Ward, Amy  

You will hear about some really good professors for coms 101, but you can't go wrong with Amy. No, she's not extremely funny or witty, but she gets the job done. She realizes that you have better things to do than her class and does not require extra speeches or unnecessary homework. She presents the information very clearly and is s very sweet person. She follows her syllabus, so just show up, read the majority of the book (super easy read), and you should come out alright. I think she gave everyone in the class a b, with the exception of the extreme slackers. She made a ge I thought I would hate fairly enjoyable for me.

Amy is a really nice, knowledgeable, and fair with grading. We had 3 major speeches and 2 papers, along with small homework assignments. This class takes a lot of time input because of the speeches, but she explains everything very clearly and is always willing to help. I had he go over my speech outlines with me before the speeches and she was very helpful. The midterm and final are straightforward and easy with fill in the blank vocab and some short answer. You need to know the vocab or you'll get a C at best on the exams. The short answer questions are easy and you get to pick what you want to write about from a few options. She does fun in class speech activities and I enjoyed the class and her as a professor.

Just straight up stupid. Literally gave everyone horrible grades on the first speech without giving us a rubric and telling us the whole time that "it's just an intro speech" and "don't worry too much about it." DO NOT TAKE HER. I GUARANTEE YOU WILL REGRET IT. Was told she was a good teacher for Coms but obviously something happened to her between first quarter and second quarter.

Just don't. There are plenty of other Coms professors you can take that are better and easier.

Professor Ward is a GE professor who takes her subject way to seriously. The work load is not too heavy. You only have to give 3 big speeches but she grades them extremely hard. She also is one of the only coms professors to give a written midterm and final, both of which seem easy while taking them but she grades extremely hard. Overall I would not recommend taking Professor Ward. Her lectures are boring but mandatory and while the work load is relatively light, her ridiculously harsh grading makes this class unbearable.

She's awesome. She was super helpful if you take the time to go to office hours. I thought I'd hate this class but it was not bad with Ms. Ward.

She is a good, young, lively professor. We read maybe a chapter a week, but they are short. Just need to know vocab for the midterm. She doesn't go over the reading in class, so make sure you do it on your own. Speeches come up quick. She grades them pretty fairly. Overall, I would recommend taking her class. It's not too much work, and you will for sure pass the class if you put in some effort.

Professor Ward is very reasonable and clear in her expectations of her COMS 101 students. There are four main speeches, but if public speaking isn't your strong suit the way she structures the class can still allow you to achieve a good grade. The written midterm and final (weighted & graded equally), a couple papers (non-essay style), and several "labs" can balance out the speech grades. Contrary to another reviewer - if you study the vocab well and read all the chapters the tests are pretty easy. Take the class relatively seriously - the speeches do come up quickly - and you'll be fine.

Amy seems like a nice lady. However, Amy simply does not know how to teach the subject. Seems as if the material should be easy to learn, but you look at the way she present and do it the same way and end up with a C on every speech. The professor should demonstrate to the students, this isn't the case with her class, however. She's VERY monotone and shows no emotion when speaking- yet she still tells her studenrs to be passionate when speaking and show emotion and facial expressions. She's also a harsh grader on papers and midterms. One hundred percent do not recommend!

I loved Ward. She was clear in what she wanted and she made her class feel personalized and learned everyone's names. Not much workloads, just a few simple assignments here and there that took no more than ten minutes to do and worth ten points each. Class isn't weighted either. There are two major papers which are fairly easy because you just answer the questions given. The midterm and final are easy A as long as you know the key terms extremely well. This class is a easy B but you have to work a little harder for an A because she mostly gives B's on speeches, which is a big part of your grade

Dr. Ward is a really nice lady and she is super chill. She is just really stingy about grading. She pretty much gave everybody mid to low 80's on all the speeches. And I could tell my speaking was improving throughout the quarter, but my grade on each speech didn't seem to rise even though my improvement felt substantial. She is the coms professor to take if you want an easy class and are satisfied with a B, but if you want an A I strongly suggest taking someone else.

Prof. Ward was insightful and helpful. I felt that her grading was very fair, a lot of COMS professors give Cs for most/all speeches and that discourages people from trying and makes growth hard to see. But Prof. Ward was even and fair, she graded average speeches as Bs instead of Cs.

I have a lot of friends with very bad public speaking teachers. Some grade harshly and give very hard tests, and others are too lax and don't give tests at all. Amy Ward delivers. She presents the information very well, and makes the class worth taking. Some people in the class disagreed with her grading, claiming that it is too tough. She definitely is not an easy grader, but I got A's in all my speeches and if you put in the work, you can do the same. For the tests, read the textbook. Knowing the vocab really isn't enough, as many of the questions are like "The textbook says the best way to start your speech is..." I didn't read much of the textbook and just studied vocab on quizlet and got B's on both tests. I also put in an average of 6 hours a week and got an A-, so the homework load is comparatively easy to the other COMS professors. Overall, I would highly recommend Ward.

I actually really enjoyed this class! Granted... I love public speaking. She allows you to use note cards for speeches which is cool, honestly the tests aren't awful but you definitely have to read the textbook not just vocab.. speeches you can get a high B without trying TOO hard or you can get an A if you're a little extra during them! Good class, one of the better COMS teacher as I've heard!

Amy Ward is one of the sweetest professors out there! She gives you more than enough time to prepare all four of your speeches (one personal, one informative, one persuasive, and one of choice). Her midterms are very easy, you can read the textbook 10 min before class and get a good grade on them! The only negative is that she gives virtually every person in the class a B no matter how fantastic you do. The worst and the best public speakers will both get B's on their speeches within 5 points of each other. If you get A's on the midterms and final, you will most likely get an A in the class though.

My first impression of Professor Ward was good, because she was very open to the students and seemed to be enthusiastic about the topic. However, as the quarter progressed, it became clear that she put minimal effort into teaching the class, probably because she knew that it's a required course for all Cal Poly students. The class consists of four speeches (personal object, informative, persuasive, and final speech of your selection) and three exams. With speeches, it seems nearly impossible to get an A, and even good speakers get Bs. She has rubrics for every speech and it's often filled with comments like "good ____", "work on ____", and even when I improved on my speaking by following her exact tips I got the same score, or lower, on my next speech. She talks about wanting speeches to be "extemporaneous", meaning you follow an outline of your speech but improvise off of the outline on the spot, but the ideal speech she wants is a nearly completely memorized speech. Her tests are absolutely ridiculous and full of dumb information which you have to memorize by reading the extremely boring textbook, questions like "what is the average words per minute people speak at?" and other ridiculous statistics which have no place in a public speaking class. Even if you study very hard for the test, you'll most likely get a B+ at most because some questions are so poorly worded or irrelevant that no normal person would memorize. The final verdict I have is that I would avoid taking this professor, because she puts very little effort into teaching the class. Out of my entire schedule, sadly enough this class was MY MOST DIFFICULT CLASS and MY LOWEST GRADE -- avoid!

Amy Ward was one of my favorite lecturers from freshmen year. She was into what she was teaching and encouraged everyone in the class to get to know one another. I enjoyed coming to class every day, and when I got very sick during the quarter she sent me home and excused me from the days material. Overall, I would recommend her to anyone!

She is an extremely nice lady and makes the classroom feel welcoming. HOWEVER, she gives literally everyone B's!!! Do not take this class if you are looking for an easy A. For every speech I would fix what she suggested, yet sometimes I got a lower score?? She does not like funny speeches at all and will give you a bad grade if you make jokes. The kids who were the shiest and would read from their cards and look at the ground would get better grades than the entertaining speeches. She has a strict outline she needs everyone to follow, which makes the speeches extremely boring to listen to. But if you want a friendly teacher take her. I just wish I did not so that I could have received an A.

Not a fan

Amy is a super nice woman and a good coms teacher. She cracks jokes and always tries to make the class feel comfortable. If you use her suggestions for your speeches you'll do fine. If you are a naturally nervous speaker, this class might be hard to get an A in because she does grade somewhat harshly. But she's super nice and helpful and so flexible!! definitely one of the nicer coms teachers, just put the work in and you'll get a good grade

Professor Ward is clear and organized. The class was pretty boring but mostly because of the content matter. She's a relatively hard grader but its very possible to do well especially if you actually pay attention to her comments on your speeches.

Amy Ward is an Ok teacher. She is very nice and understanding, however she is unclear with her grading and it is hard to improve your grade on your speeches. I got an 85 on all four speeches we had in class, even though I had spent a lot more time and effort on some. The class is fairly easy if you are okay with getting a B+ or a B. With her grading, it is very easy to get a B in the class but almost impossible to get an A. Practically everyone in my class would get between 83-87 on their speeches, and its hard to raise your grade to an A even if you get high As on the three quizzes based on the textbook reading. If you are looking for an easy B/B+ then take this class, but if you're really set on getting an A I would take this class with another professor.

It IS possible to get an A in Amy's class! Before every speech, she tells you the criteria of what she's looking for. She provides you with the exact rubric she uses to grade your speech, very similar to a checklist. Be mindful of the each point on your rubric and practice! An A will require a bit more time and practice but it is doable! There's only 4 speeches in the quarter. Other COMS professors require more. You got this!

I would definitely recommend Ward for Coms 101 because there are only 4 speeches and 2 or 3 easy quizzes so it is an easy workload but most likely you'll end up with a B because she grades speeches kind of tough.

Ward is a very kind person, but I can't say that I was necessarily a big fan of her class. We had quite a few speeches throughout the quarter, along with reading quizzes that weren't necessarily relevant to the course, so I found that to be a waste of time. Her grading is, in my opinion, rather harsh, and it's pretty difficult to get an A unless you are a really bubbly or charming person, or were part of an FFA chapter in high school (Side note: has anyone else noticed the change in voice inflection and cadence that all former FFA members adopt when they have to partake in public speaking?? Kind of creepy to me). It's pretty common to get in the high 80s on each speech, but it's very rare to get an A on every single speech, so you have to rely on the reading quizzes and final to boost your grade. I think she's trying to communicate through her harsh grading that we are all beginners at public speaking, so our grades should reflect our lack of experience. I think the fact that we are willing to put in the effort and speak in front of a bunch of strangers should be enough for at least an A-. It's really friggin' annoying if you ask me. I guess you can take this class, I've heard there are worse COMS professors.