Twisseleman, Sheree  

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Twisselemen is an EXTREMELY excited and animated teacher. Personally it drove me nuts to the point where I had a difficult time paying attention in class. She speaks to her students as though they were kindergardeners. Never in my life have I met a teacher so childish and exaggerated as her. If you walked in the room without looking at the students you could swear you were watching a 1st grade class. To her defense, she explains thoroughly and is a fair grader. She gives fair tests and enables students to properly prepare for tests. You can tell she cares for her students but she definitely plays favorites. If you are animated in class and buy into her antics, she will love you. Most definitely not a difficult class by any means (if your a decent public speaker) but that is if you can take her classroom rants. She has probably wasted at least 5 hours out of the quarter wasting our time with examples of past speeches. It got to the point where I wanted to scream. Very nice lady but only if you can handle her....

She is a very nice teacher, she is excited about what she teaches so that makes the class easier to go to. I had her once a week four hour block, and that was miserable. I probably wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad that I did because then once you went to class you were done for the week. The class itself wasn't hard at all, the speeches are heavily weighted, but if you have put in obvious effort and you can speak at least decently well in the class you will get a B. The reason I got a B was because I never studied for the quizzes and tests.

First of don't take the 4 hour block, even if it means no friday classes for you, even if there is this one dreamy guy with a nice ass or that really cute girl with some shirt bustin' breasts on the first day, even if you're a sadist, even if you like sitting, even if you like the number 4 hours. Don't do it. ||||| That aside Twisseleman is passionate about her class, a very rare quality in a teacher, and a fair/hard grader. She knows that you get nervous and what not, in the end you will at least get more CONFIDENT at speaking.||||| Some tips to an A: Get to KNOW your professor, she will probably grade you better on a speech even if you trip up once or twice than if she doesn't know you that well.||||| Pick INTERESTING topics, I had the 4 hour block, you do not even know how boring some of my classmates' speeches were. I wanted to yell DGAF all the time, because I was so flippin' bored. Listen, if you get psyched on your topic, then your classmates get psyched, then Twisseleman gets psyched, then your grade gets psyched! what-WHAT! #BROFIST ||||| As for reading assignments, just skim the chapters and really read the summary||||| Oh yeah and her stories are legit because they are interesting and waste time. And if you don't get an "A" or a "People's choice/best speech award" you're a scrub. #AsianDad

(Long story short, she's rude, she's a harsh grader, and I'd recommend another professor.) Prof. Twisselman-Davis knows what she's talking about when it comes lecturing about public speaking. Unfortunately, lectures are a very small portion of this class. You'll spend most of your time listening to speeches and giving speeches. Twisselman picks a handful of students as her favorites, and fawns over them after their speeches as a habit. If you're not one of those students, don't expect to anywhere close to an A on any of your speeches. She'll mark you off points on the most inane bullshit you can imagine, and she'll sometimes write in the comments that you can come to office hours to discuss the mark and resolve whatever issue caused the low grade. Sounds nice, but you'll soon find that after taking time out of your day to go to her office hours, she'll have the audacity to stand by the original mark and let you know that you were in the wrong. Continuing on that vein, she's extremely unhelpful and unforgiving in general when you run into any sort of issue and try to get help from her during office hours. Even during class, she has a very weird attitude toward students. On the surface, she seems genuine and nice, but as you progress through the quarter you'll notice that it's strangely fake. Hard to describe. I'd say that you need to take the class to understand, but I'd never wish this class upon anyone. Take another Professor, there's lots of sections of COMS 101 to choose from.

Twissel was awesome, except I do not recommend her four hour block. However, she made the class bearable because it was so long. She was always so enthusiastic and did not require much work at all. We had five speeches, two heavily weighted ones with written outlines, and one paper. As long as you show up to her office hours or at least try to establish a relationship with her, she will love you and give you nice grades. Only thing that was a really hammer to the head was that she took a very long time to get a small point across. And she was a bit too enthusiastic at some points. But I really enjoyed her class because I could tell she really wanted us to become better speakers. I know that I have definitely become more confident giving speeches because of her class. TAKE TWISSEL!!!!!

I took the 4 hour class, which seemed horrible, but it didn't turn out too bad. She would lecture a few days with powerpoints, but mainly after the first few days all we did was give speeches. The good thing about our class was that we didn't take midterms because we were too busy with speeches. The (4 hour) class consists of 3 speeches (informative, persuasive, and your choice between a tribute or impromptu speech), a speech analysis, and an easy multiple choice final. She was a lot of fun, and a good teacher.

Prof Twisselman-Davis is overall a very nice lady and a good professor. I did not observe the "picking of favorites" mentioned in other posts (I'm not just saying that because I was a "favorite" or anything like that). Ms. Davis gave great advise and feedback to us students, and never seemed unfair in her grading. If anything, she was generous. The midterm and final were straight from the book and her lectures, and you only had to memorize a couple of key points (and have common sense) to do well on them. The speeches where not graded too harshly, but if you want to do well, choose a simple and interesting topic. Topic choice and delivery are the main components of the grade (not explicitly, but essentially). But still, if you want to get a good grade in the class, you should make sure she at least kind of likes you. It is a COMS class after all. \\ (P.S. she got married I think so her name is Twisselman-Davis not Twisseleman. Come on, that's not even spelled right...)

Fairly easy class. You can just try a little and get a B basically. If you practice your speeches a lot you will get an A. Very easy to get a B though. Make sure you read the chapters for the tests.

I really liked Sheree. She clearly communicated what was happening in the class, there was plenty of notice for the schedule of the class. The expectations were clear. I just don't really like public speaking so I didn't enjoy that, but I do think I improved. I would recommend this teacher. It was pretty painless overall.

The class was overall ok. Twisselmen seemed to be very biased towards speeches given by female students. After doing my own research, the male students in the class got an average lower score than females. Many people from our class agreed with my findings. I am very disappointed that I got a B in the class not because of poor work, but because of Twisselmen's stricter judging on male speeches. Overall if you are a female, take her for an easy A. If you are a guy, look for another professor that actually knows what there doing as a professional.

She does not act like a teacher of any sort. I advise you do not attend her coms class.

I took Professor Twisseleman's HNRS COMS 101 class and thought the class was great! There were only 2 tests, one midterm and a final. For both she would give you the chapters and all the questions were just straight from them and a lot were common sense. We gave 5 speeches: object, informative, communcation briefing (PSA), persuasive, and a tribute or improptu speech. You got to choose if you wanted to give a prepared tribute speech or not prepare anything and wing it with an improptu speech. She was an overall great teacher, very nice and talks about her kids a lot but the stories are always sweet and never bothered me to listen to them. She also comes from an ag background so if your an ag kid take this class!

She is biased for minorities and can't listen attentively to speeches and thenceforth wont give you the benefit of the doubt that aspects of the speech were talked about. Dont be optimistic about the final either, its ridiculous for a GE public speaking class. A thirty question MC and short answer

Professor Twisseleman is one of the better communication teachers. If you work hard on your speeches and put them in the format she teaches, and study a little for the midterm and final, you can easily get an A. If you don't feel like trying then you can still pull off a B pretty effortlessly. I thought the wedensday 4-8 class would be hell, but in the end it was nice having public speaking only once a week and i don't think we had as many speeches as the other coms classes. She kind of talked to the class like we were 5th graders, but overall she taught us what we needed to know and was clear and fair in her grading.

Amazing professor. Very understanding and approachable. Doesn't take points off for disfluencies (ums or likes) like other professors do. Even if you aren't a good public speaker, you will not dread this class. It is easy to do well as long as you turn in your work and present your speeches well. I would absolutely recommend Twisseleman-Davis. She is very friendly, and the exams are super easy.

Twissleman is AWESOME! one of my favorite classes that I have taken at poly and this was just a GE for me! I totally recommend her. There are only about four or five speeches and as long as you do your outline and practice practice practice you will be fine! She has two midterms and we didnt have a final, definitely recommend her, especially if you are an AG student

This professor is amazing! She presents information clearly and you know what she expects from your speeches well before hand. The only real outside of class work you are expected to complete is the writing of your 4 speeches (two of them are relatively minor) and chapter readings. She also doesn't regularly take attendance which is awesome in a COMS class. I definitely recommend taking her for COMS 101.

