the knowledge of the class in the everyday world. There are two tests and a take home final. The average grade on the first test was a D. Class participation is worth 20% of your grade. There are chances for extra credit.

Personally, critical thinking is just a really difficult subject for me in the first place, but having Kawamura teach it was a really good experience. She had the class do a lot of group work and we also do some fun activities. She's really funny and it's cool having a younger proffessor. My only advice to you is study, study, study for those tests!

She is moody and really likes speech. She expects you to understand everything if you don't it's your fault. She is hard to get help from. Not an easy A class

I thought this was going to be an average class, but it was way harder. Lisa has been the worst teacher I have had at Cal Poly. Avoid her at all costs.

To this day I can still remember how I felt about Lisa. One word SCARY. She is super bitchy and her grading methods are ridiculously impossible. I can appreciate a teacher who makes a student work for his or her grade, but I'm not going to be belittled and disrespected while doing so which is exactly what she did to me and others. I don't think she can teach worth a damn and for anyone who got an "A" or a "B" in her class, what in the hell did you do? Because there is no way to pass her tests. Forget going to her office hours to butter her up because she will either not be there or she won't care that you're there anyway. Public speaking is not fun for most people but she believes that it is fucking oxygen and that we all need to be experts at it. GREAT, if that was my major or if I was on the debate team (which I can't even imagine being "coached" by her, I'm thinking Army Boot Camp? but that would probably be a better time.) However, this is a GE course and we all have better shit to do. She needs to take a cue from her fellow teachers that understand that while having good public speaking skills is important, its not life, and no one will ever have good public speaking skills if they are being graded by this teacher. If you value your self-esteem and time out of class, DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER!

If you are on the debate team, then she will love you. If not, then she will dislike you. If you want to be on the debate team, then that is good for you. But her tests are hard, and if the answer is false, then you have to make it true. She also never lets you leave early and never cancels class. If you want a cool teacher, then don't pick her.

Absolutely the worst class and professor I have had at Cal Poly. At all costs avoid this professor and class. I spent 10 weeks learning nothing, it was a complete waste of time. I am not rating her because of my poor grade(C+) but rather to help other students. Class consisted of two or three meaningless assignments, which I believe she gave random grades. Students received poor grades in hopes of covering up for her lack of teaching. The class did not perform an evaluation for the department because she was probably scared of the outcome. To sum things up, WORTHLESS CLASS, WORTHLESS PROFESSOR! I AM SERIOUS, DO NOT TAKE HER! If you do, be sure to kiss ass and get the A.

Here's the breakdown. Im not going to talk about her as a person because that would be a waste of both my time and yours. As a teacher though, she fails miserably. Unapproachable and downright rude are the words to describe her when you go to her office hours. The assignments you do throughout the quarter in no way help you prepare for her midterm and final, which are 25% of grade each. Also, you spend 4 weeks simulating a trial where the only people who get A's are the attorneys. All in all, the amount of time I put into this class (at least 3 hours a day during the trial simulation) was not worth it. Don't take her unless you like to spend more time on this class than any other class and receive a much lower grade.

LISTEN TO ME. i read other peoples evals on her, and thought she couldnt be that bad. i was right... she was WAY worse. Half the class failed the impossible midterm. the asignments were horrible. she is horrible as a person. i would talk about the final, but i wasn't even in the class anymore when the final came around. please poly... lets boycott this class or something!

I fucking hate this bitch and tell her so every time I see her. I got an A b/c she is not as smart as she thinks she is and I was able to obatin a great grade while letting her know what a cunt she is everyday. Go to hell Kwanamara! I ask you how does it make you feel that 90% of your students hate you, gee you really made a success out of your career at Cal POly. Who are you kidding you are a disgrace to the school and to all lesbians (like myself) who are trying to make a name for themselves other then being refered to as a dyke. I seriously hate you with a passion and wish I never had the misfortune of meeting you.

To be completely honest, she was the worst professor I have ever had. Avoid taking her for this class if you can. I busted my ass for a grade I certainly did not deserve. She is a complete bitch and she does not care one bit. Do yourself a favor and avoid her at all cost.

