Torres, Evelyn  

Excellent professor. Beware of the class though. When I took the class we had to read the better part of one of those 1000 page Norton Anthologies of American Lit. When you think about trying to tackle all that in the course of a 12 week quarter you better know what you're getting into.

I was really pleased with this class. She knows her stuff and explains it with passion, but a problem with her is that the lectures are dry at times. There is alot of reading from the 2000 page American Anthologies book, but the workload is very reasonable. Everyday, there is a quiz of 5 multiple choice questions from the reading. Most of the questions are impossible to miss if you did the reading, but there are always a curveballs that require you to look at the little details. Then there is a midterm and a noncumulative final worth the same amount. On these exams, you have to identify which work a quote comes from, answer questions in a paragraph explaining certain literary terms and time period info, such as Romanticism, errand into the wilderness, and Neoclassism, and a 500+ word essay on a topic where you make references to various different works to describe a literary term. These exams are not too difficult. She is very open to different interpretations and she curves based on your participation. Overall, she is a wonderful teacher that does a good job on explaining the material and willing to listen to ideas. My only complaint is that quizes are worth a huge chuck of your grade. If you do the reading, attend all classes, and contribute to the discussions, you should have no problem with this class. She is a good teacher to get that dreaded GE over with.

She is a very good professor who understands really well that this class is a GE. There is a lot of reading assigned after every class session, but the workload is fair. We read, take a multiple choice quiz, and discuss the ins and outs of the assigned readings that are relevant for the midterm and final. Lectures are on the dry side, but she does not waste our time with anything unimportant. She is a fair grader on the exams that as long as you reasonably back your argument, you will be fine. Exams are straight from the lectures with important quotes that are discussed in class and includes an essay where she is very open to different interpretations. Overall, a good professor to take a GE with.

professor torres loves english, as she should. the only downside to the class, besides it being english is that she expects students to have brilliant and insightful interpretations of the material...after reading it once in class 30 seconds earlier. in general, she is a good professor and she made english not so painful. if i hadnt taken the class cr/nc, i think i would've had a B, possibly higher. she is not a bad choice for engl 240.

She was definately the worst teacher I have had. There was reading assignments for every class that probably averaged 30 pages a time. Then, there was daily quizzes on the reading assignment. She is extremely boring and now turned English into the subject I hate the most. Unless you love to read a lot and don't mind a teacher that is extemely boring and doesn't teach anything to get you ready for the midterm or final, don't take her class.

Not the most interesting class, but it's not to the point where you could fail. Her lectures were very dry. The reading was doable and get the gist of the material the quizzes were basically freebies. And if you don't read, google it because it definitely got me through the bigger readings. In class, highlight what she reads out loud, guaranteed it will help on tests.

at first I didn\'t really like her but she grew on me throughout the quarter. I think it isnt to hard to get an A in the class but I slacked on the reading. She does give reading every night. Her tests are knowing a lot of quotes and an essay and fill in the blanks. She is definitely not too hard for a ge teacher

The worst teacher I have had at Poly so far. Mumbles random things she doesn\'t even bother to explain. All you do is read out of an Anthology and she \"explains\" it. No passion for teaching. It\'s high school all over again.

Honestly, this class takes way too much time for a GE. She is pretty quiet and not very confident when she speaks. I normally like english classes, but you have to do readings before every class because you get quizzed every single class without a doubt. The readings are not particularly difficult, but they are very time consuming. Overall, I wouldn\'t recommend her if you have another option.

I chose American Literature because it sounded more interesting than Great Books. I could not have been more wrong. I did the daily readings (10-100 pages) which there is a quiz on each day. You have to participate at least 40 times throughout the quarter in order to earn an A in participation. I am very shy so didn't participate much and received an F for the participation grade (15% of the total grade). The midterm and final were EXTREMELY difficult. The passage ID section was IMPOSSIBLE and I studied A LOT. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this class. The teacher herself isn't bad but the class is the most difficult one I have taken thus far at Poly.

She is really NICE person, you always can talk to her! and if u want to pass GWR and you are ESL student, i will highly recommend her for fulfilling the requriement!! Her lecture is good just keep listen to her when she read the essay, since the essay she read will be in your exam! Try to attend all the classes even no attendance counted! Anyway, she's a really good teacher!!!