Twisseleman-Davis is an extremely easy grader on speeches as long as you practice your speeches and are confident with what you are saying. I took the 4 hour block so we didn't have too much in class lectures and the grade you got on the midterm and final were determined by how much you read in the book. Overall, very nice person and a pretty easy A as long as you're willing to put in a little time to practice your speeches.

I was not a fan of Ms. Twisseleman. She is a sweet lady, but her grading system is awful. Everything is on a 1-5 scale, with 3 being good. So if your eye contact was "good" you received a 70 in that section. If your "hand gestures" were great, 80. "Main points" good... 70, and so on and so fourth. And all of these teeny tiny 5 point sections would total to your 100 points for the year. So one time if your vocal projection is just "good," you are already at a 97% as a final grade, with a TINY curve. On one of my speeches, the HDMI adapter from my computer didn't work for some reason, so I couldn't play my power point. I tried restarting it once and it wasn't fixing, so I continued on with my speech without it. At the end, I spoke to Ms. Twisseleman, and she told me that she was impressed with how I handled the situation professionally. I showed her my power point that I had planned on showing, and she complimented me once again. When I got my grading rubric back, I had received a ZERO in the visual aid portion...10 points. I also felt as though favoritism was present. Because I was not a local, didn't have an incredible life changing story to speak about every time, and wasn't some crazy outgoing personality, I felt as though I did not receive the criticism, help, guidance, or grade that I deserved. If you get her, get on her good side, and overall, it is not NOT doable. I just advise avoiding her if possible.

it is impossible to get an A in this course unless you are a female or you know someone who has cancer and you give a speech about it. However, if you fall into either of these categories, I strongly suggest you take this course, you are guaranteed an easy A.

the fisrt day youll be like oh okay this class seems fine and by the last day youll be ripping your ears off her voice is soo annoying and she never stops talking about the most pointless things and not in a fun way like in the way that youll wish you were doing 400 level stats because then your brain isnt turing into actaul mush

She talks to her students like they're in middle school and prefers girls to boys. Not a teacher that helped me feel comfortable speaking in front of her and the rest of the people in the class. I didn't like her but the tests weren't hard to study for (just stick to the book definitions) and you should be fine on the midterm and final. She just grades too harshly on speeches which becomes intimidating and not conducive to the purpose of the class

I would agree with several of the previous posts. She clearly picks favorites and lets her opinion of you heavily influence her grading. She preferred girls over boys and speeches about a hardship in your life or a good deed you did. She failed to provide me with reasoning behind deducted points. It is an easy class but not an easy A. Attendance was required but there was no busy work, only the speeches and tests. The final was replaced by an easy essay on a speech you attended.

Fair professor, not the best COMS professor but not the worst! I don't remember a final paper- just a big speech project and a couple other ones throughout the quarter. The textbook is unnecessary.

She comes off as a super sweet lady and for the most part she is, her class is decently organized, and has the potential to be a good class if she wasn't horrible with her grading. If you're not female or you're not extremely comfortable speaking in front of large groups and all that there's no way you'll get an A, she is sexist against males for some reason and will grade harshly against you with no real explanation on why. One of the best male speakers in our class consistently got mid-level B's and the occasional A for his work, while some of the females would get A's for some of the most boring and incoherent speeches I've heard. Cal Poly is notoriously difficult for COMS 101, I recommend just taking over the summer at a community because you'll probably get a better grade and possibly a better class over there.

Ms. Davis was one of my favorite teachers so far at Cal Poly. She clearly loves what she does and her spirit about the subject matter keeps the class entertaining. She's not the easiest of graders but I think, if you're actually putting in the work required to get a good grade, that she takes effort into account. If you follow the instructions she gives in class you will get an A. Also, as boring as it is, don't skip lecture because her test is almost entirely from those notes.

literally such an annoying lady, super unfair grader that basically can't separate herself from her own biases on certain topics, pointless class literally lecture is the biggest joke of the century, take someone else

Twisselman has been teaching this course for too long, plain and simple. She is overly excited about the most needlessly, shamefully pedantic course I have ever taken. Not only does she fail to present any meaningful or useful information about communication, she spends the vast majority of every single lecture regaling the class in an overwhelming and, frankly, useless set of stories from her 20+ years of teaching the course. Admittedly, he class is incredibly easy to pass if you attend the lectures and never read the book because she makes whatever will be on the exams very explicit. That said, I find myself more apathetic and, in fact, more misanthropic in this class than any other time in my life thanks to the infuriatingly useless teaching style of Shermer Twisselman-Davis.

Sherbert is a nice lady. If you're an outgoing girl that writes speeches with no depth or controversy whatsoever, you'll probably get an A. The way she grades seems very arbitrary; she'll give A's to people who gave speeches that were mediocre at best, and give C's to people who deserved better. She grades partially on whether or not she agrees with you. After my persuasive speech, she argued with me and basically told me I was wrong which made me and the entire class immensely uncomfortable. Also, her lectures made me want to bang my head repeatedly against a wall because they are so mundane and so riddled with meaningless stories. I would have to get up and leave to splash water on my face just to stay awake. Overall, not a fan of twisseleman-davis.

If you struggle with public speaking, then this class will probably be really hard for you. The professor grades a lot on how you speak, and not necessarily what you write about or how well you write. She focuses on hand gestures, voice variety, all of that stuff that is really hard for us people with anxiety to do. She is a really sweet woman, and she is welcoming and helpful, but I feel that for people who are not good at public speaking, it is going to be really hard for you to pass this class, I am barely passing right now. Good luck! Also, don't procrastinate on your speech, she gives you ample amount of time that you should utilize.

Very difficult to get an A in this course, you have to have amazing public speaking skills. However, it is very easy to get a high B in the course and extremely difficult to have your grade be below a B. Her midterms are based on the book and lectures and most of the class is just public speaking. She grades a little too hard on the Impropmtu speeches.

Twisseleman-Davis is a good professor. The tests are very easy and although she can be a little harsh sometimes when grading speeches, it's still VERY easy to get a B. If you want an A you have to give good speeches which really isn't too difficult once you get comfortable in front of your class. As for her being biased...I didn't notice her picking favorites or anything like that but I would agree that you will get a better grade on your persuasive speech if she agrees with you. Overall, this is a good class and I would definitely take her again.

Almost impossible to get an A in this course. The rubric for speeches is designed in such a way that you are almost guaranteed to get a B-. The tests are based on readings in the book. Definitely would have preferred a more lax grading scale from this professor.

Don't listen to these other comments. Walking in, I was so scared she was going to be this mean, crazy hard grader, but she's actually really fair! Yes, she does sound like she is trying to sell you something on QVC, and it can get annoying, but she is fair, and as long as you actually practice your speech, you will do fine.

She is an incredibly sweet and dedicated lady. She absolutely loves teaching public speaking, and even though I dreaded this class, she made it enjoyable. Sheree is also an incredibly well rounded and interesting woman. She tells a lot of crazy stories about her life that make you wonder how an seemingly normal middle-aged woman could have such an exciting life, but she sure does! There aren't a lot of points to cushion your grade so every single thing counts, but all COMS 101 classes are like that, so the professor doesn't make a difference there. She is extremely fair and she genuinely cares about her students.

I would recommend Dr. Twisseleman to anyone. She is such a sweet lady, and she is extremely helpful. If you show her that you actually care about the course, she will still grade you highly, even if you mess up a couple of times. She is really enthusiastic, which make the lectures easier to get through. However, there are not many lectures. You mainly listen to other people's speeches. It's a fun class. Take Dr. Twisseleman if you can.