I can honestly say Kawamura is the worst teacher i have had at Poly, and i'm sure the only reason she still teaches is because the school wants her to lead the debate team. Her class is a joke. She obviously favors the girls over the guys and is very open about it. She cannot teach the material and spends alot of the class bitching and talking about the debate team. Her tests suck, they require you to know pointless details from the text plus she grades written responses from her personal point of view, so your answer could be right, but if she doesn't agree with it, its wrong. I think she is just on a power trip over teaching a class. She is rude and she does not care about students. If you bust your ass on the trial simulation a decent grade is possible, its just not an enjoyable class, unless you kiss her ass and she likes you. Take someone else for this class, but if you have to take her it is possible to do OK. Kawamura, i hope you read this so you can know what we think of you, you are a very, very bad person.

i am appaled and utterly outraged that this lady is still allowed to teach here at cal poly. she is a horrible, horrible indiv. she picks favorites and will roll her eyes at you and make snide comments when you are delivering a speech. my class started a damn petition to get her kicked off campus, but guess what, the stupid bitch is still teaching. i dont think ever in my entire life have i detested a person so much. your grade in this class is based on shit, she gives one midterm, which pretty much everyone fails, you do congress briefs, which she gave no help explaining, and a trial. but the main grade is whether or not she likes you or not. avoid this stupid dyke at all costs or else you will endure hell

Worst FUCKING teacher Ever. Dont take this class with this teacher. She is a femenist Bitch and doesnt know the first thing about teaching. Her tests are incredibly unfair. THere is not one good comment about her for spc 126. I didnt take her for 101 but 126 is the wors class ive taken. She Should really consider another carrer.

WORST TEACHER AT CAL POLY. Her tests are impossible considering the class average was a 65% with no curve and she only gives out 2 A's in the whole class. She never cancelled a class and we never got out early. Avoid this teacher at all costs.

Lisa Kawamura is by far one of the worst teachers I have ever Had. My entire life I got straight A's, and now I will be pushing to get a C. Lisa is an extreemly strict teacher, and every outline that you have to turn in to her has to be perfect. In the beginning she tells you that if you follow her directions, you will do good, but it is not true. She treats the class like it is a graduate level class, and her grading system is horrible. You should avoid this class at all costs. If not, your first quarter at Cal Poly will be a living hell because of her. I do not respect her at all.

I just completed SCOM 101 with Professor Kawamura and it was a great experience. She is extermely intelligent and brings humor and wit to the class. She is very fair in all her policies and grading; I would recommend taking classes that she teaches!

This teacher thinks that speech is the only thing in the world. She will give outrageous homework assignments and expect that all of her students love to come to her class. You get extra credit for going to all class but get docked if you don't. She should be teaching at an Ivy League school where students don't have anything better to do than to put all thier money and time into reasearhing a stupid five minute speechs. If you don't like reasearch, and lots of it, stay away!!!!1

Lisa Kawamura is an excellent instructor. She's enthousiastic about the subject and really seems to enjoy teaching it. She definetely cares about helping her students out, and her door is always open during office hours. I had her for speech 125 and speech 201, on the same days one right after another. But, she definetely kept me interested even though I sat in the same seat for three hours straight! She is a hard grader, but if you put the effort in you'll do fine. She made speech seem so interesting that I'm actually switching my major to speech communication. Oh! She also tells the funniest stories!

Professor Kawamura expects you to follow instructions; her assignments are very clearly layed out, and people who don't simply follow the instructions she gives are going to fail. She expects you to do research for your speeches, and good research; you can't go on the web for a half hour the night before the speech is due, and get away with it. BUT, she'll help you in any way that you ask if you go to her office hours. She's also great at demonstrating what she wants you to do in your speeches in her lectures; if you want help and/or an example to follow, just watch her in class. Overall, a very good professor...if you follow her instructions.

This teacher is bias and unorthodox in her barbaric methods. I feel that she sexually harassed the males in the class by lower their grade based on gender (only). If you want equality and fair treatment take someone else.

Lisa is a fun but demanding teacher. You will work hard in her class, but you will learn what she is teaching you. You will do five speeches (compared to 3-4 for other teachers), but two of them are short. She is rarely available at office hours because so many students want to see her then you will have to wait a while.

Lisa is by far one of the best professors that I have ever taken for anything. I will be the first to admit that she is really intimidating. I took her for SPC 350 my first quarter, and dropped because I was afraid of her loud voice and powerful demeanor. Then I found out that she was the only one that taught it, so I sucked it up, and re-enrolled. Turned our that I learned more from her than most of my other professors combined. I took her for 201 the next quarter. She can be a hard-ass about her assignments, but is willing to help you in anyway that she can, if you ask. If you follow her directions then you will do fine. Its nice to have a young professor like her that really relates to you. But, expect to go to class, and to be active.

