Schwartz, Debora  

Dr. Schwartz is one of the kindest professors that I have ever met. She has had our class over to her house for dinner (twice), passes out candy at tests, and has a very loving, helpful attitude towards her students. She also has great passion for the literature she teaches (especially medieval), and she brings that passion to class and does her best to convey it to the students. However, passion alone does not make a class. She isn't the most organized person, nor is her class. She will hand out extensive amounts of reading (up to 120 pages) and then put insignificant amounts of it on the test (5 points on a 200 point test). I disagree with the material that the test covers; there will be more material on the factual stuff from her handouts than on the actual literature itself. She also assigns and includes on the test a lot of nitpicky stuff; MLA format questions, internet research exercises, etc. Overall, her teaching style is mildly frustrating. She would be an excellent professor if she assigned less and thoroughly emphasized those works which were assigned, as opposed to assigning much and requiring little. However, her passion places enough grace in her students to give her a good rating. A few other things to know about her 203 class: mandatory attendance, only one small paper to write, medieval lit isn't the most interesting (although she does a very good job of teaching it), nitpicky dates and MLA format on tests, somewhat purposeless internet research assignments, and a whole lot of friggin' books (over 10)

Professor Schwartz is, in a word... challenging. I would not recommend her to non-majors and in fact she states that English majors should have no problem crashing her classes because most non-majors drop them as soon as they realize what kind of work she makes them do. She's tough. Plan on attending all class periods-- not necessarily because she gives vital information in class, but because she takes roll EVERY TIME and grades you down if you're absent. Her lecturing style is a little hectic; she doesn't speak in a linear fashion when the course really requires it. That said, I got all the information I needed for her finals by compiling her lectures with the extensive online supplements she provides, which were *really* helpful-- I just stressed about it a lot more than I probably should have because the amount of stuff she throws at you can be overwhelming. Plan on knowing dates on everything and everyone, no exaggeration. None of her courses are ones you can slide by on-- you either sink or swim, and that's it. Nevertheless, after all of that, I DID get an A in the course. Her tests are challenging, but fair, and to be honest I feel like I really learned a lot of useful and interesting stuff. I complained through the entire course, but now that I'm done with it-- well, I'm glad I took it. She's a tough cookie, but if you're looking for an education rather than some extra credits, she's for you.

Schwartz is an interesting person who knows what she is talking about. It is nice to have a professor who is passionate about what they teach. I had this class a few quarters ago, and I learned a ton about mideval literature. I never knew that I would like it before I took her class. Her exams were very tough, but very fair with no suprizes. If you do your reading and study then you should do well on them. There are a few weird homework assignments (MLA stuff), but I think she is required by the Eng. dept to give them. If you take a mideval course from, Schwartz will pique your interest in the literature for sure.

Wow, this was a hard class. I actually pulled off an A, but that was after lots of blood, sweat, and tears. She only gives two major tests: not surprisingly the midterm and the final, and both take forever to prepare for. The rest are small quizes and really, really annoying research assignments. She make you write out works cited pages ( they are not actual research assignments. Theres only one really 4 page paper you have to do. The expository writing papr on one of the readings, which was not very easy.) On the research asignments. she grades youon every last point: missing commas or periods, missing an underline on a title. Her lectures can sometimes be very enlightening though, and she is very passionate about what she does. Sometimes she'll just talk about the plot of a reading you were supposed to go over, and it gets annoying, since you think "ok, i already knew that." Her insights range from being useless truisms to intelligent critical analysis. But you can tell that there is a certain subjective quality to her lectures. She tends to be wildly impressed with any idea that is her own and is not shared with others. I learned a lot in the class, but somehow i think it was from just doing the readings, not showing up to lectures. Take her if you dare.

This class is quite a handful. Maybe that's even sugar coating it a bit too much. This class is a TON of HARD WORK. Don't try to print out all the e-reserve stuff on your printer you'll probably end up killing it. I used a ton of ink. Having to print out all those handouts isn't Dr. Schwartz's fault, but it is annoying. Most of the study guides were useful. Be prepared to memorize everything. No joke! EVERYTHING. Note cards for EACH and EVERY reading was really helpful. Try to keep up with the research assignments. I recommend going to her office hours and having her proofread them then because she's more patient and will tell you everything that she expects. The Getty field trip didn't seem like it was that necessary, but it was interesting. Write detailed intro paragraphs. You have pop reading quizzes w/ passage ids, dates, etc. There's a lot of opportunities for extra credit on those, so it's worth studying for them. You only have 2 tests, a midterm and a final. You also have 3 writing assignments, the Getty assignment, intro paragraph, and an expanded paper. Write all the detail you can on item ids on the tests or she'll take away points. There is a class pot luck which was fun. Overall, she's a nice person. She's very helpful during office hours. On the other hand, the class is very very demanding.

This class was tough. I had to study my butt off for the midterm and final. The quizzes sometimes contain seemingly irrelevant and random information; however, Schwartz is not unfair, despite what some say. If you do the readings and go to class, you should be fine. She does like for you to spit out whatever her opinion is though. You can survive this class, but be diligent, and don't get behind on the research assignments. They're incredibly tedious.

Although this class requires an incredible amount of time, it is well worth it. I remember more from this class than from any other class I have taken at Poly. I am an English major, and it is very cool to be able to continue on in Core classes and be able relate things from the Renaissance back to Dante and Chaucer. The most important thing is this class is to memorize the little stuff- dates, literary forms, languages, genres, stuff like that. All of that can be done with night before cramming, so it isnt too bad. All in all, I really enjoyed the class- don't be afraid to take Dr. Schartz, just realize that it will be a time commitment.

Dr. Schwartz' is the ultimate Francophile--she even lived in France for a period of time. Her origional goal-she told us- was to teach French, so why is she teaching English? Granted, she is knowledgeable about the period she is teaching, as long as no one has questions other than what she has discussed. She knows little or nothing about how Celtic traditions and beliefs influenced Medieval literature, so don't ask her. She doesn't invite comments or class discussions. Memorize everything. Her quizzes and exams are confusing. She heaps the work on you, so make sure your schedule can take it. Her research assignments are poorly married to her lectures and confusing.

this class is ...time consuming, and as the first of the core classes it really weens out the weak. do NOT take a class with schwartz with any other difficult teacher, that was the end of my social life this quarter. she isnt all bad. i've actually learned a lot of history (which is not my thing in the slightest) and she is REALLY into medeivel factoids. nice lady, just a lot of borring readings

Definitely the most painful class I've taken, and the sad thing is I'm an English major! She enjoys her subject and is more than willing to share her knowledge, but she asks for WAY too much from her students. It was near impossible to complete all the readings, let alone enjoy them or assess their historical impact. It was like running a marathon. If you're considering one of her random courses, PLEASE reconsider unless you really really REALLY love reading TONS of medieval literature. For those of you trapped in her Core class, the best advice I can give is to attend all the classes and take the time to translate her online instructions. She has this horrid habit of repeating herself about 20 times in very tiny print, and unless you sit down and figure out what she's asking for you'll get bogged down.

The good: this woman has a passion for this era that I have not seen matched by anyone else for any other subject, and it shows. She tells you, in so many words, <i>exactly</i> what it is that she wants on her quizes and test. The bad: her passion for the subject absolutely drowns out any sort of coherence there is in understanding even the simplest of things in the class. For example, she was attempting to explain the rhyme scheme in Dantes "Divine Comedy", a fairly simple one, following ababcbcdcdcd, ect ect ect. At least 3/4's of the class did not know this for at least a week because of the convoluted, confusing, and muddled manner of which she explained it. Her quizzes and test would put Grendel to shame in their ferocity. There is no exposition of the text whatsoever, but the regurtatation of names, dates, places, languages, genres, forms, and general factual info. This, in addition to overly verbose and confusing directions for said quizzes and test, heavily effect ones grade especially when they are applied every third class meeting or so. She is a bit condescending towards her students she she feels that they are not performing to their abilities. Although she may think it may come off as 'tough love', it seems as the opposite. In addition, be prepared for a lot of reading. A LOT. Much more than should be for the first class of the English CORE. These readings are not consolidated to a single book or two or even three. Several books, four or so, where we read perhaps thirty pages total from each, as well as a massive amount of PDF print outs. One can easily empty an entire printer cartridge and then some and go through several hundred pages of print outs that they are responsible for in this class alone. Also, be prepared to take an extremely unnecessary trip to the Getty in LA. My advice for that is to drive yourself and a few friends from the class, go on the FIRST tour (I cannot stress that enough; I went on the first tour she gave, lasting about two hours, while the second one lasted a bit over three, going right up to closing time) that she gives, and make a day of the trip. TO sum all things up, all and all, easily one of if not the worse instructor that I have ever had. If at all possible avoid her, but unfortunately I do not think that doable as ALL English majors must take her at some point or another. I will say that my experience in her class has soured any chance of me taking any class that she offers in the future.

To say that this teacher is a horrible witch, worst teacher I have ever had in my entire education as 99.9% of other students have stated, is an understatement! If you have any chance of avoiding this class, please run! Save yourself! I like to read, and even enjoyed a majority of the reading assignmets, but the work load was nearly impossible! If you cant avoid her, this is my suggestion: If you dont understand, go to her office hour and ask her as many times as it takes to get it. I didnt do this because I dispised her, her class, and her teaching style so much and I wish I would have. It took me until the last class until I understood how to do her quizes! Even things that should really be very simple are way too complicated. The night before the final exam, I literally got 0.00 hours of sleep from stress alone, although I had allready spent a week sraight studying, and had read everything! Even if you do the reading and go to lecture, and never miss a class, you can still get a horrible grade. Make flash cards every day and study them frequently the whole quarter, learn dates, author, style, all the nit picky crap you wouldnt expect in an English class.

Debora Schwartz should not be a university professor. I say this not because the class was extremely demanding, but because her teaching style is completely detetrimental and contradictory to learning. Her tests and quizzes are literally set up to make a student do worse than they should; for instance, if you don't indicate which questions you want to count as extra credit on the quizzes, she will only count the answers that were the most incorrect, and not give credit for the correct answers. I could never understand why she would do this to a student, and this was just one of many things she did that not only was frustrating, but also very discouraging. Another thing that she did often was criticize students in front of the whole class, usually when the student was asking her a question surrounding the convuluted nature of the instructions on her quizzes and tests. Altogether, I felt that Debora Schwartz caused a lot of unnecessary stress and anger among students. In all fairness, she is very knowledgable and passionate about the subject, but she is completely in the wrong career field. She could really be one of the best english professors at the university if she weren't such an unpleasant, unreasonable woman.

This teacher is very difficult. For the first core it really gives you a kick in the....As a person she is real nice but when explaining things she talks real fast. She takes forever to grade anything so you have no clue what you have in the class til grades come out. The research excersises are so time consuming and pointless but she does test on the tools and methods. Take this class with something like basket weaving because you will have no other time to commit to any other class. Good Luck!!!

This class is extremely DEMANDING. Granted, I was warned by many students and advisors that this Core was the hardest one to get through, but they did not even come close to what I was about go through. Her exams are EXTREMELY (I mean, extremely) detailed and irrelevant to what you actually need to know in an English class. Huge amounts of memorization is required to even get a passing grade. Yes, you do need to know some time periods of the texts written, but she went way over the top. You never know what grade you have all quarter because she never grades assignments on time. Her tedious directions on group assignments are so hard to follow and the projects are just a huge waste of your time. You really need that time to study for your exams. Seriously think twice about taking this class. If you get through it, and that's an IF, the rest of the Core will be a breeze.

Dr. Schwartz was a thorn in my side from week one of the Winter Quarter. Date memorization, irrelevant facts to the works, and little to no discussion/outside interpretation regarding the readings made this class beyond difficult for me. Dr. Schwartz IS a nice lady and IS funny, but gets way too caught up with her words and feelings about her area. Her tests and paper consisted of regurgitating things we talked about in class, with no personal analysis... just repeat EVERYTHING SHE TRIES TO TEACH YOU and you're at least on the right track. Also, no matter how hard one may try, even one's fullest effort to please her on quizzes and the paper will never be good enough. I had to take this course because it was required for the major, and really, if I didn't take anything else that quarter, Dr. Schwartz probably wouldn't have driven me out of my mind. However, she doesn't take into account that her students have other classes too, some work, and really... no one has 12 hours a day to devote to her class with studying, the research project, and hasty date memorization so one doesn't bomb her quizzes.

Everything you heard about her is true, i hate to say. The workload is very rough. I have never met a more disorganized person, in my class she eliminated quizes halfway through the course and never gave our midterms back thus, grades were unknown going into the final. I have never had such a bad experience. She knows the material well but she should not be teaching. A better fit for her would be guide at a medival museum.

OK--Yes Schwartz is crazy, yes she is not a great teacher, yes she talks about sex way too much than is appropriate. Here's what you do to get a good grade in the class--memorize. Make charts, flash cards, anything you need to get any date or random bit of trivia she throws at you. You won't need to know poet's birth and death dates, but you will nee dot know just about everything else. I memorized every single thing, didn't even try on the research project and got an A-. I'd take another professor if you could, but it's a great lesson in history at least.

She's hard, way too into details that are useless, is NOT about YOUR interpretation -- infact, she could give a rat's ass what you think. The bottom line is, if you don't care about what SHE thinks, you're FUCKED! Sorry. I mean, she was interested... sometimes. But her class is HARD and you need to memorize EVERYTHING. She's organized.. but her calendar online has links to more links to more links...!!!! One day I decided to do all of the required reading before that class in particular, and I stayed up ALL night. She's nuts, but oh my god, I feel like I know my shit. And I only got a C. Could you imagine what an expert an A student must be? She's hard as hell. It should be an 8 unit course. But she's good. Do you dare?

Dr Schwartz is a tough teacher. She's very demanding, but honestly, if you pay attention in class and keep up with the reading, you'll do ok. I went wrong by not memorizing all the dates and not doing all the readings. It's a LOT of work, but she's not a total witch about it. She's a bit eccentric but not that bad. I think it's just a tough class with a lot of reading to cover.

She's alright but really strange. She'll say one thing in her office and then mean something completely different and get embarassed if you ask her about it in lecture. But that's my own personal experience with her. She tries to be really interesting and justify her grading and her actions accordingly but that's because she knows what people are saying about her and her methods. She doesn't simplify anything. On the contrary, she makes things a lot harder than they need to be. Her grading is really easy though. However, the assignments are tough. Does that make sense? She grades really tough assignments easily. Ugh, it's confusing, I know. Try being in her class! I wouldn't recommend her. You could get a lot more from another teacher.

Cal Poly students who have a problem with Dr. Schwartz and the amount of work she requires, listen up! YOU ARE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS! THIS ISN'T HIGH SCHOOL! You actually have to try. I know, its shocking and weird, but true! I've had Schwartz for 3 classes and always get "A's", not because I'm in her secret inner circle or something, but because I do the reading and memorize the dates! That's all you have to do! Get yourself a calendar, write out all the assignments (the research reports are the tough ones) and meet the deadlines. That's it! I've heard classmates complain that she's "such a bitch" because she didn't forgive their many absences or late projects. Wow. She's not your mamma, she's your teacher. Follow the rules, you get an A.

One of the most unorganized professors I have ever had. Plus she never shuts up, class goes on 5 min than it\'s supposed to. AVOID.

All I have to say is save yourself and AVOID TAKING THIS CLASS AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!

I love my major. I really love English. But for the first time in my life, I hated an English class. This teacher was so disorganized it drove everyone in the class crazy. She never posted our grades, so going into the final no one had a clue what was going on. Unless you agree with her, she won't like you. She expects you to memorize a ridiculous amount of stupid and pointless information for her tests and asks so much of you that this class literally takes over your life. I do give her credit for being passionate about what she says in class, but honestly, she needs to stop pretending like she's in a musical. It's a lecture, and we are the students not an audience waiting for her act. She would burst out in random bouts of loud and odd voices when she'd be reading from the books, and act out the parts. Badly. And she thinks she's brilliant. And everyone else has soooo much to learn from her.

If it weren't for her class and teaching methods, I would really really like Deb. I'll give her credit: it's pretty hard to make reading Old/Middle English medieval texts interesting, and for the most part, I found the course material interesting because of her explanations and commentaries. She's just slightly scatterbrained and disorganized. She wouldn't give us back our mini-essays on time, and her midterms are the equivalent (if not more intensive) than most finals I've taken. The only real problem I had is that her lectures are very extensive, and it's easy for her to get off track on a tangent (She's a huge Francophile and will go on about something French for a while w/ no relation to lecture topic, wasting crucial time that could be used to explain our lengthy readings) Don't bother asking questions or giving input in class--she'll shoot you down if you're not exact in what you're saying and she doesn't entertain questions. At all. On another note, her grading is not too harsh at all and she offers detailed critiques on essays and exams that are very helpful. Also, her office hours are great. She's genuinely interested in seeing you succeed, and if you give her the chance, she'll give you the time of day to help you improve.

Deb needs to teach a theater class instead. If you're ready to be talked at nonstop about unfamiliar concepts for 2 hours straight, English 203 with Deb is the class for you. She explains things way too fast and there is NO room for student discussion. You actually go insane sitting through this class. She really likes to talk in middle English accents thinking she's being entertaining when really she's just confusing everyone because nobody knows what the hell is actually going on. A TON of reading for this class that you can totally avoid for the most part and manage a decent grade. She's not too harsh a grader which is a relief, but it will take an eternity to get your work back--No grades on Polylearn either. She's pretty condescending when you challenge her, which is a lot coming from someone who can't really manage her class. She is a nice person I admit, but she truly just wants you to agree with her and at least act like you're enjoying this class. Essentially her faults are not explaining concepts well, not delivering feedback, and a lack of classroom involvement. But she is passionate and knowledgeable about her subject.

I transferred to Cal Poly last fall, and having Schwartz my first quarter almost made me question my decision to come to this school, made me question the quality of the English department. She's enthusiastic, I'll give her that. But she is truly unbearable. She assigned ungodly, unrealistic amounts of reading (that coming from an English major!). Her expectations were unclear. She made it plain that our learning was not her priority--she couldn't get a grader (news flash, English professors aren't supposed to have graders or TAs), so she just didn't bother giving us quizzes altogether, because grading them would've taken away from her community theater rehearsals. The only two writing assignments she did bother to give us, she took forever to get them back to us. Her midterm was the first test in my life that I walked into sure I would fail. I managed a B in the class because she curved the midterm and final, and got lazy and generous with the final paper grades, as professors are apt to do at the end of the quarter when they've been procrastinating grading. Nonetheless, I will NEVER take her again.

she's a theatre major... just putting that out there to preface my evaluation. dr. debora schwartz is incredibly charismatic, loud, animated, sometimes shrill, but grandiose lecturer. in class, she basically summarizes your reading (so no one really reads the required texts) in a way only a woman who received her degrees in theatre and french can. homework: none, other than the reading and periodic essays she assigns (i think there are 4 total?) tests: grueling but easy if you study. you just need to memorize works, authors, dates, original languages, and quotes. trust me, it sounds hard but it's not that bad if you pay attention in class and have a decent memory. one midterm, one final. closing notes: she acts everything out. she's bad at technology. she reads awkward love/sex scenes from most of our texts in creepy accents sometimes. she lectures for the full 2 hours, sans a 2-6 minutes break in the middle.

Dr.Schwartz is a nice lady but boy can she talk. She literally talks the whole two hours and speed races through the multiple readings she assigns for every class. Ive never felt so overwhelmed and exhausted from one class. Each reading assignment takes at least 2 hours to read for each class meeting. I literally spent over 95% of my time studying and reading for this class. The mini essays are very hard to get a good grade she expects a lot out of a two page essay. I've always gotten A's on every writing assignment I've ever done till this class. The midterm and final are ridiculous and take forever to complete you LITERALLY have no time to go back and check work and basically racing against the clock. She even had to curve the midterm because everyone did so bad. Her favorite thing to say is "there are no surprises with my tests" but geez there's about a trillion things you have to remember dates,times, people, background info, tons of history,symbols, imagery. Her expectations for a college student are unrealistic we all have a full schedule and she thinks we are all just taking her class alone and although I like the lady I will never take a class from her again.

Her tests are difficult—the hardest I've ever taken (the final requires two 100 question scantrons in addition to a written and essay portion!). It will require more effort than most (maybe all) English classes, but that's not Schwartz's fault entirely. The historical and literary complexity of the medieval material she's presenting is staggering, and she's tasked with covering roughly 500 years of it in a single quarter. Any resentment I've heard aimed at her is strictly in regards to the class being difficult. She's a tremendous lecturer and one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. If you're a baby, steer clear of this intense course.

If you don't want to read my entire paragraph of an evaluation then just read this sentence: every sh** thing you've heard about Schwartz is true, if you're not an English major I don't recommend taking a course with her, if you are an English major then you will survive but you will most likely not enjoy it. That's a really easy way of putting it. I was told all of the sh** things about Schwartz before taking her class so I went in with low expectations. You won't be able to finish all 100 pages of reading assigned each lecture, you're going to spend too much money on ink printing all of the pages so don't bother, your grade will drop if you don't attend class and you will 10/10 times be late to work or your next lecture following her class because she is not going to stop talking on time. Your breaks will not be 10 minutes, they'll be two. You will write an essay every other week of which is participation points, but her TA will rail you in the comments if you don't have an argumentative claim, specific info in the title, two quotes a paragraph or you're "too nice" in your classmate responses. Your midterm is hard AF. Memorize all of the historical dates, vernacular languages, historical phenomenons, husband's names, quote pronouns and the tiny slices of info she laughs off during lectures because they WILL all be asked on the exam. Expect to receive your essay back looking like a murder happened beside it's grading due to all of the red ink. SHE IS AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT PROFESSOR, but damn does she know her material. My only guess about what Schwartz does on her weekends or on her nights at home is read medieval literature (and plays, she'll tell you a lot about that). She is so smart and so passionate about the medieval times that is spills over into her lectures, hence the not stop talking and the excessive work load. This class is difficult AF but you WILL SURVIVE. As an English major who loves to not read, bullshit essays and is full of sass, I got along with Schwartz quite well and pulled a B out of my toughest course here at Poly so far. If I can do it, you can do it. Go in thinking nothing more than "this is going to be hard as f*** but if I want the degree I better shut up and listen".

I was scared to death to take a class with Dr. Schwartz because of the comments I read here, but I ended up enjoying the class very much. Dr. Schwartz is enthusiastic about the subject matter, which made it much easier to stay awake during a late afternoon class. Don't get me wrong, this class isn't easy. It is a literature survey course covering about a thousand years. There is a LOT of material to cover and it is very easy to get behind on the reading. My advice is DON'T! If you keep up with the reading, come to class and make use of the study guides she gives you for the midterm and final, you'll be fine. There are several "mini-essays" you will have to write and post on Poly Learn, and you will also have to respond to a couple that other students have posted. These are ungraded, so you will be okay if you follow the directions. You will be required to turn one of your mini-essays into a graded paper that you will turn in. Midterm and Final consist of matching, multiple choice, fill in the blanks, passage IDs and one or two essay questions. Again, the tests are not easy and take up the whole exam period, but my strategy was to fill out the study guides she gave us, which helped a ton. I also took the individual reading guides or notes Dr. Schwartz gave us for each work we read and put it together with my class notes to study each individual work. Finally, I typed up a timeline that included the works and all the relevant information, including when they were written, the names of the authors, genres, form, language, etc. This made studying pretty easy. I've read reviews here that say Dr. Schwartz doesn't teach and just requires you to memorize. I disagree, especially with the review by the teacher who is now an expert on who is or is not a good teacher. Again, this is a survey class and it is also a lecture class, not a symposium or discussion class. It is the very first of the core classes and we are learning a ton of new terms and about the historical foundation of literature. There is a lot to learn and I APPRECIATE that we learned about the historical context of the literature, which is extremely important. I would have been lost in my later literature courses without this kind of foundation. I also disagree that we didn't learn to evaluate or do close reading of the literature. The essays we wrote definitely required this. All this being said, there are some areas for improvement. First of all, the syllabus is unwieldy and confusing, and I found myself spending an inordinate amount of time trying to make sure I didn't miss anything. I eventually (just before midterms) printed it and cut it into pieces so I could organize assignments by week. I then highlighted what I actually had to READ or DO amidst the rest of the information, then I printed out and attached to the back of that list all the .pdfs from Poly Learn for that week. So, I ended up with a packet for week 1, a packet for week 2, a packet for week 3, etc. The first page of each packet was the portion of the syllabus for that week, with assignments highlighted, and in back of that was a smaller packet for each assigned reading with the reading guide, my own notes, .pdfs from Poly Learn, etc. These became great study packets, which I used along with the study guide Dr. Schwartz gave us and the timeline I created. If I take a class with Dr. Schwartz again (and I hope to do so!), I would do this from the very beginning. Organization is super key for this class! One other thing I think could be improved is the amount of reading and writing. Although a lot of reading is required just because of the amount of time covered, it could be cut down and it might make for a better class with more time for discussion, questions, etc. This class is out of control as it is. For example, I don't think it was necessary to read all of Dante's Divine Comedy. I think just the Inferno would have been enough to learn what we needed to learn. And I don't think it would have hurt to cut out one mini-essay, so we didn't have one due during finals week. Otherwise, Dr. Schwartz is great, enthusiastic and very fair.

I somehow pulled a B- in this class, but this was the worst class I've ever taken at Cal Poly. Schwartz means well, but her requirements are way too strenuous. She would assign at least 3 background readings on top of 2-3 (sometimes more) actual readings. She made us buy like 4 books, and some we didn't even use because they were in Middle English, so we had to read the translation anyway (but then made us know the middle English version for the Passage ID's on the final). There is no class participation whatsoever, and she will lecture until 2 minutes after the class because she really just likes to hear herself talk. The class isn't allowed to have any opinion on a book; whatever she said was what we were forced to know. If you write about your own interpretation of a book for your essay, she will destroy your grade because it wasn't how she interpreted it. ALSO, she doesn't hesitate to call you out in class for doing poorly on a test. On the first midterm, I did not have enough time to write a quality essay because she made us fill out TWO SCANTRONS worth of multiple choice questions, so I ended up getting a D on the essay portion. After she had finished grading them, she told the class that "Only one person got a D" and then proceeded to literally point out everything I had written in my essay as what NOT to do. She happened to say, "I don't know why someone would pick these 2 works to compare. It's like comparing apples to oranges; they don't have anything in common." Which is EXACTLY what she had written on my paper. ALSO, she talks about sex waaaaayyy more than any person ever should. It was extremely uncomfortable. She tried to force the opinion on us that a volcano erupting in one of the stories was supposed to be an orgasm. WTF???? Honestly the most painful course I've ever taken at Cal Poly, and I feel so bad that English majors have to take this as their first Core class.

Horribly boring class full of information that excites her, but nobody else. Minimal to zero student involvement in her lectures, which leads to just about everybody failing to pay attention to her terrible droning on. She's a very nice person, but a very bad teacher.

There is no student involvement, no structure, and the classes are incredibly difficult to sit through. She justifies student failure not on her horrible teaching style, but on the "difficult, adult" information that she provides. I loved medieval themes and works until she absolutely killed any love that I had for the subject. The midterm is extremely difficult, not only because of the workload but that a majority of the questions are pointless date memorization, not actual content besides the essay. If you can take any other professor, DO IT. I love English, but honestly, she made me hate going to class and hate the material that I was so excited to learn about. I loved 202 because there were extensive debates and student involvement, but then I get to this class and there is nothing? Schwartz definitely knows her material and is an expert in her field, but she is extremely overbearing and thinks that everyone in her class is as obsessed with the material as she is. She would be so much better as a Museum employee than a teacher because as long as she is a teacher, there will be painful lectures and good students doing badly in a major they love.

I think everyone would be better off if we took Schwartz out of the classroom and funded her research. She has high expectations of students, which I don't have a problem meeting, but her instructions go on for pages. Even if she is clear about her instructions, they take so long to read that the explicating of that alone is exhausting. Once, she gave us a project she promised would take an hour but it took me eight hours. Yet, she is passionate about medieval literature. I think her talents are wasted in the classroom-- I'm sure she'd have a lot to tell me in articles and papers, but I cannot see how her lecture ties to texts or tests. And maybe that's a combination of my exhaustion from other classes this quarter, and the predisposition I have when I walk into class, knowing it's going to take all my energy to evaluate each of her sentences in lecture into notes that will help with the tests. Yes-- she does tell you everything you need to know. But it can be wildly difficult to pull what she wants from what she says. Maybe it's due to her brilliance. Either way, I've been screaming for the last ten weeks.

Where to even start? This woman is insane like dead ass insane. I think Schwartz lives in this dimension where time does not exist, because with the amount of homework and reading she assigns she clearly has no concept of it. There such an unbelievably overwhelming amount of readings that by the end of the quarter I just gave up trying to do it entirely. Like maybe if I was some sort of medieval gremlin that functioned on zero hours of sleep I could breeze through this class, but unfortunately, I’m a human college student that has other classes and work etc. to do. Then there’s this Getty assignment and she said it would take like maybe two hours????? Haha! NO. That thing took me like 6 hours, Jesus Christ. I found the assignment to be a complete and utter waste of time. I don’t mind the thought of looking at a few manuscripts to provide certain insight or context to the readings but this assignment was way more extensive than it needed to be. And then we spent an unreasonable amount of time looking at these pictures with these pancake-looking figures of Mary and Christ during lectures. And to that I’d just like to point out that this is an English class, if I wanted to look at art all day I’d be a god damn Art major. I could honestly go on forever, but allow me to transition into the hell that is her “website”. I put quotes around it because I don’t even know if I should call it that. The colors and the absolute cluttered disorganized mess on her page literally made me black out every time I had to look at it. It’s just a hell-scape of broken links and tiny bolded bunched up text. Also! Pro tip! Make sure to go down to your local store and buy a Rosetta stone to decipher her incredibly long and confusing instructions for all the assignments. I honest to God never knew what she wanted from me when she assigned shit in class. She’d write like a page of instructions for one assignment alone using like size .01 bolded font and then look completely dumbfounded when everyone in class still had no idea what she wanted from us. On top of all that, sometimes there would dead ass be information directed at other classes instead of ours on her website, as if there wasn’t enough confusion already. Or she’d have assignments there that she no longer assigns to her students anymore. She contradicts herself all the time. She says the mini-essays are ungraded and are just placed into the participation category, and then she turns around at the end of the quarter saying that she’ll “drop the lowest one.” Does that make sense to any of you???? If it is ungraded, i.e. it has no grade, then what in the hell is the point in dropping the mini essay with the lowest “grade”. Her tests are complete bullshit. I can get behind knowing the general time something was written and knowing some historical context, but she puts an unreasonable amount of emphasis on the dates of everything, language, genre. You need to know the exact date of every single text, the date of certain wars/conquests, exactly when the writer died, when their wife died or their husband died, or when their dog’s cousin twice removed died. And to that I’d say, if I wanted to obsessively know the dates of when every medieval human took a shit I’d be a god damned history major. And if you think the way she formats her website is bad, wait until you see her tests. She uses the smallest font for each question, she has you answer 100 multiple choice questions, a handful of passage id’s, a handful of short written responses and then an in-class essay for the midterm. It takes forever to even answer one question because the whole time you’re stressing about making sure you bubbled in everything right. Oh, right I should mention, each question has like two- three answers (like AB, BD, ACD, etc). You want to go back to check your answers? To that Schwartz says, Fuck you! You don’t have time for that shit, you answer that question and you don’t look back. You want my advice? Ideally, you keep up on the readings, take notes and do all the study guides. BUT If you get fed up with that like I did, just spark notes all the readings, highlight all the passages she reads in class and write down all the relevant things she says (trust me she goes on a lot of irrelevant tangents that give you zero help for the readings and the tests). For the passage Id’s she mostly just pulls from what she’s read from class or passages on the study guides. The essay questions usually mirror themes she mentions in class or mini essays you write. I walked out with B and that’s what I did. All in all, great class! I loved it! It was so much fun and it didn’t test my will to live at all! Good luck to whoever ends up in her class! 

Professor Schwartz is the worst teacher I have ever had in my life. Do all you can to avoid her class, even if it means staying an extra quarter. Even if this was the only class I was taking it would be stressful. She assigns so much homework and reading that by the end of the class I just gave up and used spark notes. She has been known to assign several hundred pages of reading a night (and in a renaissance lit class that takes a long long time). She creates an environment that makes learning impossible. Her sporadic pop quizes (which are so convoluted and complicated it would take a page to try to explain), lack of organization, and bitchy attitude are just a handful of reasons she shouldn't be allowed to teach. She makes everything three million times more complicated than it needs to be, then punishes students who are confused. Dispite her constant reassurances that students love her, I couldn't see it. Once when I asked her to explain something she implied I was the stupidest student in the entire class. That was about the point I lost respect for her. No matter what the situation, a teacher should never treat her students that way. I left several classes in tears of frustration and anger. No help from this one. If you're confused it's better to just try to work it out on your own. If anyone raised a question or another way of looking at something she would become extremely defensive and mock them or argue with them. This isn't really a discussion class like most of my other English classes have been. She simply tells you how it is, and if you want to suggest a different interpretation she will argue your point to the ground. She's a bit of a frustrated actress. Whenever we'd read a poem in class she would chirp it out loud in this voice that could pierce holes in steel. In addition she assigned a research project that took countless hours to complete. Once everyone had finished she decided not to grade it after all since she was so backed up with ungraded papers and quizes. HUGE waste of time. I felt like this class covered an interesting topic, but sadly the majority of time was spent on mindless busywork and unneccessary minutae. Schwartz needs to her act together. I'm racking my brain to think of something good to say about her. She did bring candy to the midterm and final, so that was nice. Also, she had us focus on the history surrounding the texts we read which was often interesting. We were also required to see the school play which was a fun field trip. I guess the bottom line is just avoid taking Schwartz if you can and if you can't, make sure the rest of your classes are extremely easy. GOOD LUCK!!

Avoid Deborah Schwartz at all costs! She is the most disorganized, unprofessional instructor I have ever encountered at the collegiate level. She lectures for the sole purpose of hearing herself speak and her convoluted website is an excercise in utter self-indulgence. She is knowledgeable for sure, but she is more intested in demonstrating how much she knows rather than increasing your level of knowledge about the subject she is teaching. She expects that you treat her class as if it was the only class you are taking - you need the full 25 hours per week recommended for studying for all classes just to complete her reading assignments. If the last class I needed to graduate was being taught by her, I would stay another quarter just to avoid her.

SHE WAS TOUGH BUT AN INTERESTING LECTURER. A LOT OF READING AND OTHER SIDE PROJECTS BUT IF YOU CAN MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY YOU SHOULD BE OKAY. SHE EXPECTS A LOT FROM YOU BUT SHE IS VERY UNDERSTANDING AND A FAIR GRADER. THERE ARE NO SUPRISES WITH HER; EVERYTHING IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE SAYS IT'S GOING TO BE, SO LISTEN UP. THIS ISN'T COMMUNITY COLLEGE PEOPLE, YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD FOR GOOD GRADES.

So, English majors have to learn numbers and dates and we all go into shock. Apparently, learning and learning to work hard is not what we came to college for, if these ratings are any indication. Suck it up already and stop making English majors look like such wusses. Dr. Schwartz is very, VERY fair and genuinely concerned with helping her students succeed in understanding the material and her demands. She's also a little bizarre, I won't lie. She IS demanding and you WILL have to make this class a priority if you want an A. But honestly, I have never, ever encountered so much extra credit in my life. Neither have I studied so hard for an exam. She may not be my ideal English professor, but nevertheless, she is still a very smart one.

Dr. Schwartz, while a little overwhelming on the first day of class, is probably one of the most caring professors I have ever had. Not only that, but she also has a lot of passion and interest in her subject. So, despite the heavy workload, the class is never dull. Her website, while slightly convoluted and extensive, provides you with a lot of help (e.g. she makes study guides for everything we read, and also has online readings that further clarify specific topics). Her quizzes are hard to explain but once you've taken one of them, you realize that 1) they are EXTREMELY helpful for use on the midterm/final and 2) they're an opportunity for extra credit. I think I got a 125% on one of the quizzes, so don't take them for granted. The material is interesting but there is a lot of reading AND we need to know dates. Bottom Line: Although this class should be a priority as far as reading and studying is concerned, the lectures are fun, Dr. Schwartz is caring, and there are tons of opportunities for extra credit. Don't freak out.

If only I spent as much time studying as I did complaining, I might have cruised through this course. Sometimes I couldn't take a second more of her frantic, pedantic style, but then she'd say something interesting and win me over with her passion for Donne or Shakespeare. Completing this course will definitely harden you from battle, and after taking it I really feel improved, delivered up from ignorance, and a better, more knowledgable student. but was it ever painful! a recommendation: ask questions even if it feels like raising your sails in a hurricane. she does not initiate class participation, but eagerly listens and responds to any student input/insight. learn by doing, not by getting spewed on, even applies to English Majors!

I will say that after reading some of the scathing reviews below, I was more than a little nervous for this class, but it wasn't that bad. To be honest, I did spend a lot of time complaining... and also making fun of the way she says "oookay" after every other sentence. This is a very demanding class, but if you work at it you will succeed. She is fairly helpful during her office hours, although she does like to randomly go off topic. I got my A by re-reading all of the short works before the tests, and skimming the noted passages of the longer ones. Yes, the dates are a nuisance, but I just made a flashcard for every author that had their dates and works on them. Dr. Schwartz tells you in detail what she wants from you, just listen and you will do fine.

Debora Schwartz. Confusing and unclear grader. Classes extremely dry, and almost impossible to sit through.

I can't believe those students who like to criticize others who dislike Schwartz. Let's be honest, Schwartz doesn't care more than other teachers. I've had many great English professors at Cal Poly who assigned a lot more and a lot less work. She just isn't a good teacher. Period. Sure, you can memorize dates and spit out what year Shakespeare wrote his first play, but did you REALLY learn anything? I sure as hell didn't. I'm not some bitter student who wants to down Schwartz for giving me a bad grade (I actually got a B+), I'm just making sure that she gets recognized for the kind of teacher she is, a poor one. To those students reading this and deciding whether or not to sign up for her class, don't do it. Take a teacher who will leave you better off than when you started, not one who will put you through hell and leave you confused and uneducated. Once again, to those people who like to defend Schwartz by saying that "she is just a hard teacher" and "you have to work hard" and "everyone else is just lazy", stop making yourself feel important and just be honest. Don't take Schwartz.

Like the reports above say, she is a nice lady. However, I found her class very cumbersome. I advise you, if you're an English major, don't take her, take somebody else for 203. If you're a non-english major as well, don't take her. All she asks for on the test is purely factual information, like the kind of stuff you'd get in high school-- dates, genres, etc. But you don't actually have to know or have read the actual literature. She assigns a buttload of reading and all of this for nothing. I learned nothing in this class. She also teaches from a disguised feministic point of view, and emphasizes only feministic (or erotic) writing in class. Skip her if possible.

I have read some recent comments from my classmates about how wonderfully fair, amazingly smart, etc they think said teacher is. Bravo kids. I noticed the only smoochers are the ones she gave A's to--her favs. Kissing rear is not an intellectual talent, people. Get over yourselves. If being "weak" as you term it is working full time to sustain yourself instead of being subsidized by mommy and daddy...then hey, YOU are the US minority, you cute little young repubilceens you--not the working class that upholds your lifestyle. I'd like to hear you redefine weak after a few days at a real job, reading til 4 am every night to keep up with you spoiled babies in class, and having ORIGINAL insights into the literature to boot--something this teacher discourages routinely. I can't wait to escape from this disgusting trap of moral, political, racial, and educational time warp creepiness that is super white Cal Poly--why are you people so mean? Grow up? Yes, good idea...grow up and realize that autocratic classrooms and favoritism that shares fundamental features with the corrupt political patronistic hiring of the 1920's US Post Office went out with the 1970's--or did you miss that too while reading old literature the same way 5000 times? -- educated and disgruntled at Poly SLO--English Major

SHE SUCKS!!! DO NOT TAKE HER!!!

If it looks like a witch, smells like a witch, sounds like a witch, and thinks like a witch, then it must be a witch. She must be a witch. Her exams are awful; her quizzes are insane, and the amount of reading to be done is ludicrous.

Why does this professor care so much about attendance? It's a freaking lecture hall with 200 kids. Who takes attendance in a situation like that? And what's with taking attendance twice? Once with a reading quiz, and once with a sign in sheet. By the way, I agree with some of the others. The reading quizzes are insane. Who freaking cares when a book was written? Who freaking cares what language it was written in? I don't care if a book was written in Latin, English, or French. As long as it's translated to English, and I can read it without pulling out my French Dictionary (which I don't have) then it's good enough for me. (Not that I would have ever read any of these books on my own. They suck. All mideval French Romance Novels. Echk.

This class is definitely not for the faint of heart. There's a heck of a lot of reading, and her tests and quizzes are ludicrous. The quizzes as for so much stupid information that isn't even contained in the books. You have to read her stupid reading guides to get most of the information that's on them. The tests are crazy too. The first midterm was 60% passage identification. You had to know the author, the title of the work, the speaker, who was being spoken to, and the context of the passage. If you didn't know that stuff, you basically failed the midterm. Who care's what was said in the book? Just test us on the freaking content. Her office hours are no help either. If you don't pass the quizzes or midterm, she basically accuses you of not reading, and then lying. I read everything, and I still didn't do well.

There is a freaking lot of reading to be done in this class. Hopefully this will work in the future, but here's a link to her syllabus: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl252/252sylls05.html Take a look at that and make sure you still want to take the class. It's basically almost all Mideval French Romance. According to the Course Description in the catalog, we're supposed to read "such readings as Augustine

There are three tests: two midterms and a final. The first midterm was incredibly difficult. 60% of it was passage identification. The other 40% was a Scantron on very useless information. The second midterm was just as difficult, but fortunatly, it had less passage id and more scantron. Although the scantron information was still useless. She wants you to regurgitate all kinds of useless facts such as the dates the author lived, the language of the original text, any literary influences and their authors, in addition to the languages of those infulential people. The final wasn't as bad as the first two because it was only on one book, but it was still passage ID and it was cumulative, so it included the same useless information from the previous two midterms. I wouldn't recommend taking this class unless you have an extremely light load. The amount of reading for this class is certainly unreasonable, and the professor herself is unreasonable. Crazy people don't deserve the title "doctor."

one night at farmers, i saw her walking around dressed like a pirate. don't take a medieval literature class from a pirate, please.

Why anyone would want to take a class from this witch is beyond me. She's really evil. Her tests are evil. The class is evil. Don't take classes from evil people.

Eck. She's the worst teacher I've ever had at Cal Poly. She requires you to read a freaking novel every other night. I lost my social life last quarter because I had to spend so much time studying. She's telling the truth when she says that if you only read the Cliffs Notes or something like them that you won't be able to pass the tests. They're extremely specific, requiring you to remember specific passages of dialogue throughout each book. The worst test was the first one because we read like 10 different things and it was very difficult to keep the characters, authors, and plot lines separated in my mind. I'm not sure how I could have done a better job studying. I ended up with a D- on that test. I'd find another teacher to take this class from.

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said over the last few months. There's not much to add. She's easily the worst teacher I've ever had in my life. I'm not just talking about Cal Poly. I'm talking about all through high school, junior high, and elementary school. Bar none, the worst. Take another teacher for this course.

Dr. Schwartz--if you can bear calling her "doctor"--is by far the worst professor I've ever had at Cal Poly. I'm not sure which rock she crawled out from under, but she definitely needs to go back there. Her teaching method sucks. She lectured for two straight hours every class period. She expects you to read a novel per week, which is an inane amount of reading if you're taking 16 units. If you do decide to take this class, be sure you have a really light load because you'll be swamped with reading for this class. Please, please take another professor.

What is it about a professor that compels her to believe hers is the only class in the universe? She's rather fanatical about her area of study, that's for sure. Unfortunately, she tries to transfer that fanaticism to her students in trying to get them to read outrageous amounts of material per week. If I only had to take one class per quarter in order to graduate, this class would be no problem because I'd have all the time in the world to read all of the books required for this course. But that's not the case! I need to take four classes per quarter in order to graduate, so my grade in this class basically sucked because I couldn't afford the time to do all of the readings, which--by the way--were almost all mideval French romance novels. Skip this class if you can. Take another, or at least take it from another prof.

I feel really sorry for those major students who have had to take a class from Schwartz. She is by far the worst teacher at Cal Poly. I've had some bad ones, but she's the worst. I thought Ken Griggs in Business was bad. She's even worse. Avoid her at all costs.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The witch is horrible. Just look at her picture, and you know you're in for a bad deal. No professor who looks like her could be any good. And in fact, she is a bad teacher. Her class sucks. Find some cool ENGL professor to take this class from.

Dr. Schwartz is a theatrical person and treated the 2 hours we spent with her each night as an opportunity to gush about her fantastic daughter and how much she would rather be at a local play practice than talking to us. We had a quiz at the beginning of every class period which she then proceeded to take a good 45min-1hour to go over. The second hour of class she usually spent talking extensively about one miniscule detail regarding the homework, which in no way was helpful in answering comprehensive questions on the midterm. She also has no understanding of technology yet insists on using an iPad, poorly formatted quizzes projected onto the room's screen, and her own website instead of PolyLearn. You will be expected to read at least 5 books along with (and I'm not kidding when I say) a solid 45-60 printed pages of information from her website. The tests are more about memorizing names and specific dates and less about understanding medieval literature. Overall I was very disappointed with her and the class and don't understand why she is a professor at Cal Poly.

First off, Dr. Schwartz intent in this class was well purposed and she was very excited about the material that she presented; with that said, she was high on the list of the worst professors I have had at Cal Poly. Each lecture begins with a quiz on reading she assigned the previous week (they are particularly easy and only require basic knowledge of the text), however she will only give you credit for the quiz if you stay for the entirety of the lecture. She determines if you are there by taking attendance in the last 15 min of the two hour lecture which would be understandable if her lectures actually taught anything not to mention our class met from 8PM to 10PM. The way she calculates grades at the end of the quarter is strange as well. She does not use percentages to calculate them, she translates each section (quizzes and tests) into a 4.0 scale and then averages them together to get the final grade. This causes the quiz average (which is generally over 100 percent) to be greatly miscalculated because she does not follow the scale after your percent passes 100. Avoid Schwartz for this GE.

Dr. Schwartz is the worst professor I have had at Poly. Her tests are ridiculous in detail, her class is really boring and you are forced to stay the whole two hours with a quiz every class period. If possible avoid this class!

I have never done a Polyrating before but after this class I found it necessary. I wouldn't recommend this class to kids I hated. If you want to succeed, take notes on every word she says and read everything twice. sounds ridiculous, but so are her tests.. Complete waste of my time. Only class this quarter that Im getting lower than a B in and its a stupid GE that i should never have taken. DONT TAKE HER.

This is the worst fucking teacher at CP. DO NOT even bother taking her. If it comes between not having enough units to be a fulltime student and taking this class, just dop out, seriously, thats how bad she is. She is the biggest bitch there is. She is outrageous, does not know how to properly teach her class, and is just annoying to listen and look at. I understand there were pay cuts, and because of that she cannot teach this class in the format it was supposed to be, in a small class. But a good teacher would adjust her class so that it fits into a big lecture hall environment. She has a quiz at the beginning of every class that isn't even mainly based on the required readings, it is on these useless online readings. The worst part is that she posted the quiz on the small projector, everyone from the middle to the back would have to get out of their seat, sit on the floor, and cheat off everyone. She tells you the first day that 80% of her class gets an A or B, which made me think the class wouldn't be that bad, even after reading her horrible ratings. The most fucking stupid part about the quiz is that you have to print and sign your name on it, then at the very end of class, she passes around an attendance sheet that you have to sign, if your signature doesn't match the one on the quiz, you don't get the points for the quiz. She threaten people saying if they don't want to be there, then just leave...are you fucking serious? I wouldn't even be here if you didn't make us sign the attendance sheet. Who the fuck takes attendance in a class with 150 people? The class consists of this: cheat on quiz, go on computer for an hour and a half in a bad mood cause you have to listen to this outrageous lady who boasts about being a fucking Harvard grad and loves teaching so much that she didn't want to do anything with her degree, but she constantly says she would rather be somewhere else, performing, sign attendance sheet, leave and talk shit about how annoying she is on the walk home, and rip bong at home to forget about how annoying she is. Seriously, after this class, you cannot even do anything with the rest of your day cause you are in such a bad mood form this horrible "teacher." For the tests, half of it consists of passages from the 8 books you were required to read. You have to know every line of every book. The question will state a line and you have to state who the author was, when it was written, what the genre is, who the speaker is, and who they are speaking to. I hopes this helps you not make the same mistake as I did and DO NOT FUCKING TAKE THIS STUPID WOMAN'S CLASS. you'll be happy you didn't.

If you don't read all I wrote, here are the major takeaways: 1) Debora makes the class as easy as possible, but you have to attend most of the classes. Show up. Stay. Get an A. (A B if you show up and don't pay attention.) 2) No matter what, Debora will always be relentlessly enthusiastic about her work, which I judge to be the most important quality in a teacher. In detail: Never have I seen a professor so in-accurately judged. People complain about her the quizzes at the beginning of the class, which consist of basic information, which she puts on her websites as reading notes. The 15 point quizzes are also graded out of 10. Anything above an F on your actual score translates to 100% on the quiz. You can literally get full credit without reading the text, as long as you read her 5 sentences in the assignments page and a summary of the work. The quizzes are only there to give you free points for showing up to class. Reviewers here seem more insulted that she outsmarted their system of showing up for 5 minutes to take the quiz then ditching the rest of class. She even drops multiple quizzes so you don't actually have to show up to every class. People complain that she talks too much. Schwartz is extremely passionate about medieval literature, french, and any literature from this time period. I just don't see how this is a negative when we all go to our next class where a teacher talks about integrals in a monotone voice for an hour. People complain that she talks about her personal life and somehow come to the conclusion that she would rather be somewhere else. As I said above, She is extremely passionate about the subjects she teaches. No teacher teaches for the money. If you haven't figured this out yet, you are dumb and don't deserve a degree. In my class, she mentioned her passion for theater, and sympathized with the students showing up at 8-10 pm by telling them that she would rather teach at a different time, because she doesn't want to be at work past 8pm (big surprise. I work late too, and it sucks. It also doesn't mean I hate my job.) People complain about her website. It is cluttered and a bit of a mess, but it's like your messy bedroom. It's organized chaos. It's structured in a way that if you are reading it trying to learn something, you can follow links. It is not structured in a way that you can easily collect data that could be on a test. If you want that I suggest organizing it yourself. You know how to work a computer a lot better than she does. It's also difficult to sort through because of the massive amount of information on there. There might be a lot of reading, but if you just read her study guides and read the passages she discusses in class, you would be prepared for the tests. That being said, she does have a lot of information to offer, and despite my initial rejection of medieval literature I gained an appreciation for it. The most amazing thing about Debora is that despite all the students who demean her and her work (No, these ratings aren't just seen by other students.), she comes back every day as the most enthusiastic professor I have ever taken.

Really enthusiastic professor with a genuine love for her job and what she teaches. But her style of teaching, standing up in front of the class and constantly talking for two hours without providing any sort of visual follow-along for the most part, doesn't engage an easily distracted teenage brain. The class is essentially just memorizing a ton of, to most of us, unimportant facts about the "background" or memorized lines of the text without really learning about analysis or learning to analyze. Tasks like memorizing all of these specifics are the most time-consuming, most tedious tasks, and provide the least amount of benefit. No study of something a good literature class would cover like literary devices or analysis or anything like that at all. I agree with one of the ratings below that says her class only involves lower-level thinking skills and does not involve any critical thinking whatsoever. Take someone else for C1.

Deborah Schwartz is quite a character. Her personality is a cross between Meryl Streep (when she was playing Julia Child in "Julie and Julia") and Professor Trelawny from Harry Potter. Right away you can tell she was in theater, and that makes for a very entertaining professor. Schwartz has a talent for bringing the readings to life as she acts out the characters in class and explains their motivations in hilarious impersonations. She sets up the class to be easy to do well, by giving 15 question quizzes every day but grading them as if there were only 10. The only catch is that you do have to do the reading- about two hours of reading before each class should prepare you for each quiz and allow you to do well in the class. For the exams I recommend making flashcards for all the authors, readings, characters and other information she tells you in class you'll have to know. I also recommend bringing some coffee to class if you find yourself dozing off during her lectures, she is usually very lively but hey, she can't make everything exciting. Overall, Schwartz is a very entertaining professor who stacks the cards in your favor, so if you take the time to do the reading and study up for the exams, you're probably going to do very well in the class. I'd recommend her to anyone.

Do not take this class unless you are prepared to go to every class, pay attention, and study for the exams. Now, you may be thinking "well duh, that's what you are supposed to do," but even doing this does not guarantee you a good grade. Schwartz has a personal vendetta against the students who take this class wanting a relatively easy GE. Class consists of a quiz at the beginning (to make sure you come to class) and her lecturing in front of the class for 2 hours (and she will talk for the full two hours or go over every time). Unfortunately, her lecture consists largely of just summarizing what you just read so it's often very boring. She loves to throw in some random trivia during the last half hour of the class that she will test you on, so you have to stay the entire class and pay attention or you will miss at least one question on the next test. Finally, because I took it in a giant lecture the class only has multiple choice exams instead of essays. Fear not though, Schwartz designs her tests so that essays would be the far better option. For every question on an exam you have at least 10+ possible choices (A, B, C... AA, AB... ABCDE). In fact most of the questions have 30+ possible answers and a none of the above answer. So you may think I'm just whining, because the class wasn't easy, but that's not the case. What really made this class so horrible was that the tests boiled down to memorization. You need to know the author, author's life and death dates, date the book was written, style the book was written in, characters, and basically every line of the book. For at least 20 of the questions on each test, you are given a random sentence or two from the book (with all names removed) and then you must answer who talked in the line, who the person was talking to, and occasionally what the context of the line was. Either you remember that exact line or you miss 1-3 questions on the test. I still remember the first day when she told us her life story (including how she slept with a bunch of Dutch dudes). Just look at her polyrating; 90% of all the English professors have good ratings. Schwartz definitely earned her bad rating. Do yourself a favor and find a different professor or a different class.

Probably the worst professor at Cal Poly. Deb should be teaching either French or Theater. She has no idea how to teach English and gives quizzes every class period. Each class is two hours of her talking at you and she teaches you nothing, and gives midterms that are way too complicated, way too specific, and just outright awful. She doesn't test your understanding of the novels you read; she asked questions about the author, when the text was written, what language it was in, and things like that. She expects students to know nearly 40-50 in text citations for each midterm and final, and does not understand that her class is a general ed required course for almost all students in her classes. DO NOT TAKE DEBORA SCHWARTZ FOR ANY CLASS.

The midterms are overly complex, the reading is over the top for a GE class, and her lectures teach you nothing.

Pointless Class, pointless questions on tests. She just rambles on and on for her lectures with no order in how she presents the information. What she does say in class is not needed since everything is in the book you just read. The course website is the most out of order and confusing website.

As a GE, this class had an exorbitant amount of information to memorize. There were at least three different stories to read for each midterm, and each story had at least 6 characters. Not only this, but you need to memorize the dates authors wrote books, when they lived etc. The teacher knows what she is talking about, but never actually tells you any facts. All her lectures are are her playtime to act like an actor in theatre (she said this in class). Every lecture consisted simply of her blurting out her opinion about how to analyze the themes in the books. She didn't touch a single piece of chalk the whole quarter... But I am an engineer so my opinion is skewed against english... Take away: This class is difficult as a GE. Lots of meaningless details to memorize if you want to do well on tests.

READ THE BOOKS. She gives you everything that she will ask, you just actually have to read. I got over 100% on every single test, even the final, because I went to office hours when I had a question about the readings. Classes help you understand the reading and she makes sure to explain the common themes of all the books. Anyone who complains about this class didn't do the reading. It's pretty easy, just do the work.

She is really enthusiastic about this class, which is great. But I still hate this class. The books are not that bad, since I enjoy reading too. The tests are pretty straight forward too. However, it does not enhance my experience as a human being because it really is just a test of memorizing useless information. If youre looking for a class to just make flash cards and sit through boring lecture two times a week to get a decent grade then go ahead. But honestly its so boring and these stuff I am learning doesnt contribute to anything more useful than oh ya I read Shakespeare in college. Good luck friends.

I did not like this class very much, but instead of talking about why I'm going to try to make this helpful and give you tips on how to get an A. 1. Go into office hours and she will literally let you copy down what's on the quizzes, which will be exactly what's on the midterms. 2. LISTEN in class and take dedicated notes on what she says, because a lot of her test questions are just on what she talks about. 3. If you don't want to read all of the books), read summaries online, read the study guides she puts on her website, and read the passages she points out in class. 4. To get over 100% on the quizzes, all you need to do is read the Text Info, study guides, and online summaries. If you do all of these things, you'll get an A.

Debora Schwartz is a nice lady and is very passionate about what she teaches. However, if you're not wet over fairy tales and shit DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. She makes the class sound like it's going to be a breeze, but bullshit. Her lectures are actual hell because instead of going over the assigned reading she just goes on about random shit, which is why I dipped everyday after the quiz. Oh yeah the quizzes... You can opt to take the final, midterms and quizzes, or just the midterms and final. Choose the quiz option because it forces you to keep up with the assigned readings. The quizzes are usually graded out of 10 points, but there are usually 15-20 questions per quiz which allows you to receive extra credit. The quizzes are multiple choice, and there's one every class, but you get to drop your 3 lowest quizzes. The quizzes are what saved me in this class because I failed the first midterm with a 58 after she curved it by 10% because most of the class did even worse than I did. I thought I was prepared for the midterm too because she said her midterms resemble the quizzes, which is bullshit. I had to rally hard for the second midterm and got a 94 to save my ass, and got C on the final. In the end I got a B- in this hell of a GE. Also don't buy the books. I used sparknotes and wikipedia for all of my studying along with her website.

this lady is insane! if you want an explanation of the full class look elsewhere, but if you want an honest look at this teacher from the perspective of a student who dropped her class after two weeks, read on! here is what you are in for if you stupidly decide to take this class: you will take a scantron quiz daily to prove that you read the stories from the night before (the first few assignments were over a hundred pages each). you will read her notes from her web-page and print them out (buy a lot of ink and paper for your printer, i needed more just for the two weeks i was in her class). heres another crap point about her class: she splits the class up in two and makes the people with last names of A-M sit on one side of the hall with all of the N-Zs on the other side so that you can sign your name on a passed around sheet to prove, once again, that you made it to class that day. if you have a different last name from a friend, tough! oh ya, if you miss one day of class, your grade drops i believe to an automatic A-, if you miss again, a B+, etc. i might be underexaggerating this; its been a while since i left the horror that is her class. reading her website, you'd think that she at least has a semblance of how to use technology, but you'd be wrong. instead of clipping a lapel-mic on her lapel one day, she instead held it with her hand and made her voice go "AAAAaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaAAAA" because of her ridiculous hand movements. another day she clipped the transceiver box to the neck of her shirt (i almost died laughing watching her in class that day). on a positive note, she really knows her medieval literature, almost to a fault. if you want a teacher that knows everything there is to know about their subject and don't care about the general feeling of the class, by all means take prof schwartz! if you want to appreciate a quarter more than you would have, take this lady for two weeks and drop her class. i went to the beach that first miraculous day, at the time i should have been in her class, and it felt AMAZING!!! it was one of the best beach trips ever. please, i beg you, do everything you can do avoid this teacher.

People say she's unorganized. People are wrong. Perhaps the most organized professor I've ever had. You learn a lot of content but she teaches it well and is very very clear about her expectations. If you have questions, you could literally find EVERYTHING on her website. Plus she's spunky.

She's terrific, really knows and loves her subjects. Unfortunately, she loves dates and factual-type info, so her tests are half multiple choice and half essay. Tough but fair, except we who prefer to BS a nice essay answer actually have to study those dates. But the rest of the class is worth it. She passes out candy during tests.

Teh class is highly demanding but she goes far out of her way to present the material fairly. The study guides are awsome, as long as you read those while you do the assigned reading there is no way to fail. Caustion though if you don't like to read lots of material ths is not the class for you. Her comments on graded papers are numerous and extremely helpful. It is obvious Dr. Schwartz goes above and beyond in her teaching and grading. she will make you a lover of all literature. enjoy her classes and the candy during the tests.

Note: I took this class in replace of 203, it fulfilled the same requirementt. Schwartz has a lot of passion for the material she covers, but she puts way too much emphasis on factual stuff like dates and places and names etc. Her tests aren't that bad, but her quizes are not fun. I ended up with a B+, and it was the quizes that knocked me down from an A. You never know when she's going to give a quiz, and the quiz is always over the most recent assigned reading material. Note: She assigns a lot of reading! If you do not want to devote at least 2-3 hours of studying a day for her class, do not take it. Overall she's not that bad, but I've definatley had better teachers at Poly. I would only recommend taking this class to Core students, because frankly, you do not have a choice in the matter unlike other students who may try to take her to fulfill GE or GWR requirement.

I would avoid this professor at all costs!!! It is true that she is really very factual intensive - this means you must know the dates the authors lived, what their most famous work was, when it was published, what their religion was, who was the monarch at the time, and what their social background was. You do wind up doing a lot of work that won't even be important later on, which becomes frusterating around the 4th week. ALSO, her syllabus is online - thus it is ever changing and often not posted a week in advance - this makes it hard to look ahead and prepare - it does not seem to be something that bothers her, so it probably will never change. There also have been some occasions where the reading had only been posted the day before - making it hard to finish the assignment. Best advice - Use the study guides (even though they seem like a lot more reading and that's the last thing you want), also review all of your notes right before you go to class, that way you will hopefully remember some dates and be able to do well on the quizes.

All of Dr. Schwartz's classes are reading intensive, however most of the literature is interesting. Her lectures are great! She brings enthusiasm to each class, it is obvious she loves lit. Her exams are long and thorough, but she hands out complete study guides-- use them. Definately over prepare for this class, you won't regret it. But becareful-- she might make you want to be an English major!

Ms. Schwartz is VERY passionate about Shakespeare, and provides her students with as much information on his life, his plays, and his sources as is humanly possible. It is a hard course, but she hands out a million handouts so there's no way you don't know what's going on in the play, even if you don't understand it. You HAVE to read the plays because of her quiz format, but you can get up to 150% on each one, and she drops the lowest grade. Her Midterm and Final is REALLY hard, but everything you need to know she's either lectured on or given a handout on. Some stuff is weird, like "what language did this person who Shakespeare read as a child write in?" and all the dates and languages. It's all very straightforward though, and her enthusiasm makes it really fun! So take Schwartz if you like Shakespeare!

I have read and re-read the above evaluations and I am convinced that they were not written about this teacher. I recently took Dr. Schwartz for Shakespeare and it was just about the worst class I have ever taken at Cal Poly. I do not feel this way simply because of the subject matter, although I am one of those in the majority who feel that Shakespeare has its place, and it is definitely back in highschool. There were several things wrong with this class. First of all, it is possible to get a C, just read the plays and the handouts and you'll be almost sure to get a C. However if you want to get anything whatsoever out of this class, then you will be very disappointed. It is next to impossible to maintain any level of motivation in this class since everything that is graded is full of scathing remarks and criticism. In all the assignments I turned in, there was ONE comment that was somewhat positive. Secondly, the class is full of absolutely worthless assignments. Let me give an example, we were all required to memorize and recite 20 consecutive lines as well as rewrite them on the final. I was particularly angry about the presentation of these lines in class. Basically she had run out of material by then and she just wanted to kick back for a day. I don't see how my "intellectual" development has been furthered by being able to memorize and regurgitate these 20 lines. Finally, if you are planning to get GWR certification in this class, DON'T!!!! On the midterm, she gave 3 people GWR credit and I am not sure about the final. You're better off to save yourself a torturous quarter, pay the 25 bucks and get it out of the way. Oh by the way, she does give you candy during the midterm and final, but that HARDLY makes up for the rest of the quarter. I hope this review has been helpful and insightful.

When she asks for the answer to a question on a test and the question seems to the point, think again. My best advice.. WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK OF. On the midterm many people were quite surprised with their grade because they knew the answers but did not fufill the answers to the extent the professor thought they should. And they knew they needed this additional information because...??? Your best bet is to assume what the questions are asking and good luck.

Dr. Schwartz is very nice and knows here Shakespere. However, she is so enthusiastic about lecturing on Shakespere she fails to notice all the bored people in the classroom. The class is not engaging at all. A student can get the same education from reading Shakespeare commentary on the internet. There really is no reason to go to class, except to keep up with her strict attendance policies. Also, the level of strictness that she grades with only benefits those that will earn P.h.d.'s in English. If you are thinking of doing this class for GWR reasons, DON'T! I cannot reccomend this teacher to anyone except for those that have a high threshold for boredom. Note: I love Shakespere very much, but the class is not engaging at all and therefore extremely boring.

Schwartz is definetly one of the worst teachers I have had since I've been at Poly. All she wants you to do is regergitate everything that she says in class. She doesn't take any class time to explain parts from any plays, she only reads her favorite passages out loud to the class. She knows her stuff, she just doesn't know how to teach it.

This was the by far, the worst teacher I have taken in my life! Yes she loves Shakespeare, but will rip your papers apart (and not in a helpfull way). I am receiving an English minor and had a difficult time in her class. Her lectures were horrible, her tests were cruel and unfair. However, I believe she must have curved the grades or I would not have gotten the grade I received. DO NOT TAKE HER EVEN IF YOU ARE GRADUATING! Wait one more quarter!

This woman was more concerned with performing the role of professor than engaging the students in any sort of meaningful discussion. The illustrious Dr. Schwartz spent class time talking about her recent community theatre performances while refusing requests to discuss long-term assignments in with students. She even had the audacity to tell us that she was unable to grade and return our midterms two weeks after the test because she had been busy memorizing her lines for whatever ridiculous children's musical she had been emailing us about all week--this behavior is inappropriate and unprofessional to say the least. She constantly insists that this is a "writing intensive class" but includes trivial details about filmed versions of Shakespeare's plays as a large portion of the exams. No college student should be asked to study the names of directors, dates of production, and contextual details of peripheral, insignificant television productions. The fact that we pay ever-increasing tuition for extremely disappointing classes like English 339 with Debora Schwartz is absolutely unacceptable. I suppose I should know by now that the College of Liberal Arts at a Polytechnic State school would be an absolute joke. I hope you appreciate my candor when I shamelessly say: FUCK THIS CLASS.

Worst teacher I have ever had at Cal Poly. I was excited to learn about Shakespeare, but this teacher just ruins it. She cares more about being a teacher and telling students what to do, rather than engage in meaningful discussions. Also spent so much time focused on her plays outside the class, rather than focus on class. Do not take this teacher. If you don't say exactly what she wants for the test, you will fail. I mean EXACTLY word for word what she wants you to say. Please for your sake take any other class that is available.

She is rude and ruined this class for me. She is extremely unwilling to hear student opinions and very condescending when students propose an interpretation that she doesn't agree with. Avoid taking her if you can. This is the worst English class I have taken at Cal Poly

REVIEW FROM A TEACHER. I had Dr. Schwartz twice while fulfilling my requirements for my BA in English at Cal Poly. After that, I earned my teaching credential, also at Cal Poly, and have now been a teacher myself for several years. Needless to say, I have the highest respect for the teaching profession. With that said, it was not until I became a teacher myself, and had my own students to encourage, inspire, and teach, that I completely realized how utterly appalling Dr. Schwarts is as a teacher. As a student, I had all the same experiences and frustrations as the reviewers here. As a teacher, I have a much better understanding of the standards and expectations a teacher should be held to and just how universally Dr. Schwartz fell short of those expectations. Her method of instruction is to lecture to her students for the duration of the period. There is no student engagement. When a student tries to raise their hand to participate (clearly showing critical thinking) they are immediately discouraged. I remember being embarrassed for the students who tried because she was so disrespectful toward their ideas. Her exams test, to a large extent, the memorization of dates, and facts. This is simple knowledge and is the lowest level on the hierarchy of thinking skills. Students do not connect those dates, facts, and trivia to form a larger picture or a deeper understanding or a broader connection to anything. On the questions where there is an opportunity to use higher level thinking skills (connect, analyze, synthesize, predict, apply, understand, and create) she actually manages to turn it into simple knowledge once again. Students have to remember what she said exactly. If a student strays from her approved analysis, they are wrong. It's a disgrace to our profession that this professor manages to take open-ended questions and turn them into basic knowledge questions. I tried only once to explain and support my interpretation which she had marked wrong. I brought in materials to support the view I presented. She was adamant that the response was wrong and somehow managed to seem angry that I was asking the question, as though i was challenging her. Now, if one of my students had an interpretation they wanted to defend and they had some material to support how they arrived at their idea, I would be most impressed with their thinking and with their initiative. I would feel proud that I was doing a good job inspiring this student to think critically on their own. I certainly wouldnt feel angry or challenged, I would feel successful as a teacher. Finally, she places great demands on her students but does not seem to apply the same level of expectation or dedication to herself. Exams would go ungraded for up to a month at a time. If students are asked to learn the material and be tested, teachers must grade their work and return it in a reasonable period of time reflecting the mutual respect they promote in their class. It has never been more clear that students in Dr Schwart's class spend a quarter not growing intellectually because of her abysmal teaching practices. She would better serve her students if she reflected on how she could inspire them to enjoy the material, participate freely and openly without fear of reproach or censure, create meaningful assessments that go beyond rote memorization and challenge them to think critically; not to spend hours navigating endless links of never-ending material and making flash cards of dates, facts, and trivial footnotes, and not to passive-aggressively penalize them (for example docking points on tests for everyone who finished their test before the testing period was over). To the students who are frustrated. You have a reason to be. To the students telling others they must be lazy or weak, or that it's easy to get through her class if you just suck it up and do these three things. Students shouldn't have to make up the difference for a terrible teacher and what a sad thing to know before you walk through her door that your highest aspiration for her course is just to "get through" unscathed.

She is passionate about her subject, that is for sure. It seems like she is making a valiant effort to make the material understandable. In this case, Shakespeare, she succeeds in making it understandable for the masses. If you take this class, it is best to repeat the ideas that were spoken about in class, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Show up! that is one main key, listening and using the ideas she gives is the best advice I can give. Keep in mind, there is allot of work involved, mostly busy work .. nothing too difficult. However, if this is taken as an easy C-4, it can be time consuming... Each week, at least two to three short essays, combined with responses with your group members. Then a very, very long hand written midterm and final. Lastly, a 4-5 page paper due at the end of the quarter. But, if you are curious about Shakespeare, and want to get inside his head... this is kind of a fun class!

Don't believe everything you read about Dr. Schwartz on here. I really enjoyed her class. Yes, her tests can be difficult and she lectures the full 2 hours, but she is very passionate and fun to listen too. All you need to do in order to do well in her class is read everything that is assigned and come to class... if you are a student who just 'gets by' and doesn't care about learning then don't take her. But if you are a student who works hard and appreciates school then I recommend her class.

I really enjoyed Schwartz! She is so animated and entertaining that I never got bored! Please do not be discouraged from taking this class because of the many comments below. Most of those reviews must have been written by students who either never paid attention in class or disregarded guidelines. Schwartz is always willing to answer any questions, and her lectures are clear in what she wants you to take away from each play. As long as you listen during lecture and read everything thouroughly, you are golden for her quizzes. Oh, and don't forget to study the background information for the midterm and final! If you do, the objective portion of the exam is pretty straightforward. Schwartz gives a ton of feedback on the mini essays assigned, which is really helpful for the final paper and the essay portion on her exams. She also drops your lowest mini essay and quiz score! Just remember: read, listen, take notes, follow her guidelines, and pay attention to the feedback she gives on your papers so you can improve. If you do these things, you'll get a good grade. Take Schwartz and you'll have a blast reading Shakespeare!

I feel that it is my duty to rectify the negative stigma surrounding Debora Schwartz. Yes, at times she is unorganized- but it will (almost) never be to your detriment! Yes, at times it feels like she wants you to regurgitate her own thoughts; but what she really wants is for you to be direct in your arguments. One thing she taught me was how to write an essay and minimalize all the "fluff" and how to stop writing like they taught us in high school. She is PASSIONATE about theatre and Shakespeare; I literally hated Shakespeare before this class but she taught another side to him and really gave me an appreciation for his texts. She's really not bad at all, and certainly not as bad as you have most likely heard. Tests are HARD!!! I have no way of getting around that. There's also a lot of essays that are short and her grading can be hard, but she really takes the time to give you feedback that can help improve your writing. It's a lot more work than some people probably are used to but welcome to college you noobs! She's friendly and goofy and will welcome you into her office with open arms. Take her if you want some zest in your class schedule- she's a sweetheart who knows her stuff!

Schwartz is very disorganized and makes it difficult to understand what is due on what day. I often walked into her class questioning what assignments might be due, which is something that no student should have to question. I took this class because it is a GWR course and because my friends were also enrolled. I would pass this class for any other GWR certified course. I am 5 weeks into the course and there is still no update on our standing in the class...

It’s a lot of work for a GE. She gives extra credit on tests so it’s not hard to get a B or A on her midterm or final, but grade depends on a lot more than that and it can drag your grade down. Need to know so much on the subject and be a good writer. Not just about the plays and such but random facts about Shakespeare’s life and education/need to know the names of the writers of the plays he read when growing up and other really specific details like that. When you watch movies on the plays you need to know those movies dates and directors. Here is reading quizzes that are quotes from the plays and you have to write who the speakers are and what they are talking about and there is opportunities for extra credit on these quizzes. There is five mini essays on the five plays you read (only two pages) and you have to correct two peoples essays and expand one of your own to a full essay. And lastly there is a 20 line passage memorization that you have to perform in front of the class. Interesting class and the professor truely loves Shakespeare’s, teaching, and the arts, and she is super nice and understanding, but the class is a crap ton of work.

Dr. Schwartz, while passionate about her subject, is one of the most demanding teachers I have met at Cal Poly. She is very kind and amusing in class, but she will rip you a new one on anything you turn in. If I had taken the class pass/fail I would have enjoyed it a lot more, but even then, her quizzes test the most minute detail and there is a quiz almost every class. Be prepared to read A LOT and take very good notes while reading. I have never worried about failing a class before and I did every reading assignment. Schwartz warns her class is difficult yet I think she highly underestimates this and I warn anyone who doesn't have to take her to stay very very very far away.

READ!READ!READ! and take notes while you read of all the characters. Every quiz is exactly alike, and the midterm and final have same set up as well. This class takes a lot of work but if you manage your time right you can get an A. Make a note card for each piece you read after you read it with author, language, date made, genre and make little notes about what was different about this story. You should also make a list about the major events that occur in the original and then to the left write the titles of the other works you read and circle which events happened in which story. I wish I would have used this as a study tool because with all the readings I tended to get mixed up on the tests. Do this and I promise it will help so much.

Dr. Schwartz's class was one of the most challenging courses that I have ever taken. First of all, she assigns a book a week on top of various background readings and videos. It takes a lot of time to read these pieces and if you don't have that time, do not take this class. It is painstakingly slow. Each book is the same basic story plot with subtle differences between the different poets. If you hate redundancy, do not take this class. Not only do you read about this "romance" about 5 or 6 times, but also Dr. Schwartz goes over every single detail of every story that you have already read. On top of all the reading, you will spend 4 hours of every week (and I mean 4 hours because she takes up the whole time and then some) hearing about Tristan and Isolde. Bottom line, this class is torture if you hate medieval literature, patience, reading and redundancy. I wish that I would not have taken this class.

She gives way too many assignments for a GE class. There were at least two readings due each class, and these reading are actual books most of the time, not just a couple chapters. She rushed over class topics and gets super annoying when she gets excited. Has way too many expectations for students who are looking for an interesting C-Elective. I am a great English student, I got an A on my essay in her midterm, but she gives me C- on the mini-essays because I do not develop my plot enough in a 2 page paper. Class is too much work and needs to be scaled back.

Schwartz is an amazing professor ! I took this class because she was teaching it. She is the most dedicated professor at Poly. Her web site describes in depth exactly what is expected for papers and tests. Her exams are long and tough but very fair. She is very approachable and is willing to work with you during office hours for as long as you need her. Her lectures are enthusiastic and interesting. I learned more from her then any other professor at Poly. Hands down the smartest person I have ever met. She expects a lot from her students because she wants us to learn as much as we can.

Students who try to get help are only met with any human respect if they are one of her favorites. "Objective" grading/questions in her classes means her opinion is the right one, or that your being right depends on how much she likes you; any right answer can be "wrong' if she's in a bad mood. Students are penalized for being late/missing class, but 3x we sat for about 15-25 minutes waiting for her to bother showing up to teach us. Sh says she only wants us to know what we read, not become medieval experts--but then she annihilates new student ideas and writes angry comments all over any paper/test that she doesn't think is at the level of a dissertation at Harvard. However, if she likes you as mentioned before, you're ok-but how on earth do you do that? By being fascinated by her specialized field of literature, or being into acting (her hobby, which we heard as much about as we did about Chaucer). If you have family or financial issues during a a quarter, expect no sympathy here--college is for rich kids, higher society than the working class-being poor is just your own fault. She is disorganized, plays favorites, refuses to help all students on an EQUAL basis, and revels in her ability to make you life a living hell if she decides you aren't good enough to be a medieval lit PhD--not something most of us are doing anyway. She even engages in verbal abuse during office appointments, and I have seen more than one student leave one crying. What a tyrant.

Professor Schwartz is an incredibly intelligent, witty, and generally wonderful person! I had read the reviews on polyratings and entered her class practically terrified, but very soon I realized that if I did my work and put some honest thought into it Professor Schwartz was very fair and helpful. Our class was small, but I believe I can speak for all of us and say that we all thoroughly enjoyed Professor Schwartz and the class!

I had Dr. Schwartz for my first core. That core was difficult, but in all honesty the material is very hard. You cover so much literary history in such a short time. But regardless, if you worked hard and did your work you would do well. I feel that Dr. Schwartz gets an unfair reputation. She's a wonderful person and teacher. After my core with her, I went on to take two 400-leval classes with her. Arthurian Lit and Chaucer. So much fun! She engages with you, she helps you succeed. I feel that the people who complain about her are really upset about their grades. I'm not the best student, but I worked hard and showed up to class and did well. She helps you with your final project. She doesn't just let you sink or swim. She is so personally invested in this class, she loves teaching and her students. It really upsets me to see how negative everyone is here. Clearly, those who are upset didn't do what they were supposed to. I really do recommend her. Please take her 400's. If you don't, you will be missing out.

Dr. Schwartz gets a bad rap on polyratings, and needlessly I might add. I've taken 3 classes from her and done well in every single one. She does give a ton of reading but you don't even have to do all of it...reading parts of each assignment will be sufficient, as long as you can still answer all of the questions on her very detailed midterm and final preparation guides (which she keeps online). She's very animated and really keeps students' attention. I would recommend her to anyone who is willing to work and really wants to learn, because the stuff I've learned in her classes has stayed with me throughout my entire undergrad. She just drills it into you. This is important though: never, ever leave from a midterm or final early. Stay the entire designated time. She will write down what time you leave, and if you leave early she'll take that as a sign that you have completed the test perfectly. If your essay isn't perfect, or you have answers wrong on the fact portion, your grade will be much lower than it would be if you had stayed the entire time. I don't know why or how this works, but that's the way it is. So just stay. What's four hours of your time for an A?

I have taken Professor Schwartz for two different courses, and though I agree that she requires a lot of effort from her students, I am thankful that I took her classes. There was a major research paper at the end of this course, and though it was very time-consuming I now feel thoroughly equipped to use many research tools. I have used those research abilities in other courses as well, and none of my other professors ever taught me the intricacies of some of the Cal Poly databases... Professor Schwartz is not easy, but her tests are not as hard as people say. If you attend class and take good notes you'll be fine. There is a lot of memorization, but I actually still recall a lot of the info from the core class I took with her almost two years ago. One huge piece of advice-go to her office hours!! She is extremely personable and willing to offer assistance, and she gives so much time to her students, even when she is super busy! She truly desires to help her students, and office hours- even if you only visit two or three times a quarter- will prove to be very beneficial.

Dr. Schwartz is a great teacher, if you're not weak. I cannot beleive some of the negative statements left by students. Grow up. Or are you too used to getting everything on a silver platter? Thanks for a great class Dr. Scwartz!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hear this out. I took Schwartz for "Gender in Medieval Literature," which let me tell you is FAR from anything I would have liked to have taken -- mainly because I hate medieval lit. This class had a lot of reading...but you really didn't have to do it. I swear I maybe read 1/4 of what was assigned and somehow still managed to get an A on her midterm. If you're an English major, you should appreciate she only has you select and answer 8/17 passage IDs and 11/36 terms/people/symbolic objects from texts, and then has an essay. Honestly, she is very theatrical, but I feel like some of the ratings on here are from GE students who didn't put any effort in at all. Her class is NOT that hard. She's not as amazing as Hampsey or Campbell, but nobody is so if you're like 6th rotation or later and see that she's the only professor left, don't worry that much. I promise it won't be THAT bad.

I would recommend to anyone to take Prof. Schwartz for a 400-level class. She is an amazing professor in a seminar setting. I would note, after 4 years of taking ENGL dept classes, that she and Prof. Hampsey are the two professors that I would credit with actually investing in the individual success of each student. Prof. Schwartz took the time to meet, individually, with each student to help each of us prepare for our 15-minute oral presentation and our research paper. This class was designed for each student to succeed and if you take a 400 with her, you probably will too. The material in this class was much more interesting than I anticipated and she actually resurrected my interest in medieval literature that was dead beforehand. I say all of this after coming in with the lowest of expectations for this course. Prof. Schwartz gets a bad rap. It's apparent to me that core classes are not her strong suit and she truly excels as a professor in 400-level classes. I highly recommend this class. I never once felt overwhelmed or stressed out by this class because of how hard Schwartz works for everyone to succeed.

You either like her or you don't. For those of us who do enjoy her from previous ENGL core, I would definitely recommend this class. There's a decent amount of work, including a 15-20pg essay, a 20min presentation, and other readings to keep up with, because the class size is so small, you truly get to learn and discuss the material almost like a book club because you truly get to know one another through group discussions. She's awesome, and anyone who can't deal with the amount of work she assigns should reconsider their ENGL major. The focus for this class was Gender in Medieval Literature and involved reading more in depth the things you read in Core 1, overall a great class and a great professor.

Dr. Schwartz is a really, really knowledgeable and really interesting just to listen to in class. She has higher expectations than a lot of other professors, but if you apply yourself, an 'A' is definitely possible. At the end of the quarter, there is no final, just a quick review of what you wrote about for your research paper over wine and food at her house! She is definitely a great professor to take!

Schwartz is unrealistic. Does she really think I will read a 900-page book during the last two weeks of class when there isn't even a test on it? Wow. Also, she would say something like this: "Let me just talk about this for 5 minutes." 1 hour later we are still talking about the same thing. She is one of those ladies who frustrates me more than anything, yet I can't hate her because she is so sweet and funny. This would definitely be your priority class if you were to take it. But some of the literature is interesting, and the movies are so corny that they're amazing.

As everyone said, *MEMORIZE*. Don't even worry about learning anything--just sit there, listen to her talk forever, and just memorize what she wants you to memorize. She demands a lot of minute details and she is so nitpicky, but she herself is very disorganized and crazy. She is a nice person, but if she doesn't like you, then forget about it. She has her favorites, and her favorites are the ones who either ignore her annoying quirks or suck up to her. So do that if you want to stay on her good side.

Great class!

I was a returning student with a full time job and two children so I was so appreciative of Dr.Schwartz willingness to open her home and hours outside of school to help anyone willing to learn. I LOVED her class and her ability to speak frankly about the text as it was written. It was amazing being taught by a true medieval genius. Her heart is so big. If you love literature and REALLY want to learn, take her class! I was honored to learn from a Master!

This class and instructor truly challenged my abilities as an English major. Many people seem to have nothing but negative remarks about this professor. That was the opposite of my experience in her class. Sure, if you are a slacker and don't read the course materials... You'll probably have a bad experience in her class. But, if you are able to pay attention and work to improve your abilities as an English major then you will thrive in this environment. She is extremely enthusiastic about the course, and the work load is heavy. Her final was optional and I struggled on the mid term. When it came around to finals week I was soooo pressed for time, I missed the final at her home. She allowed me to come back on saturday of finals week to take the final, BY MYSELF. She was educated at Princeton so..... Her knowledge of the course materials is extremely extensive, you will not be able to bull shit her class. I loved the course, and it prepared me for the rest of my English 400 classes. All I have to say to everyone whose been using Polyratings as an opportunity to trash talk a great teacher= figure out what you did to fail in her classes, because I can promise that she wants nothing more than her student's academic success.

I absolutely ADORE Dr. Schwartz. Her energy, wit, and enthusiasm for medieval literature make for an enriching and FUN (!) class experience that I truly look forward to every day. Her joy and passion for medieval lit is contagious. I'm honestly baffled (in the best way) as to how she manages to find the time to meet with each student several times throughout the quarter, provide detailed feedback on our work, teach us how to actually conduct research (which is SO HELPFUL), etc. I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate her dedication to student performance--it's so refreshing to have a professor who authentically cares about each student. YES, her classes are a lot of work. But you know what, my friend? Get over it. :) Especially if you're an English major in one of her 400-level courses, just grit your teeth and do the work! Do the primary readings, do the supplementary readings, show up to class, and engage in some neat discussion. Once you get into the groove of actively participating in class and allotting ample time outside of class to prepare, you'll probably find that her courses are not as impossible as they initially seem (although I totally get it--one glance at her class assignments page is anxiety-inducing at first).

Bullshit midterms...very anal about dates and titles and other things not relative to what a student studies English for. She is also not spacific about her criteria for exams and papers. If it doesn't seem important its probably on the test. Also an annoying person in general. Cool it with the hand gestures. Shes going to put someones eye out.

You have to adjust to Schwartz's style in order to succeed. A lot of grad students aren't prepared for her super-detailed tests. If you're prepared, you can get an A. As for papers, she's fair and not impossible to please. Do good work and you'll be rewarded. As for discussion, ours was pretty circular. She kept repeating her views and I began to feel like we didn't have much freedom to disagree with her. I think she should aim to be a more objective moderator. She's always energetic and peppy, which is nice, and I think she genuinely cares about her students' welfare. I find her pleasant in general.

I don\'t know why everyone beats up so badly on Schwartz. She was far and away one of the best professors I have had. She went out of her way to give us time and space to digest and understand the materials. Most importantly, she welcomed varying interpretations of the same text, and encouraged analytical creativity. She invited published experts and critics to come speak to our class about interpreting texts such as Shakespeare\'s \"The Tempest.\" Can she be tough? Sure. Is her toughness based on a desire for her students to work hard and become better readers and analysts? Yes. She is very fair. If you do the reading and understand the context, you\'ll be fine. Another positive for Schwartz is that she is also comfortable in her position and her knowledge, and does not flinch when faced with questions of varying textual interpretation. She knows a lot about medieval and Shakespeare, and rather than fearing questions, she tries hard to get students to participate, and is grateful to them for sharing their interpretations, concerns and questions. Criticisms of her seem to be based more on personal animosity than on a lack of teaching prowess. The woman leaves big shoes to fill.

Dr. Schwartz is an amazing professor. I was very surprised by the negative comments other students made. She is a university professor and does not tolerate high school-level work. Her difficult exams and expectations force students to rise to her level. She is also one of the best and most enthusiastic lecturers I have ever had. She knows her material and is passionate about it. She goes the extra mile for all of her students. If you want to avoid work, don't take her classes. If you want to be challenged and have your inner scholar enlightened, sign up quickly. She is a higher caliber of professor and requires a higher caliber of student.