Overall, Twisseleman is a good professor. She cares about her students learning the material and becoming better speakers, and she is very willing to help you in deciding on speech topics and setting up your speeches. She only assigns individual speeches, which is good, because group speeches suck. She focuses you more on her lecture instead of the textbook, which is good because the book is *really* boring and almost stupid at times. If you need help putting together your speech or just discussing topic ideas, she is very, very helpful in office hours. I went to her office hours not knowing what to do with my topic, but when I had finished talking to her I had some excellent ideas that helped me set up and organize my speech really well. However, sometimes Professor Davis gets way to dramatic in class. She'll build up to something so much that sometimes I started thinking "can you please just get to the point!", especially when it's something that's not that big of a deal. She talks about previous students' speeches so dramatically that they sound much more amazing than they actually are. Sometimes, while lecturing, she'll get too serious/dramatic about an issue, such as respecting others during your speech. It's important to be respectful to others while speaking, but you don't need to build up to a discussion of the issue with sentences that have dramatic, full-2 second pauses in between them. Anyways, if you want to be entertained, you'll enjoy it. As an engineer, I was more interested in a presentation that was more to the point, with a few jokes here and there. However, I've got to say that she is a very good professor compared to most of the other COMMS profs. If you're taking COMMS, try to get into one of her sections. She's *a lot* more helpful and encouraging than most of the other COMMS profs. It'll be worth dealing with a bit of drama. Take her if you can!

She knows what she is talking about, and the midterm and final are on the information she assigns and teaches. She's an alright professor. I'm living proof that being male won't keep you from getting an A in her class

Professor Gwisseleman was truly the best teacher I could have had for COMS 101, especially as a junior. She had a no bullshit kind of class that required you to do assignments that targeted key material that had been thoroughly explained in class. All assignments were given with plenty of time to complete. My only complaint would be that she was too happy for a 10 AM lecture, but more power to her for being so energetic and passionate about the subject she teaches in an early morning class.

I absolutely love the Twissle Tips. Super fun class to go to; 1 midterm and 4 speeches. Take her if you can, you won't regret it.

I was absolutely DREADING Coms 101 when I came to Cal Poly. I took this class my first year after initially being placed in Martin Mehl's class and hearing about how tough he was. I chose Sheree based on her super high Polyrating, and she did not disappoint! I talked to her on the first day of class and discussed my anxiety disorder with her, and how that would play out in the class during speeches. She was totally willing to work with me and to help me with whatever I needed, and basically reassured me that I would be fine. That took SO much pressure off me, and already I felt more prepared to give the speeches. She was super kind and gave really great and helpful criticism on your speeches, and made sure you understood what she wanted in each of the speeches. The class consisted of 4 speeches, but only 3 of them were graded. The Informative and Persuasive speeches are the biggest portions of your grade, and you'll definitely want to make sure you practice them beforehand, and create a good little support material for your speech. The midterm and final were pretty easy, as long as you read the book and knew definitions and studied any little charts and diagrams that came up. All in all, Sheree's class was absolutely amazing. As someone who was absolutely dreading Coms, I could not recommend her enough. She is a fair grader, is great about giving criticism and feedback on your speeches, and makes the environment feel safe and welcome to give speeches in. Take her class if you can!

She tells a lot of stories in lecture which can sometimes make it difficult to grasp important information as it is rushed through. Important to read the book summaries/skim chapters to stay on track!

She's really nice, but she doesn't really teach. She'll just ramble on about different speeches she liked and didn't like. If you're naturally good at public speaking, you're gonna be fine and get an A. If you are shy or timid in the *least* bit, she'll dock you points left and right on the big speeches. Super tough grader. Although I guess it could be worse? 6/10.

First off, I don't believe teachers should make general ed classes as difficult as possible. That being said, Sheree made this class way more difficult than it should have been. This is how this teacher will operate: The class has 3 speeches on the year (Informative, Persuasive, and an Improv Speech) 2 exams MW or TR 2 hour class When giving your speeches, it is graded on a 1-5 scale, on whether some part of your speech (i.e. introduction, hand movement, eye contact) was great 5 or poor 1. By this system, if you have "good" eye contact, that immediately lowers your overall score to below a 90. If it is "average" there goes your hopes of a B. This system of grading is annoying due to is minuscule differences between earning a 4 and a 5. If you don't have some amazing life story about how you survived cancer or led your family through a war torn country, good luck getting a lot of interest from the teacher. If its not about something crazy it will most likely not get past an 80. Depending on your class audience too, some topics will immediately be boring and not get a helpful response from (sports, politics). This teacher is also biased towards females. Even girls in my class admitted that as well. If you're not a girl, save yourself a comfortable GPA and do not take this class. This teacher also does not have a PolyLearn. Good luck saving the one-paper syllabus that you were given week 0. The lectures about the book material are some of the most painful classes that you could ever endure. 20-25 slide powerpoints that have not been updated for decades, while drawing each slide out for about 10 minutes. For this entire quarter, we have only done ONE activity in class where she made someone stand up and do an impromptu exercise to help make a point. Imagine hearing how to structure your essay for 45 minutes. "Learn by doing" right? While this class has frustrated myself and my classmates I have tried to write the most critical and constructive review possible. Do not take this class unless you are fine with a 75.

At first glance, Sheree Twisseleman Davis gives off a very nice, friendly, grandmotherly vibe. I was originally fooled by this facade and was at once invigorated to learn all about the art of public speaking. Then, week two hits... After returning from a family event, I was stricken with the flu and as a result, missed both Tuesday and Thursday's classes. I made sure to email Sheree on Monday night, as I had volunteered to give our first speech that following day, and I asked her if I could give it on Thursday. As expected she was very sweet and assured me it would be fine and to feel better. When Thursday morning came and I was still feeling awful, I emailed her once again apologetic and asked her to move my speech date one more day. This time I received no email response, but I shrugged it off and assumed she saw it. The next week progressed as normal and when the Tuesday of week 4 arrived, things got real. Shortly after class begins Sheree goes up to the front and says, "Today we are going to begin our informative speeches, it looks like you're our first up anon," she says this as she looks at me, waiting for me to get up and give my speech. I was taken totally off guard and mumbled out something about when I was told I'd be going today. She explained that it was on the speaking calendar, and this made me more confused as I had never received a speaking calendar and there was no polylearn for our class as she apparently didn't believe in it or some bs. I ended up talking to her after class and she told me that I might be able to go the following week. Anyway I get it ready and finally after practically interrupting Sheree at the end of class the following Thursday she finally allowed me to get up and give my speech. I straight up ask if I can give my speech as every else has and there was still 20 minutes left of my class, and this woman actually asks me how long my speech is. I was taken off guard as it was in the fuckin rules that the speech had to be like 5-6 minutes long. Idk what the point of it was so I just answered "five minutes" and she said "well I guess we have time." I get up and give the speech and it went pretty well, even got some compliments from a class mate, and when I get this fuckin thing back she actually gave my ass a D. Now I'm not the best public speaker in the world, but it went pretty damn well. Anyway there's no way I deserved a grade as low as I got. After spending hours decoding the fucking hieroglyphics she calls handwriting I managed to make out a lot of notes and individual grades that didn't make a whole lot of sense. For example, We needed a work cited list with at least 3 sources and we also had to orally cite 2 of our sources. I had all that which I sent to her but during my speech I forgot to orally cite my second source. The grades for each section was a 1-5 and she gave me a 1 on works cited even though I had 3/3 written sources and 1/2 oral citations. Same shit happened with my other speeches as well. From that point on she always had a very apparent tone shift when she went from talking to another student to talking to me. Very noticeably has her favorites and obviously disliked me for most of the class. Probably a fine teacher for most people, but if she doesn't like you, you're fucked.