Lisa makes you work for your grade so if your looking for a laid back class, go elsewere. If you want to learn how to be a good public speaker and don't mind a little research this is the place for you.

Lisa is an extremely unorthodox teacher for this university. She relates well to the students and is very laid back. However, much like a student, she can be extremely rude, abrasive and unreliable (not showing up for scheduled office hours on numerous occassions). Furthermore, I found her grading system to be mysterious and arbitrary. If another teacher is available, I recommend taking them.

I feel that Lisa is a very bias and flat out rude teacher. I went three times to her office hours, and the one time she was there she was extremely rude to me. She is also the debate coach, so she has a lot going on in her life, and I highly doubt that using her office time to help her speech students is a priority in her life. The outlines that she assigns with her sppeeches are graded VERY VERY harshly, and it's pass or fail on the outlines. I don't feel that I learned much in this class. The only positive to taking her course is that if you do the work it is easy to get a B or C.

Lisa is awesome. Speech is difficult for anyone and can be nerve racking, but Lisa really made the class laid back and made me feel comfortable. She doesn't really lecture because most of the time you're listening to speeches, so there is some reading. But you get a lot of feedback for your speech to help you on the next one. If you try hard to improve and prepare your speech well, there should be no problem pulling a B in the class.

I love how easily we forget that college is about thinking not drinking. However, I know that my social life never once took a plunge while I was in this class. I just figured out how to balance my school work and partying. Lisa's instructions are VERY clear. If you follow them, you're sure to get an A in the class. Heaven forbid a teacher never cancels class (How much do you pay a quarter to attend class?). Oh, and she cares immensely for her students, if you give her the chance. So, if you want to improve yourself, open your mind and take this class. AND, I never took debate once and she still liked me. So there.

I tried to like Lisa and sometimes I did, however, she was incredibly disappointing. Do not take her class, take any other class that fulfills this requirement for the major or GE. She is incredibly unclear when it comes to her expectations for a performance and assignments. Assignments do not have a rubric or any sort of example of what she is looking for. She calls people out in front of the class in situations where it should be private. The people that went on the first day of performances were constantly picked apart so that the people going on the second day could fix theirs and do better. When our class did their oral histories and opened up with some vulnerable and difficult stories to tell, she proceeded to announce at the end of the class that "all of the themes were weak today." Which I frankly found insensitive and disrespectful. This class is so unclear, frustrating, and I did not gain any knowledge from it. Take it with another professor.

this woman is the biggest fucking bitch u will ever meet in your life. she is incredibly inconsiderate, gives you bad grades if she doesn't like you, thinks shes really cool but is actually the most annoying person alive. easily the worst teacher ive ever had. avoid her at all costs. she is a terrible terrible TERRIBLE PERSON! and i hate her with every bone in my body!

Bitch. that is all that you need to know. the first 5 weeks of the class is just a mad dash that she tries to make everyone pro's on being on the debate team but it is 2 days a week so it is way too much material. She is unwilling to help students that she does not like. She obviously got picked on for being the fat asian all her life so she either kisses your ass because you are a cute girl who makes her feel good about herself or she is just a rageing hard on. Take the other teacher no matter what!!!!!!!!!!!

for those of you who do not realize it yet: the faculty in SCOM sucks. for the most part they dont give a rats ass about you or if you learn to be better at public speaking or whatever. the most intense part of the suckiness of speech com is the debate people. they are beyond belief. i recommend that you take skiles if you can. he may be much like kawamura and that icky winebrinner, but way less horrible. for some reason, yes, this kawamura thing tells everyone that she is anal. what on earth does that mean??????????? why not say detail oriented, what the hell would make someone so eager to say the word ANAL???????? how sik is that. and why do these peopel make your life a living hell???? and why do you accept it?????? dont worry though, we will all be out soon. these people make academe look ugly.

Most evil, unkind, unpredictable, psycholigically imbalanced professor i have ever had. Makes Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini look very compassionate in comparison...Would rather have shards of glass in my eyes, than ever have to see this woman again. People come and go and memories fade, but i will never forget Lisa Kawamura, even Satan gets a little uneasy around her.

Sack up you fucking whiners! Lisa is fine, if you can't follow directions don't blame her. She is clear unless you're a fucking idiot (90% of the people in my class) and cannot operate at a level higher than god damn high school. GROW THE FUCK UP AND WORK! If you can't then drag your sorry ass down to junior college and learn what the fuck college is all about.

Trump 2016 -> Kanye 2020 -> Vermen Supreme 2024 -> ??? -> Profit