While Dr. Torres is smart at what she knows, I don't feel she teaches what she knows. She is more concerned with what critics have to say than what she has to say! I could care less what some joe-shmo has to say, I want to hear what the person who is supposed to be teaching me has to say. Dr. Torres is the most frustrating teacher I've ever dealt with and I've been here a long time! She misses a ton of classes, which is cool to some people, but it is a complete waste of my time to go to campus to realize that I don't need to be there. Not to mention that she has a hard time finishing a sentence on occasion and then just laughs some weird laugh and lets it go. By the way, if she asks what the class thinks, for goodness sakes, someone answer because she won't!! As for exams, standard English exams: midterm of passage identification and short answer PLUS in our case she had a second day of in-class essay. Final was one essay but not comprehensive so that was helpful. In the end I wouldn't take her for anything! I had her twice and both times it sucked! I only took her again because she was the only teacher for the course!! AVOID!!

Evelyn Torres does a fine job with this material. Her greatest obstacle is dealing with the morons in the classroom. The class discusses topics ranging from Puritanism to Transcendentalism, and requires a lot of reading from the Norton Anthology. Prof. Torres attempts to generate frequent classroom discussions, but the efforts are regularly thwarted by an unenthusiastic and ignorant classroom (sounds harsh, but this is a university and the students in my class were mostly mouth-breathers). Prof. Torres gives daily quizzes, which are often impossibly hard. I think they must be more of an attendance check than anything else. Her exams are large, in-class essays, and she doesn

The class has many novels which were placed throughout the quarter in a poor manner. The lectures were dry and focused on other critics opinions. The first two weekes were only on critics. Be prepared, you will have to down much coffie to stay awake. Realism and naturalism are not usually this dry.

This is an easy class to do well in, but it is incredibly boring. The teacher is extremely UNORGANIZED. We took a midterm in the begining of the sixth week of instruction. We did not get back this test until the last day of class. Torres in definately a smart woman, but she does not seem to be enthusuastic about teaching, which may be why she is unorganized.

Dr. Torres is a nice person and seems very intelligent, however this class is extremely unorganized. The required amount of reading is insane, and it is nearly impossible to tell how you are doing grade wise. Much of the material she presents in class deals with obscure ideas that belong to random critics, and provides no help in understanding the readings. This class really becomes a thorn in your side by week five - if not sooner.

I agree whole heartedly with the person above. Dr. Torres is very knowledgable about her subject and not a bad person, but her teaching leaves a lot to be desired. I always enjoy english classes but this one does quickly become a thorn in your side, mostly due to the amount of reading required. Eight novels and a paper in ten weeks is excessive, especially when we didn't have nearly enough class time to discuss all the books. I think everyone would get a lot more out of the class if a few of the novels were taken off the reading list. Also beware of how unorganized she is. Apperently its easy to do well in the class, but you won't know this until grades come out because she never returns ANY of your work to you.

I liked the books and I liked her as a person, but she seemed disconnected from the student discussion. No one wanted to answer questions because she demanded overly specific answers. The atmosphere was uncomfortable, and I think she needs to be more relaxed and open-minded instead of having a strict agenda. Our class was a bit dead, and I think she gave up on us. Also, she will cancel class at least twice in the quarter.

Torres is a nice lady, and an ok professor. Daily quizzes on the readings and lectures that count for about 30% of your grade. Super easy if you've read. I never read, but was still able to get a B, by taking lots of notes and doing solidly on the midterm and final.

She gives m/c 5 point quizzes every day, which are really easy if you have a photographic memory as there is a lot of information to process in this class. She gives you many choices (7-8 plus subcategories) of essay questions for the midterm and final. She is very intelligent and classy. She also has the highest GWR pass rate than any other English teacher at Cal Poly. She does seem a bit distant sometimes but we're not taking the class to make friends with the teacher. I was terrified to take literature but she made it interesting for me. You need to participate in class because 50 points count towards the grade. Each comment you make counts for one point. This scared me at first but she made it easy for us to feel comfortable participating in class by having us all introduce ourselves to each other on the first day of class. I didn't do too well on the quizzes because I just couldn't remember every detail but other people got perfect scores. Overall, I think she is fair and unbiased even though she talked in a mean tone and ignored some people in class.

This woman will take her misery out on you in class! A few times I thought she came to class drunk due to her red eyes, odor, slurred speech, and lack of balance. She plays favorites and is a harsh grader. Her quizzes suck and are confusing. It is hard to tell exactly what this woman wants and there is too much reading (5 novels) and many short stories and poems, plus a creative paper (which you will never get back). She takes forever grading the midterms and misses at least 3 classes. I was miserable all quarter in this class! YUCK!!!!!!!!!

I hope this will not seem personal at all because I think Torres actually likes teaching and is aware of the students around her. Having said that, this was the worst English class I have taken even though we read some pretty great novels. If you are not used to a lot of reading, do not take this class. Do not take it for GWR either. Just do not take it. She gives daily quizzes and credit for participation because otherwise the class would be completely silent. It's not extra credit though, it is required, so you then get the most asinine comments ever uttered in a college classroom. Avoid at all costs. Seriously. Please. Avoid.

Wow. Where to start? English used to be one of my favorite classes, but the experience of this class quickly replaced that sentiment with a very bitter taste. The midterm, final, and paper were all acceptable, but other aspects of the class and grading system were absurd. For example, basing a fairly substantial part of the overall grade on class participation in a course of about 30+ people. Call me old school, but receving points for the mere quantity of comments throughout the quarter encouraged a shitty environment for a college classroom. Lectures were muy aburrido, fo sho. Daily quizes were a part of the grade. No curve. Those who came in after the quiz had been collected were not allowed to take it. It's almost like she goes out of her way to remind you that she is rude. Anyway, the class is doable with some perseverance, but consider yourself warned... I say all this in no effort to arbitrarily rip on Dr. Torres, it is instead a genuine warning to avoid by any means necessary.

I was terrified of taking a literature class, but Dr. Torres changed my attitude by the end of the quarter! I really enjoyed having her as a professor. She was enthusiastic about Realism and Naturalism so this made the class psychologically stimulating. I thought that her multiple choice quizzes were very difficult but the essay and paper were easy.

I enjoyed the class as well as Dr. Torres teaching style. She embraces everyones opinions but demands participation and feedback on the reading. She has an in class quiz almost everyday and therefore attendance and participation are a must.

About 1/3 of Dr. Torres grading is based on daily quizzes and participation. She makes participation points very attainable as long as you are willing to raise your hand and participate. If you tend to run late to classes, the daily quizzes may give you a tad of a problem. She grades very fairly on her exams. The main thing she seems to be looking for in the essays are introduction, body, conclusion, and a logical line of thought. Dr. Torres was very dedicated to her students, this semester. She actually tried to stay a whole day at school after breaking her wrist early that morning and she was very easy to approach with any questions or concerns.

Find a professor that more about her students on this campus- and then complain all you want about some of Dr. Torres' minor issues to make yourselves feel better. Imagine the most genuine, dedicated- and therefore maybe a little sensitive/soft spoken person you know trying to teach something they love to a room full of students that habitiuaily forget that they are STUDENTS because they are day dreaming about a world where they are entitled to EVERYTHING they want without working fot it. Teaching is not easy- espeacially when you care. Give her a break- and if you can't, don't take her class. She'll be better off for it- you won't.

I am an english major, and so far have loved every english teacher I have had. Dr. Torres is without a doubt the worst teacher I have ever had in my life, and everyone in my class agreed with me. She's never prepared, she quizzes you on trivial and insignificant facts because she doesn't have any real material to quiz you on, and she just babbles about a bunch of nonsense that even she doesn't understand. My neighbors and I were convinced that she just googled a topic before class every day,wrote some notes, and tried to convince us that she had the slightest idea what she was talking about. I am going to talk to Rummel and tell her something needs to be done about this lady. Stay away from her class. She is incompetent.

I am honestly surprised by many evaluations of Torres. She is such a nice and accommodating teacher. Every student in both of her sections passed the GWR on the first try. It was not difficult in the slightest. The grade in the class is made up of participation points, daily quizzes (which account for more than your midterm) on various short stories/poems/5 required novels, one midterm, one creative writing paper, and the final. I had all my participation points by the fourth week of the class. The daily quizzes are sometimes vague, but you can manage a B average on them just by reading spark notes. I got a 90% on the first midterm, but was one of only 5 people in both of her classes to get an A on it. The creative paper is a joke, but it isn't hard. The midterm and final are made up of a quotes section in which you match it to the story/poem/novel, a free response section that is a fill in the blank, and an essay, in which she gives you multiple topics that you can choose from before the test, so you have an essay already prepared and simply have to rewrite it in class. Overall, your grade will reflect the work you put in. It is not a difficult course, but requires more than a passing glance. If you want a C4 with a GWR, this one is definitely doable.

Perhaps she took what others have said about her, this course wasnt that bad workload-wise. Reading material was reasonable. She did return our midterms and papers late but she's a fairly easy grader. Gotta love that. If you want GWR nice way to get rid of it

This class was great! The coursework consisted of reading 7 books, which weren't very long. The novels for the most part were all interesting. The book "Rain of Gold" is absolutely magnificent. There are about 5 short quizzes, 1 midterm, a creative story paper, and a final exam. The exams consist of identifying quotations from the novels (title and author) and an essay (she gives you the topics/themes that will be on the exam). I highly recommend this class. Dr. Torres cancelled class about 5-6 times, which was great especially for the summer course. This allowed time to read the books. You may choose to watch the movies instead of the novels, but be careful...there are many details left out of the movies that Dr. Torres will ask on the quizzes and expect you to know for the exams.