Sheree may seem very nice at first and act like she's trying to help you, and although this may stand true for a few of her favorites in the class, she is extremely unhelpful where the rest of the students are concerned. Many of these reviews says Sheree is partial towards women--which is in fact true. Although, if you are a woman who exhibits "masculine" qualities, she is biased against you too. Personally, I am a very forward, confrontational, and loud person, however, I don't act as such in class. Although I am still very forward, I am not loud. Sheree didn't like that. I had actually taken an Oral Composition class in a college preparatory high school where I had to write around 5-6 speeches and received an A with a hard grader. When I received a C on my midterm, I was confused as to why most of the points were taken from the written portion. She had said that I had answered the question correctly but "wasn't specific enough". I asked what she meant and she had no answer for me. As my first speech was approaching, I emailed her asking to switch dates with another student because I would not be able to complete all of the assignments that would go along with the speech. I also explained why I couldn't complete my speech which was because I had extenuating circumstances that I had to return home for. After sending this email, I never received a response so I finished one of the three assignments and presented my speech. Then, after my first speech I had again received another C. I confronted her during her office hours again to ask why my speech deserved that grade. First, she explained that my central idea didn't clearly encapsulate my main points. I wrote a central idea like someone would write a thesis and listed my main points very clearly at the end of my central idea. I even had a slide that listed my three main points clearly on the projector. I told her that exactly and she basically just told me "you're wrong" which seems to be something she likes to say a lot. I was confused as to how my central idea was vague so I asked if she could give me an example of a better central idea so I know how to improve for next time. The only thing she responded with was "I'm not going to write your central idea for you". Mind you, this speech already happened so there would be no harm in providing an example using the thesis that was on my previous speech. Furthermore, she even stated that my main points were confusing and my transitions were incompetent. Since I already knew she would be no use in helping me with my central idea/main points, I asked a more specific question about my transitions: "So, I used the transitions that I would use in an essay where you state your previous point while incorporating your next point. What should I do instead?" She simply said that this is what you're actually supposed to do so I showed her my written notes and pointed out my transitions with which see simply said, "Oh, I didn't see those. I didn't hear them either". This is a speech class in which she gets paid to listen to our speeches and grade our speaker notes so not only did she not hear them during my speech, she didn't even read them on my paper. Finally, her lectures are the type of lectures that put you to sleep. She can’t help but talk about herself every second of every class or “tell stories” that are 15 minute versions of the clearly explained and easily understood bullet point in the textbook that takes about one minute at the longest to read. Not only does she feel the need to comment during lecture, she also has to comment on other students’ speeches with either/both her personal experience and “valued insight”, and repeat points made during a speech that she has now somehow made her own brand new point she thought everyone should know. We know. The speech we just listened to literally just stated that point three times in the introduction, body, and conclusion. In conclusion, if you're a quiet, shyly prepared, mildly talented speaker who's a girl that fits society's definition of a woman (which apparently is Sheree's ideal for a student) take the class. If not, you may as well drop or choose a different professor. I hope my transitions and main points in this evaluation were clearly stated. Thank you.

Professor Davis as a harsh grader and does not care about the growth of students in her class, which is what coms is all about. Someone else complains about the 5 point scale, and I agree. It will grade you on a range for things that are all or nothing sections for grading on her rubric. She will mark off points unnecessarily, and the feedback she gives you is very minimal (if you can read it), and doesn't explain why she gave you the grade she did. I felt like I couldn't even go into office hours to ask because she doesn't even remember our names; she probably wouldn't remember our speeches. I put a significant amount of work into all my speeches and practiced them a ton, so it's false that effort will lead to an A. I do agree that you could probably get a B with not a lot of effort though (her grading is messed up). We had 4 speeches total: A 2 minute PSA, a 4-6 minute informative speech, a 5-7 minute persuasive speech, and either an impromptu or a tribute speech (2-3 minutes). There wasn't a lot of work for her class. 2 written exams: The midterm was MC and short response (definitely go over book AND NOTES). The final is just MC because everyone failed the short answer section of the midterm. I will say that Davis was interesting to listen to in lecture, and she really knows her stuff about public speaking. Lecture only accounted for probably 2-3 hours total-- we mostly gave and listened to speeches. Overall, she's fine, but I wasn't a fan. Nice lady though.

While initially, she seems like a good teacher, over the course of the quarter the class becomes more and more frustrating. Her lectures rarely cover the material she tests on, and she is incredibly prone to going off on tangents - we had days in class where we would have a two-hour lecture but only take a half page of notes since she spent most of the time talking about her own life. However, the midterm and final are on the material she should've covered in class, so you end up doing a lot of reading to catch up. She spends very little time (if any at all) actually teaching public speaking, and then grades incredibly harshly. For example, there's a speech assignment which is supposed to be a 4-5 minute speech. I gave a speech that was roughly 4 minutes and 30 seconds, and on my grade sheet she wrote that it "felt too short". Even if you already have public speaking experience, the class is more about appealing to her, rather than giving a good speech. If you are someone with an agricultural/farming background and make your speeches about things related to that, you'll do great in the class - her family has a ranch and she gives those speeches far higher grades. If your family doesn't own a farm, take a different teacher.

At the beginning, the class seems pretty straightforward. However, she possesses an uncanny ability to relate just about anything to herself, and is able to drag it on an incredible amount of time. The majority of "lectures" are just anecdotes. One two hour lecture consists of about 70% personal anecdotes, 10% talking about previous speeches that were incredible (but probably only got an 80% or below), and 20% actually teaching about public speaking. One two hour class typically consists of about a quarter to a half page of notes. Her grading is harsh, and is biased. Even if you don't have an agricultural background, you should probably try and tune your speeches accordingly- you will receive a good grade. It also seems that she favors girls over boys, something that I'd seen on polyratings and was confirmed by the class. I've heard horror stories from other COMS professors and a few that seem way worse than Davis. I've also heard some really good things about other COMS teachers, so I would say if you can, don't take her. Her tests are pretty straightforward if you skim the textbook and look up a quizlet or flashcards before the test. She did lecture for half an hour before our first midterm which was a questionable decision. She does grade really harshly on the tests though, and they are on things that were NOT covered in class, so read the textbook. She is very good at public speaking and a few of her stories are genuinely interesting. However, I wouldn't advise taking her.

Very nice professor! Class is usually pretty fun and engaging. Does not give much homework. She speaks with animation and dedication and really cares about each student

Honestly she is not that bad, the class is fairly easy to pass. Some people's speech topics were boring but I liked how interested she was in every one and asked questions. She is a very harsh grader though and I do not agree with some of the grades she gave me. I feel like she misses some things during people's speeches and takes off points (ex. if she did not catch your main points EVEN THOUGH THE STUDENT EVALUATOR DID, she will takes off points). So be VERY CLEAR during speeches and do not rush so she catches as much as she can. Like I said easy to pass, but hard to get an A. Also if you are nervous to take this class because you are shy or not good at speaking in front of an audience, do not worry. You will be fine and will get more comfortable throughout the quarter. I loved seeing people so confident during the last speech and remembering how nervous they were during the first speech. Its great, you'll be fine

I loved this class and Twisseleman is a great professor! She does love to go on long tangents or tell very long personal stories during the lecture, but she was a very effective teacher and is great at what she does. I know I definitely have become a much better public speaker because of her. If you follow her rubric for each speech, you will be able to get a good grade. She is a very fair grader and I always knew what to expect because of the rubric. My only advice would be to not procrastinate all of the written work for each speech because it is a lot. Be sure to do the reading and pay attention in the lecture if you want to do well on the midterm and the final. They were not too bad though. Overall she is a very funny woman and an awesome professor.

Twisseleman is an alright COMS professor but she chooses favorites and there is not much you can do about that. She is very open to any topic you want to speak about but I feel as if there is a lot of pull around how she grades depending on her sub-conscious image and liking of you. Public speaking is important and this class should be required however I don't think someone should grade this harshly or how she does when everyone comes from different background and experience of speaking in public.

You can tell she enjoys her topic and teaching which is nice. She does attempt to make the class as fun and interesting as it can be. I'm not 100% sure she is truly unbiased in grading so be careful on your topics. Overall a goo teacher and I would recomend her.

She is a reasonably good teacher, although I found her a bit unprofessional at times, especially in the beginning. She made fun of us for being honors students and caring about our grades. She takes some getting used to, but if you give it time, you can learn a lot from her. She is a good speaker with a lot of experience, and she does care about her students. Especially if you go to her office hours to ask for help or run a speech idea by her, you will find her very supportive. The best part of the class was getting to know the other people in my class. You get to pick your speech topics, so you get to learn a lot about your classmates through their speeches. It wasn't my favorite class, but it turned out better than I expected.

She was a fantastic teacher and as long as you do the work and showed improvement through the quarter you will easily earn a good grade. Any COMS class is a lot of work but I definitely recommend taking Twisselman's class because she understands this and is willing to work with you. She will also give you the prompts a good amount of time before the speech is due so if you're struggling to keep up its honestly your own fault.

Professor Twisselman seems like a nice woman but she has way too much energy for a 60+ year old. Her mannerisms are so annoying and she acts like she's performing in front of a room of kindergarteners. Aside from that, her lectures are pretty informative. She assigns a reading schedule for the quarter, but you can honestly just skim through the book before the exams. SHE DOES NOT HAVE A POLYLEARN which is really annoying because how are we supposed to know our grades? And she is a pretty tough grader. I also did not really improve my public speaking skills in this class. It was mostly lecture with a few speeches and I wish it had been the opposite because I know public speaking is such an important skill to have in the workforce.

I took this class with little public speaking experience and it was great. Dr. Twisseleman structured the class so that it was mostly speeches with a few lectures. Her tests were nearly identical to her lectures and the readings she assigned and she gives a study guide before hand. They are very easy if you prepare even for a few hours. She gave 5 speeches that are weighted heavily but with adequate preparation it is easy to do well. She gives a rubric for each speech with EXACTLY what she expects. She is also helpful in office hours and gives a lot of feedback. An A is very doable in this class if you just put the work in for the speeches. Would highly recommend this class, the workload was perfect for an honors GE.

*I would recommend Sheree as a professor for “Public Speaking.” Twisselman is an experienced and knowledgable professor. Though she goes off on tangents during class, she gets the lesson across. Her class consisted of five speeches, a Midterm (multiple choice and short answer), and a Final Exam (multiple choice). At the end of her class my public speaking skills and knowledge did improve. And one piece of advice, do the readings and study for the Midterm and Final Exam. Expecting an easy, surface level exam for public speaking will not get you very far.

Some things I had heard about this professor: -she has a lot of favoritism (she's gotten better) -she's a harsh grader (yes, on speeches and the short answer section of the midterm) Some things I've realized: She likes talking about herself. A lot. It'll sometimes be hard to focus in class because she goes on and on about irrelevant things with little connection to course content. She doesn't lecture on material often, but when she does, it's just a reiteration of the textbook. Which, by the way, you should read when you're supposed to, because if she sees you taking notes during her lecture, she'll know that you haven't read the chapters. A pro is that she's really open-minded and at least tries to be unbiased. The biggest con to me is that even though my class was only 25 students, she hadn't bothered to learn our names or even how to pronounce them right the entire quarter. Overall, she's not the worst, but be prepared to learn more than you ever wanted to know about her ranch in Paso Robles.

The class in itself is not bad. If you are taking the honors section you will be paired with mostly honors students, which means a majority of the speeches will be well-written and not overly-boring. I took the two hour block and it honestly went quickly. Tests: Plain and simple, just read the book. They aren't that hard. Homework (Speeches): The class had 5 speeches: A random object speech, a PSA, an informative speech, a persuasive speech, and an impromptu (or the other option is tribute) speech. Grading: Grades for speeches are given out based solely upon a rubric. If your speech sticks to Mrs. Twisselman-Davis' cookie-cutter format it will get a high grade, any straying from this will result in your grade getting "nickled and dimed" to death. Some of the most well-spoken and creative speeches I saw in this class, received some of the lowest grades. On the flip side, if you are good at following the same boring format over and over, and you put the time in to get your delivery down, the class will be easy. In conclusion, if you put in the work and don't stray too far from the rubric, you will do fine. If you have ever taken a public speaking course, this one won't be anything new. Mrs. Twisselman-Davis' anecdotes are amusing and nice break from lecture. This class won't be the worst or the best...it's just average.

Loved her class! I was blocked into it for my first quarter. Public speaking always made me nervous so I had my doubts when going into the class but it ended up being my favorite course of the quarter. She is an excellent professor and has great stories during the lecture. Go to her office hours and she will help immensely whether it is finding a topic for a speech or structuring it. If you put in the effort and rehearse your speeches, it is easy to do well in the class.

Overall, it was an ok class. Taking this as not an honors student was terrible, because she automatically assumes everyone is an honors student, but a lot of people weren't. This made me feel a little inferior and out of place. She grades very average and her lecture are interesting, but incredibly slow paced. She is always behind in her lectures. Overall, just follow her rigid outline to your very best, and read the textbook and you'll do fine.

She was always very enthusiastic in her lectures. She did tend to have some favoritism. I thought that her grading was reasonable. I recommend going into office hours and asking her about your speech topic before you commit. She always seemed to grade easier if you picked a topic that she liked...

Professor Davis is an ok introduction to the GE program at Cal Poly. Her lectures are often poorly presented only because of the extent of time she goes off on story tangents and she does not use polylearn which is somewhat annoying. However, it is relatively easy to get an A in the class and she is nice which is why her class is good. The trick is to get used to her picky grading. Make sure you follow speech rubrics exactly (or face being marked down to death for small things) and have strong visual aids and you should get an A or A- in the class relatively easily. The short answer sections on her midterms are brutal because she grades them unnecessarily harsh (although the multiple choice is often easy). Best way to study for them is to find a past student who has the midterm.

Pretty much all the information you need to know for this class is in her slides or the textbook. She doesn't use polylearn so I'd recommend taking good notes during her lectures and reading the textbook. When preparing your speeches, do it in the exact format she says in class - don't try to make interesting, stylistic choices. I took the honors section so she expected more of us (which is not the point of honors classes), so that was kind of annoying. Since she doesn't use polylearn you have to go to her office hours, so she can calculate your grade by hand. But, if you keep all your graded assignments you can just calculate it yourself which is what I should have done. I think the main thing to know about her is that she grades really harshly. She uses a 1-5 point grading scale and to get full credit you have to exceed expectations. It's almost impossible to get an A in her class. I spent hours writing and practicing my speeches, and I still got an A-. She is a pretty good professor though, so definitely don't worry if you end up in her class.

This class was great. Mrs. Twisseleman made this class very interesting and easy to understand. Study hard for the 1 midterm, because its hard to get an A on. Although the speech grades are not so hard to get an A. I truely enjoyed this class!!

Sheree is a good speech teacher, however you should be forwarned that the class moves along very slowly. No matter how much you may love speech and speech related topics, you will be bored. However, from what I heard from friends, she sounds like she is the best to take 101 from. The midterm is the only test that matters, and it is straight from the book (only time you will even need to open it). Don't expect to take more then 5-7 pages of notes the whole quarter, most of the time you are watching speeches. She loves it when you use multimedia (assuming you are in a room equipped for it), so try to incorporate powerpoint or something and you will get a much better grade on your speech. She knows her stuff but will go off on the craziest tangents about things unrelated to what she it talking about for like 10 min. She's a decent teacher and grades fairly.

She was a nice lady and meant well, but I thought she graded unfair and kind of randomly for the speechs. We only had to give 5 speechs,but also had to do a paper and a midterm and final. Some of her lectures got really boring. She gives you a paper on how she grades the speeches, but some people would have a horrible speech, but do one thing great and get an A. It seemed like nothing was good enough for her. It helps though if you go to office hours.

Professor Twisseleman is a really great professor who is not only enthusiastic about about public speaking but she is very encouraging towards her students. We had to give a total of five speeches: one was sort of an impromptu speech that is made the first day, the second is an objective speech with an assigned topic, and for the informative speech, the persuasive speech, and the career speech, you get to chose your topic. There is also a 4-5 page paper on an outside speech, which sounds bad but is really quite easy. We had a midterm and a final on the chapters in the textbook. Professor Twisseleman gives great feedback on speeches and grades fairly. I definitely recommend taking her because she really helps you improve on communication skills.

Professor Twisselman was a pretty good professor. Seeing as how this class was one of my first classes at Cal Poly, she did a pretty good job representing the school. The speeches are pretty fair. Nothing is too long or overly involved. Class participation is a must. She will try to learn everyone's name, and she's pretty good at it. I think I knew the names of everyone in the class by the end of the quarter. The impromptu speech was probably the most difficult because you basically have to come up with the whole speech on the spot, but this one doesn't come until the end, so you should be fairly well prepared for it. There are only two tests. Study hard for the first one because it covers the most material. The second one isn't as important and only goes over two chapters. She made us do outside speech evaluations which weren't hard, but they were time consuming because you had to find a speech to listen to. The peer evaluations took a fair amount of time. I didn't really see the point. They're basically a "mutual admiration society"-type of thing. One other thing is that she really knows how to lecture. If we didn't have speeches to give, she would lecture for two hours straight. I don't know how she did it. I fell asleep a few times. Other than that, she's a good teacher for the subject. I would recommend her.

This class is fairly easy. I reccomend the four hour block on Wednesday's, it gives you more time to prepare for your assignments and it's nice to only have to worry about a class once a week. I know my grade was poor, but I am not very good at speaking in front of a lot of people I don't know. She has a very strict format for speeches, which I found weird, she docks huge points if you don't do the speech exactly the way she likes. For the Wednesday class, we had an introductory speech for no points, a random speech about an object, an informative speech, a persuasive speech, and our final was an impromptu speech which for me was hell, but heaven for many people. You also have to do 2 written tests which are very easy, and a few evaluations including a rather long outside speech evaluation. You can fail everything written and get an A if you do well on your speeches (well.. maybe not exactly, but you get the idea). I personally wouldn't reccomend her because she is so strict... but a lot of people do like her.

There are three big speeches which consist of 65% of your grade. Prepare well for these because there really isn't much work to do besides the speeches. Also, she doesn't like people going overtime and tends to dock a lot of points for it.

Ms. Twiss is definately one of those teachers who respond to ass kissing. If you get on her good side right away, you're set. It seemed like everyone always got the same grade on each speech as they had before, no matter if their speech was really good or really bad. I think she grades the person more than the speech. So like I said, get on her good side. Other than the speeches, the class really isn't that difficult. There is a midterm and a final, but they are both pretty easy, and there are a couple papers to write (a few 1-2 pages and one 4-5 page). You have to give 4 speeches, one on an object you draw out of a hat (2-3 mins), an informative (3-5 mins), a persuasive (5-7 mins), and a career speech (5-6 mins). You can choose to speak on whatever you want, so the time parameters really aren't bad. The book really isn't that important, but the CD that goes along with the book is actually helpful. I studied for her tests by doing the quizzes on the CD and I did fairly well on both of the tests.

This teacher was the worst teacher I have yet to have.....In my life. She is one of those feminist nazzis who believes that the only way is her way. Ok heres what the class consists of: A few lectures where you take notes, a midterm over 14 chpts, a few more notes, and a final.....oh and how could I forget the 4 speeches. So first speech I get a C, thought it was just nerves or what not, second speech even lower, third even lower. The only thing I can conclude is that this lady did not like me. Sheree, its fucking speech 101. This lady talks about herself every min of the class, which in itself is enough reason not to take her. I got a 98 percent on the midterm and put 6 hours of prep into each speech, take a look at my grade though C+....hmmm is there something wrong here? Do whatever you can to not take her....unless you are a chick, then you are golden....especially if you are a chick who likes cows and that type of shit because as you will find out the Twisseleman's are one of the most highly involved families in the Agriclulture Business today (cough cough bullshit).

Sheri is the sweetest lady every! Her energy and spunk make you enjoy coming to class. The class consists of four speeches, which really aren't that difficult if you put effort into them. She is always more than willing to help anyone who has a question. Like I said, she has such a cute personality! If you have to take scom 101, definately go with Sheri!

Caution! I took Sheree because of her good polyrating. I thought that the class was terrible. I went every single day so im not getting mad because i never went and got screwed. No matter how hard you try, you will get screwed if: you are a guy, you are not into serious ag stuff, if you glance at your notes, if you dont glance at your notes, plus many more. She is very hard to read in what she wants. PLus it seems like every speech topic has to do with her somehow. Take at your own risk. I got a B but i was upset because i busted my ass!

Twisseleman is a pretty good teacher. She presents the material well, and her tests are a breeze. If you take the class get the CD's with the book, in the CD's there are study questions, they are probably about 90% of the test, word for word. She does tend to be a little sexist, but its nothing that will stop you from getting a decent grade. She loves power point presentations and she loves ag stuff! If i had speech again, i would probably take her.

She's nice. She's bubbly. But the class itself is only useful for two things: how to prepare a speech and a little bit of practice in front of peers. However, she could have made it a lot more interesting by talking about topics you can choose more than the divisions and definitions of a specific kind of speech because i am sure no one cares a bit about that and will not remember it. Advice? Get her to like you!

Let's face it, speech is a GE everyone dreads but I lucked out getting Twisselman. She's nice, personable, very approachable if you ever have problems, and clear in her lectures. You have three speeches, she grades very fairly, an easy midterm and final, and lectures. The lectures are alittle dull, but directly from the tests. Best of all she's a great teacher for all the aggies, she's a cowgirl like me and that gave me something to connect with her about.

A terrific class. Sheree was easy to talk to and very clear in conveying her message. She gave us 5 speeches: intro (1-2 minutes), object (2-3 minutes), informative (5-7 minutes), persuasive (6-8 minutes), and business presentation (5-7 minutes). We also had a midterm, self and peer evaluations, and a paper on an outside speech. She grades very fairly and writes useful comments on papers. If you can get a speech class, get it with Sheree!

She is a very nice lady that presents the material well. She is very down to earth in her office hours, and is open to suggestions if you want to improve your grade. Take her!

I had one, and only one real problem with Sheree's class, and it was a problem beyond her control. The course was schedualled from 4-8, once a week. A four hour class is harsh, no matter WHAT it is, and I think Sheree handled it as best she could. Class was essentially 4 speeches (Object Speech, Informative Speech, Persuasive Speech, and Impromptu Speech), and a written Speech Evaluation. Pretty simple, and Sheree was really nice about helping you out on your own time. I would have liked more feedback on our speeches, but we were always running late anyway, and as I said, if I had really wanted it, I could just go to office hours. Overall, her class was a lot of fun, even if it was four hours long. Everyone got to know each other, and we all had fun. I'd definetly suggest taking this professor when you have to take SCOM 101.

A very good teacher who had tons of energy and was always willing to help. MAKE SURE TO IMPROVE ON WHAT SHE TELLS you to improve on after each speech, you almost always get a higher grade on the next speech if you follow her simple suggestions. During speeches she makes you feel very comfortable. Tests are very straight forward and not hard at all. Besides they are worth only 15% of your whole grade. One word of caution, she "reads" her email, but never responded to mine and has an email address different from a cal poly one. So just go to her office if you need to talk to her and get help, she will work with you and make it much much easier. Overall the best speech teacher if you can get her, but her class's are ALWAYS the first to fill....

This class is definitely not hard, if you don't mind speaking in front of a lot of people. The tests and book based material is incredibly easy, but the speeches are graded tough. If you do not improve in the areas Prof. Twiselman told you to in the last speech she will mark off even more points on your speech. This is not a hard class, but it can get pretty annoying if you do not like to speak in front of an audience.

First, I don't like speaking in front of groups at all, and was just trying to get through the class. Mrs. Davis (Twisselman is her maiden name) was VERY friendly and a good prof. She was enthusiastic about the topic and presented it well. The only problem is the material is deathly boring (which isn't her fault). There are five speaches: an intro, object, informative, persuasive, and impromptu. She does give good points on what to improve and if you do she will grade you higher. There are two tests (one midterm and one final) which in total account for only 15% of your grade. The worst part about the class was sitting for two hours straight listening to either lecture or speeches. It got quite boring many times and I found myself looking at the clock literally every five minutes. Oh well, it is over, the professor is awesome and I would take her if you can get her (her classes fill up fast), but sorry to say the actual subject matter (unless you are a SCOM major and love it) is quite boring.

Mrs. Twisselman was an awesome teacher for speech. Most of the grade in the class was based on an object, informative, and persuasive speech so if you did well on speeches you could do well in the class. We had a midterm and a final that together were only 15% of the grade so it is good if you are not a great test taker. There was one other main assignment (an outside speech analysis) and some peer/self evaluations for speeches, but most of class was spent doing speeches. For those of us who are not too comfortable with public speaking Mrs. Twisselman was really good at making the classroom a comfortable speaking environment so it wasn't too scary. After speeches she really tried to give you positive feedback as well as constructive criticism and to get the class involved. She does take roll though so it is important to go to class.

She is way chill. The material is presented clearly but it does get boring after two hours of lecture. She knows what she's talking about and she can relate to the students well. The only reason why I got a bad grade in the class was because of my lack of ability to write and to give speeches in front of others.

Professor Twissleman is a really nice lady and she is easy to talk to. As far as teaching is concerned she is just average and does not present the material that well. She never tells you what will be on the test, you just have to read like 15 chapters and try to guess what is important. But, the tests arent that hard. She is an extremely hard grader on the speeches, and looks for every single mistake, but at least she is understanding that public speaking is difficult.

She was a great professor, and was willing to help out. One of my gripes was that it took her a long time to give back assignments, and sometimes to read her e-mail. You have to do an outside speech evaluation which isn't bad, but just make sure it is error free, because she will be picky about typos, etc. The speeches consist of an object speech (a topic that you pick out of a hat), informative speech, persuasive speech, career speech. My biggest hint is to think about topics in advance, and get it done early, and rehearse it a lot! Good luck.

She is a pretty good teacher and her class isnt boring except for when you have to hear some of the speeches but thats not her fault. The class consists of 4 graded speeches, a midterm, some evaluations of your speeches and classmates speeches, one 5 page outside speech evaluation, and a final. The evaluations arent really that hard and as long as you do them you get a grade. The exception is the 5 page outside speech evaluation which is worth 15 percent of the final grade. The one thing I would warn about is going overtime on your speech. It happend to me twice and thats why i got a C+ instead of a B+ or an A-. DONT GO OVERTIME!! If you go undertime the penalty wont be nearly as much. Overall it was a pretty good class and teacher.

Mrs. Twisselman did a great job as a speech teacher. Although the class was more work then other classes I could have taken, she was worth it. I had the class for 4 hours on Wednesday, and really the classes just flew by. I think we only had 2 classes where Sheree had to lecture because we always had to do speeches. She has a very fair grading system, but once again she does require a lot more work then most speech teachers. Just having a class that was only once a week though, was worth the extra bit of work, plus Sheree was a lot of fun.

This professor is great to have for speech. I was one of those seniors who waited until the last minute to take this class. On top of that I was enrolled in the 4 hour Wednesday night section. Dr. Twisseleman does a great job of presenting material in a way that is helpful to students and she really tries to encourage everyone where they are in the speaking skills. It is difficult to get an A in the class but if you put effort into your speech and take her suggestions she will reward you in the grading. There's a lot of reading in the beginning but tests are cake. There are 3 speeches and she had our 4 hour section do an impromptu at the end (which means no preparation ahead of time). I definitely recommend this professor.

Don't get a notebook for the class. You'll take about 10 pages of notes the whole quarter. She lectures a few times, and the rest is spent listening to speeches. I dreaded the lectures, but she takes roll every day and it is part of your grade, so don't miss too many days. Make sure that your visual aids are good, she likes the powerpoint stuff as long as it doesn't take away from your speech. The biggest and most important thing when giving your speech is charisma. She will not give you a good grade if you don't make it sound good. Be energetic and practice your speech before you give it so that you don't mess up while you are giving it. Make a lot of eye contact with her and the audience, she likes that. You don't really need to read much of the book. She takes most of the questions from the notes. Be sure that you know the communication model. Pretty easy class, just make sure you go, and WOW her with your enthusiasm.

Ok kids - here's the trick: be an aggie, and you'll pass her class no problem, regardless of your evident speech difficulty, lack of basic grammar, or overall incoherency. She grades everyone else real damn hard - no matter how you thought you did, it doesn't match up to her political experience in her years as Paso Robles city council member, or something...but I did come out with a B, so maybe she's fair at the end. Who knows. Remarkably mediocre professor, overall.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class. I had been dreading taking speech, and this class was so much better than I had thought it would be. There is quite a bit of work: four speeches, a four page paper, and two one page papers. BUT it is so worth it!! I learned so much, and got over my fear of speaking. And to top it all, Ms. Twisseleman is an amazing teacher. In my opinion, she covered the material very well, was very understanding with any problems or questions we had, and ultimately prepared us for public speaking. She was very friendly and fun. I Definitely recommend taking Professor Twisseleman.

This lady is so dumb. She grades so hard and expects us to give perfect speechs even though no one in the class has ever given one before. She gives all the girls really good grades and gives all the guys bad grades. Her lectures are so stupid and pointless and you have to go because attendence means a lot in the class. Her grading scale sucks, she sucks, her class sucks, i recommend staying away. You can't win with her!

She is a sweet woman. She is full of energy and her class in not a chore to go to. There were 4 speeches, a midterm, and a final. The tests were not too hard, though there was a lot of reading for the first one. My advice is to do well on the first couple assignments and get on her good side. I think she is one of those profs who decided the grade you deserve in the first few weeks and just gioves it to you no matter what you actually do. I would definitley take her class again.

i don't know why we have to take this class, because the lecture didn't teach me anything. all i gained from this course was to learn to speak more confident and present material more clearly. the lectures were boring because she just talks about stuff that's obvious on do's and don'ts. pick a topic she will like and you'll definitely get a boost on ur grade. she's pretty stupid and make sure you dont' go against what she thinks is right. prefers girls over guys, cows over booze, food over drugs, babies/kids over ...wutever. she did her thesis on self revealing, so if you wanna suck some buns, say something personal during ur speech.

This woman isn't a bad teacher to take, really. I got a pretty easy B, but she's just stupid. I only did 2 of the four speeches, I got a C on the midterm and I deffinetly didn't do so hot on the final, and I was able to talk my way into a B. She's really guilable. Oh, and the speeches i did do, she graded really weird. Make sure that you use a visual aid. All you have to do to convince her that you are a good speaker is memorize like two minutes of speech to avoid notes and have pretty pictures to show, and she's treating you like you cured cancer. Just be prepared that she doesn't have much underneath that hillbilly-cattle-raising ten-gallon hat of hers

Sheree is quite something. Her tests are really easy. I didn't even read the book nor take notes on the lectures and I still got an A. However, the way she grades the speeches is stupid. She has a scale that doesn't incorporate your speeches creativity and overall success. She only focuses on which form you used (structure) and if you have visual aids. She is kind of dumb. You have to use very elementary diction and repeat what you say to make sure she understands it. And if she doesn't, then automatically, your grade gets lowered because you were too "subtle." If you want to get an A in this class, just be a robot and do everything as she says, even if it seems retarted to you. I discovered this soon enough, and now I pass the word. She's blonde; slow down.

I expected that this course would be a breeze since I don't really have a problem with public speaking, but Twisselman is very nit picky when it comes to grading speeches. Don't ever miss your speech date cause she'll give you this mean vibe for the rest of the quarter even if you make it up. She also takes roll every single class session!!!! I hate roll, its like high school all over again. I felt like I had senior-itis and had to drag myself to class - ontime, so I wouldn't be marked absent, cause after two absences your grade starts to drop. I would recommend another professor if you have the option.

Do not take twisseleman at all costs! she is a bad teacher, her class is unbelievably boring and by the end of the term our whole class stopped coming. She belongs at a high school, because she takes role every day and talks so much about random stories and happenings in her life. Her class sucked a lot. She also doesn't grade you on your speech as much as your mechanics and outline. She doesn't consider your style or anything else besides the her main two criteria. If she doesn't like your speech topic you have no chance of getting a decent grade on it because she is like that. Her class sucks and I would avoid it if possible

This teacher is really boring! She's a fair grader, but seems to prefer boys over girls. She is also really into ranching and the the ag department. She really encourages you to go to office hours, and I strongly suggest you go because if you don't she won't get to know you. You have to do about 4 main speeches and an introductory speech, and also a paper. She is a nice person, but her lectures drag on for ever!!! She also counts attendance so definately go to class.

there are 2 small speeches and 3 major ones . the first one is an introduction speech of 1-2 minutes about yourself. it is given on the second day of class. another one, is a 2-3 minute speech about a topic that you draw from a hat. that one is given one week after the intro speech. the next one is an informative speech. you get to pick the topis as long as you have enough info to talk about for 5-6 minutes. the next one is a persuasive speech. she makes you pick a controversial issue that has to be 6-7 minutes. the last one is a business speech that's 5-6 minutes long. she assigns which days you go tog ive your speeches. for the 3 major speeches, she requires you to make a formal outline. you do a peer evaluation for the informative and persuasive speeches and then a self evaluation for your informative speech. she lets you use noes, but it has to be only one page or she'll mark you down terribly. then there is an outside speech analysis. this is where you attend some event that there is a formal speech given. you write a 4 page paper about it and you have to use techniques learned in class. there is outside reading to do. the first month, you read a lot. you read ch 1-14 of the textbook and then you are given a midterm on those chapters. then you read chapters 15 & 16. the final only covers those two chapters. the reading is easy and mostly common sense. midterm was okay. i got a C- on it. i did excellent on the multiple choice (32/35) but the free response, was harder. i knew most of it, but she graded a little hard. okay that was the class curriculum. now is the other stuff; she takes roll everyday. you can only have 2 absents before she marks you down. she tends to be VERY boring during the lectures. she talks way too much. sometimes she never knows when to stop talking. she always tell us about her lame personal experiences. and she tells us at least twice mainly because she forgot that she already told us before. most of the time, we get out of class 2-3 miuntes late because she doesn't stop talking.

Twisseleman is overall a pretty good teacher. She does a good job of making a boring subject somewhat enjoyable. She is very very good at letting students speak about whatever they want to. She does not ever force her opinion on topics and she does not edit speeches. Speech is a rather boring subject, but Twisseleman can make it a little better. The final and one mid term are not heavily weighted at all, but you better be a good speaker if you want a decent grade. Getting an A is almost impossible, but I would recommend taking Twisseleman.

Twisseleman is a great teacher. The work load for scom 101 is a lot less than other teachers, the tests are pretty easy (mostly common sense), there were 3 main speeches and 2 speeches worth very few points. There was one paper, 4-5 pages double spaced, on a speech you have to analyze outside of class, but she grades leniently on it. Just don't go over the time length for your speeches and you'll do fine in her class.

She likes to hear herself speak which can get a little annoying, and she enjoys telling you her personal experiences and stories which are actually not interesting. She prefers boys over girls but does give good advice on delivery and presentation. She loves ranching, 4H and ag students so if you're CLA you're screwed. She pitys some people and is a hard ass to others. The outside speech analysis is pretty easy if you apply some key words and structure it according to her guidelines its a breeze. the 5 speeches you give are pretty simple and she gives a lot of room to chose your own topic and how you want to present it. The only major problem is she's biased and does pick favorite students.

she is a nice teacher. i would recommend her, she does like to hear herself talk. but speech is easy for me so i thought the class was super easy. i would have got an easy a if i would have tried at all on anything besides the speeches. btw this is important... follow the instructions she gives you for the speeches. if she says she wants 3 sources cited then do it, she tells you exactly what she wants but for some reason students wouldnt do it.

Her lectures can be boring and consist of her telling stories about her children, but she is a pretty good teacher. She is a lot better than horror stories i have heard of other speech professors. Make sure you cite the required number of sources during your speech.

After a few horrible incidents with GE teachers I was very hesitant to take speech and wind up with yet another impossibly hard instructor. But Twisselman made my spring quarter, she s friendly, personable, down to earth, and very fair in her grading. I actually looked forward to speech. Kids that complained about her or their grades were the kids who showed up having written their speeched on the way to class, just do the simple requirements she asks of you for your speeches and a good grade will come easy. There is also a very easy mid-term and final, which she practically walks you through the class before. Take her for sure, enjoyable class and enjoyable teacher.

Outstanding Professor for this class that i was dreading. Nothing to fear. Only 4/5 speeches for the quarter. Grade is based on your speeches. Tests and other assignments were like free points. lecture could get a bit long but take her in the morning. She's a morning person and will keep everything alive. Favorite teacher so far.

Sheree is a really fun and sweet lady. She really cares about the students doing well. The speeches are very open-ended, and she is really respectful of everyone

Dr. Trisselman is a very nice lady. She is really into her subject and it is obvious she enjoys teaching public speaking. She is clear about what she wants and makes sure you are prepared for each speech. The only thing I didn't like about her was the fact that she rambles on and on about previous speeches, which can get rather annoying. Other than that though, she is very nice and is a good teacher. If you are having trouble with a speech, go to her office hours and she will be absolutely thrilled to help you.

Sheree is entertaining and can teach. A typical speech class, I guess. Nothing particularly fantastic or terrible about her.

I liked Twisselman's class. I was definately nervous about taking a speech class, but the atmosphere she creates in class ease the nerves. She is very encouraging and knows what she is talking about. Easy class. Take her if you have the chance

Sheree is an amazing teacher. She truly cares about the students and tells alot of interesting personal stories! If you have trouble with the first speech, go into her office hours. She will help you out step by step if you really need it and you'll pretty much get an a the next class. There is one midterm and one final! It was nice that the final was only on the second half of the class. She may structure it differently but that is how our class was structured. She's really energetic but grades on attendance so make sure you come to class. Definitely take her, especially if you are an ag major or love agriculture in general!

Twisselman was a decent teacher. She is really energetic and makes the class go by vary quickly. My class was full of people who where very comfortable speakers, so the speeches were always good and her comments very easy. She can be a tough grader when it comes to the speeches. Your best bet is to do something that will connect with her. She loves to give her input into whatever your talking about. While we never went over how to overcome your fear of speaking or even how to write a good speech the class was decent. The midterm can be challenging. Your best bet is to not overthink the questions. While she doesn't say she curves I believe she does, because there was no way I should of gotten the grade I did. Like any speech class if your a comfortable speaker, you will do well. The class is fairly easy, the one plus is that you can use the internet as a source, but you have to write out outlines for your speech. I would recommend her.

Twisseleman was a decent teacher. She was really nice and extremely energetic. She loves hearing speeches, and telling her class about all of her favorites and about herself. She created such a comfortable environment and wasn't intimidating at all. We had to do an object speech on a topic we drew out of a hat, an informative, a persuasive, and an impromptu on a question she writes, plus an outside speech analysis paper, two peer evaluations and a self evaluation. There was also a long, difficult midterm and a short final. Not too difficult of a workload, but you need to read the lengthy chapters in the book. Once you got some time with her she was helpful, but she is a very busy woman so that was not always easy. All in all I don't feel like I gained too much from her, except the chance to practice, but I learned a lot about structure and organizing from the book. A very nice lady though.

Sheri is not a good teacher unless you are an Ag major. She completely eats up any speeches on agriculture and farming. Otherwise, you'll probably get a B. You have to have visuals for EVERY speech, most other classes you only have one speech with a visual. She also talks a lot about herself, but must Coms teachers do

Sheree is a great teacher! I was definitely nervous about the whole public speaking thing, but after the first speech or two you kind of settle into it. She is awesome at creating a comfortable environment to speak in and was always interested in what we had to say. She is also a pretty fair grader: I kind of messed up one of my speeches and was still able to get a B+ on it. The work load isn't to bad, we had four speeches, an outside speech analysis paper, a midterm and a final. The midterm and the final are a piece of cake as long as you do all the reading and pay attention during her lectures. MAKE SURE YOU FULLY PREPARE FOR YOUR SPEECHES!!!! You're not allowed to have your full outline when you go up to speak, just one page of notes which can make your speech a nightmare if you didn't practice before hand. Also make sure you practice delivering your speech. Stumbling on your words a lot will destroy your grade.

Twisselman is very enthusiastic about her class. I took a 4 hour block of it once a week and highly suggest it! She keeps class entertaining and fun and is aware of her students and when subjects need to be changed. The only reason i received a C is because i would write the speeches the night before and didn't read any of the book for the midterm. Take her!

She's a little cooky but fun class. You really have to go above and beyond for an A though. Easy B.

First of all she is a very nice lady and really enthusiastic about teaching speech. However, I really do not understand her grading. I really dont. Im not the greatest speaker so I wasnt surprised i got Bs on my speeches but she would give really good grades to some people for speeches that definitely werent better than mine. Plus she gave me a really bad grade on the outside speech analysis which is just an essay and I never get bad grades on essays (I am usually a pretty good writer). I mean I evaluated the speech, what more do you want me to do? