Katona, Leah  

Katona is the sweetest lady... From what I've heard from people in other coms classes, she's also probably one of the easier teachers. That's not to say that we didn't do work... There are four graded speeches, and each new speech goes up in the amount of points its worth, as you get used to speaking. There's a journal that includes your outlines, biographies, self-evaluations, and any other assignments... There isn't much homework at all, just speech preparation, and she makes her expectations very clear. If you need a coms professor, she's a good one, very approachable. And you get to choose whatever you want to speak on, so long as you can fit it to the type of speech you're doing. Super nice lady. Plus she gives tons of fun relationship advice.

BEST PROFESSOR EVER!! She has a little bit of a longer time limit in comparison to other COMS professors but she tells you exactly what she's looking for and isn't nit picky at all with her grading. HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO TAKE HER FOR COMS101!!!!!

A fantastic communications teacher. Your grade is out of 100 points only, but consists of four speeches and a final journal/collection of speeches, with extra credit here and there (perfect attendance, speech timer). The first few weeks are heavily focused on learning the different aspects of a speech, kinds of speeches, etc. Afterwards are solely speeches, each going up in grade points possible. For speeches, Katona outlines exactly what she expects of a speech, and is very open to the topics. She greatly emphasizes that speaking about a topic you are passionate about usually enhances your speech, so she isn't very restrictive. You are required to outline, which she collects on your speech dates. The last speech was entirely manuscripted, however. She grades right on the spot, into PolyLearn, so you get your grade and feedback right away. Having been in another COMS class before, this is a huge plus since some professors lag in their grading. Some things to watch out for is definitely citing your sources during your speech (source, and date). Many students, including me, were docked a few points for not citing the source date. Overall, very nice and approachable, which is amazing for a COMS professor.

Took her Spring 2015, one of the funniest professors I've had at poly. I was really NOT looking forward to a 7am COMS class but, she actually made the class bearable. She tells you exactly what she wants out of each speech which is how you're able to get an A. She gives extra credit, especially for perfect attendance. Very APPROACHABLE. Overall amazing coms teacher

Professor Katona is truly a great professor. Her grading is fair, and she gives lots of feedback on speeches. Also, she is very approachable and easy to talk to. Take Katona for COMS 101!!!

Great Professor. Her class is easier than most but you have to work for an A on the speech. Only assigns speech outlines and reflections and one rhetorical criticism for writing assignments. Overall a great class with several opportunities for extra credit

Professor Katona is a wonderful professor and a very kind woman. She grades speeches pretty hard, but her class is organized and reasonable. On a personal note, I would highly suggest picking speech topics that actually mean something to you. You're getting the chance to stand up in front of your peers and talk about things that you are passionate about-- how cool is that?

Professor Katona is great! The only thing though is that we only give 3 speeches (4 if you count a small 10 point speech), and each is weighted heavily. My last value speech was 200 points, which was one third of my grade. By the way, she is a hard grader. She even says if you give a good speech, you get a C. Plus, for each speech, she requires that you make an outline. The outlines she made us do were with FULL SENTENCES, not just bullet points, which took foreverrrrrrr. She didn't do as much teaching as I thought. Most of the days were giving or listening to speeches. Not a ton of lectures on "how to give a speech". Another thing is that attendance was mandatory, which killed me lol. It all depends on what you want in a professor,

Professor Katona is not the typical COMS professor. She's kind of quirky. E.g. she had us do squats to practice our posture. (So I guess it was effective, but I'm not sure that other professors do the same.) She's really sweet, and loves talking about dating. Honestly, I'd rather take a class on dating with her any day of the week than COMS because she is so passionate about that. Overall, a great COMS class, but she made me work for my A. No quizzes or exams except for the final which was on PolyLearn. The only bad thing I would have to say about her is that she doesn't understand the CP culture. As someone that wants to go to grad school, I want to keep my GPA high. She (almost) looks down on this and questions students when they ask about grading. Truth be told, her head is in the right spot: her target is an education and advancement, not a letter...but can she balance it a little better?

Dr. Katona was an amazing professor. She is very funny and made class really enjoyable. She is a fair grader and it is obvious that she wants her students to succeed and improve on their public speaking. If you have the chance to take her class, I highly recommend you do.

This yitch grades harder than my nipples on a frosty winter day. I shouldn't have a higher grade IN FUCKING CALCULUS THAN THIS GOD DAMN GE. Just saying!!!!

such a funny and sweet lady. its definitely really hard to get an a, though. don't expect to get one since coms has a rep of being an easy class in general. the outlines screwed me over because i could never get the format perfect because of my computer. speeches are graded very hard, i only got an a on one of them. one option for extra credit the entire quarter. make sure to go into office hours and don't be lazy, i regret not taking the time to ask for help directly.

Ms. Katona is really a nice person, and a decent public speaking teacher. I wish she had given more feedback on how to improve speech delivery, but overall, I feel more confident in my ability as a public speaker. She does grade kind of harshly, but if you pay attention to her requirements (i.e. review the rubrics on PolyLearn before giving your speech or turning in your outline), you should get the grade you want. The class as a whole wasn't too bad; sometimes we got into some very interesting conversations, talking about everything from clowns to long-distance relationships (she will talk about relationships a lot. She literally wrote a book on them), and we almost always got out of class about a half hour early. I would definitely recommend Ms. Katona for COMS 101.

Professor Katona is a very sweet lady. Her requirements for her speeches are clear, and they are graded fairly. With that said, though, the writing assignments are graded unnecessarily hard. On all of the outlines as well as the final paper, she provides very minimal, if not zero comments, and almost everyone that I spoke with received a High C or a low B. The speeches basically allow free reign on whatever you feel is interesting, but professor Katona never really explains tactics or strategies on how to become a better public speaker, as a vast majority of classes are dedicated to speeches or brainstorming days. As a whole, professor Katona is a nice person, and the speech requirements are fair, but, due to the writing assignments, it is easy to receive a B, but almost impossible to receive an A.

she doesn't give a clear example of what she expects from you regarding speeches and outlines. every outline I got was graded as a B and she never made any comments as to why I wasn't receiving those additional points. for my intro speech, I did a rap and received a C (I guess it doesn't pay off to be creative) and the only comment she gave was "wished there was instrumental music"... okay cool Leah. throughout the quarter she talked about this book she wrote and how she is an expert when it comes to reading people and relationships; I suggest you buy it and base your essay off of it, then maybe just maybe you'll pull of an A.

Ms. Katona is a great person outside of the classroom and was highly interesting in class but she let herself get in the way of her teaching and helping her own students. She was the type of professor that liked to hear herself talk more than actually teach valuable information. The speeches in the class were basic but if you want an easy coms experience (like any sane person) DONT TAKE HER. It's almost impossible to get an A or even a B+ on speeches because she is so critical. There isn't much that will easily help your grade either, everything is weighted a lot so you're pretty much screwed. Also, her final is ridiculous. Our class opted for the online final and it was over 80 questions repeating themselves and overall just pointless. Don't let these reviews fool you, opt for an easier instructor she asks for way too much work.

Up until the very last half of the class, i loathed Coms 101. She grades the speeches pretty hard and I think it's unfair that just to get a C, you have to hit ALL of the requirements for your speech, and if you don't, D+ for you! I don't think my speech giving abilities improved at all, but that may be just be who I am. Speeches come up on each other fast so that was pretty annoying to deal with. Only until the end did my speeches receive better grades and I can't even describe the anxiety I felt every time for my speeches. At least, the first two speeches are less points than the rest of them so if you do better on the last two, it can really help bump up your score. The paper was pretty easy to write, and the online final took me the whole 3 hours. Only bothered to read the assigned chapters a couple days before the final since she never checked that we had read them. Final pretty much consisted of flipping to and from the glossary looking for the answers. Only homework in this class was your speeches and the paper. Also she was strangely particular about the format of the rough speech draft and doesn't make sense for her to grade so harshly on whether or not your a point didn't line up correctly under the previous line. Talks a lot about her dating theories and basically, this class was not helpful at all and hard to get an A in. I barely did.

Professor Katona is a really really nice lady, but don't let that fool you. She is AWEFUL as a professor for a general ed such as coms 101. She makes everything she expects of you very clear which is nice, except that she literally marks you down for doing what she asked. She is the hardest grader I have ever meet. I actively went into office hours and went in to have her look over my speeches before to make sure there was nothing I needed to change that would get me marked down. Then she would rip apart my speech even after she told me there was nothing to fix. Bottom line she is the worst. Very nice lady who I would love to be friends with, but is the overall worst teacher. I ended with a 79.8 and it didn't get rounded up. Even though I got an A on the final. Every one of my assignments was one grade below the class average. Shes not the professor for you.

I don't know why people are criticizing Katona for giving so much work. She only assigned 3-4 speeches, never gave out quizzes, and the assigned reading was never checked on a weekly basis. The fact that she didn't give out a midterm for this class should be something that students shouldn't be taking for granted. This is by far proves that this class does not require a lot of commitment and should be taken if you have other classes to take during the quarter. It is true that she is a hard grader but as long as you follow her rubric it is not hard to improve your speeches over time. If you have any questions, just ask her after class or during her office hours. She is really approachable and easy to talk to. My first three speeches were C+ and my final speech was a B-. Regardless of her harsh grading, I still managed to maintain a B for here final was really easy. Most of the questions (multiple choice/free response) are common sense and if you have any trouble answering the questions, just quickly look at the index.

There are 4 speeches (70%), an essay (15%), and an open-book take-home PolyLearn final (15%). The first speech is an automatic A, you just introduce yourself and there is no strict time limit. The next three speeches (informative, persuasive, value) increase in points and expectations. Katona gives 30 second leeways on the time, which gives you a huge window to work with. She says that speeches should be extemporaneous, which means little preparation and only small notecards, but you should practice your speeches to near memorization to get an A (unless you're a gifted speaker). Most A speakers in the class practiced at least 15 times. She is extremely clear about the requirements for outlines and presentations, and following them exactly will merit you the grade. Many students consistently got B's and C's because they did not read or follow Katona's advice from previous speeches. I got a C on the informative and B on the persuasive but got an A on value which brought up my score a whole grade because the value speech is most heavily weighted. You have about 4.5 weeks to work on the essay, so just don't procrastinate. She doesn't check for reading, so I only picked up the book three times for the sample outlines throughout the quarter and then again for the final.

Seems like she's very helpful at first. Gives the most generic advice and feedback in the world. Takes her job way too seriously and grades extremely harsh. Plays favorites as well. Nice person, this class had potential to be enjoyable. But the harsh grading and seriousness put me way off. Don't take this lady unless you are a fantastic public speaker!

She's okay. She is pretty clear about most things, and if you work hard then you can do well in the class. Mess around and you will probably get a B

Even though I did not like Katona at all, I think she is one of the best COMS 101 professors considering the horror stories I have heard from my friends with other professors. Every assignment is clearly explained, but she is very stingy with grading and wasn't clear on what she docked points off for, even when I brought it up. Also you HAVE to make the time requirements on the speeches or you grade will be trashed. There is a 30 second buffer, and after that it is 5 points off for every 30 seconds below or above the requirement. There are five speeches (introduction, impromptu, informative with outline, persuasive with outline, and value), 3 online quizzes (and there are quizlets for all the questions), a speech critique essay, and an online final (quizlet answers). I was not expecting an A at all, but she offers 5 points of extra credit for timing speeches and 30 points for having perfect attendance. You will be fine if you try in this class and show up.

Of all the COMS professors I could have gotten, I’m so glad I got Mrs. Katona. No matter what, you are going to have to do some work in whatever speech class you have, but, if you have the option, take her class. I got an A but I worked very hard to earn that grade. All of her quizzes are online so if you know how to work quizlet, you should have no problem getting an A on her quizzes. Even her final exam is online!! Honestly, if you don’t do well on her tests then you’re just lazy or stupid. She gives thorough feedback on all of your speeches. Here’s the thing: COMS teachers are pretty much REQUIRED to grade you harshly. They get in trouble if it’s an easy A (something she said about it having to be equivalent to previous years). You have to put in work. You have to fulfill all the requirements. Some of her grading seems like crap but she gives tons of help if you need it and, if you go into office hours, she will go over the entire speech with you. Also, no group projects (unless you want to for the final speech). Plus, she gives TONS of extra credit if you have perfect attendance and time other students speeches.

Katona was pretty chill and a fair grader. She's helpful if you ask her questions in class or in office hours. I basically always wrote my speeches the night before and usually got B's on them, but there's some other assignments that pulled my grade up to an A-. For my quarter she let us take quizzes and our final online outside of class but she said she hasn't done that before, but maybe she'll keep doing it. We had an introduction speech, informative, persuasive, impromptu, and value speech. Not too bad, but I remember being terrified for the impromptu. Other than that, class was pretty good.

Ms. Katona was my saving grace this quarter. She grades a little bit hard on the speeches, but is so so hopeful when you ask for help on your speeches. She is super available bc you can text her through the remind app, so there was no waiting for a short response on a super formal email or anything. I sent all of my speeches to her before practicing them to make sure they sounded good, and she was always more than willing to help. Aside from our speeches, we had two online quizzes and an online final where all the answers are on a bunch of different quizlets. She definitely makes you feel more comfortable getting up and talking in front of the class, and I can confidently say I am a better public speaker and genuinely enjoyed public speaking (which I previously hated) after taking her class

Laziest professor at Cal Poly I've encountered so far. It was frustrating when I had questions for Katona either at the end of class or at office hours because all she would contribute were a bunch of quick "okay's" or a "yeah sounds good". She provided no actual input for the questions because she was too busy scrolling on her phone or wanting to go home to play her favorite game that she made the entire class know of, Skyrim. None of the tests were her own and the textbook that she claimed you must read before every class is irrelevant to what she explained during class. Don't expect to come out of her class with an A because every speech you give, she loves to take off a nonsensical amount of points for the most minimal errors that might not even have occurred.

I was terrified going into this class as I have always hated public speaking. However, I found myself somehow enjoying this class. Yes, the speeches were still scary, but since the whole quarter involved lots of informal class discussions we all got pretty close and it made the speeches way less intimidating. Katona is a tough grader (from what I have heard, harder than other professors for public speaking), but she is clear about what she wants. Overall I think I \improved in public speaking significantly in her class. From the beginning I was just aiming for a B since I knew I wasn't a great public speaker and she gave out very limited As, but by getting B+s on all the speeches and doing well on the final and some written work I unexpectedly pulled off an A. If you genuinely want to get better at public speaking I recommend Katona.

Katona was a good teacher in general. She gave a lot of her own personal stories imbedded within he lectures which made it a lot more interesting. There were 3 speeches; a celebratory, informative, and persuasive speech. She focuses a lot on the structure of how your speech is written (so make sure you follow the right format) as well as your clarity when speaking as well as eye contact. She was really big on eye contact. Most of the classes were either learning about speeches, watching videos from famous speakers, giving your speeches, and watching the other students give theirs. She's totally available if you have questions and welcomes them.

During this entire quarter all I could think about was how this professor reminded me of that small little dog that runs through the back of scene 23 in The Incredibles by Pixar. Seriously, if you look it up you will only be able to see it...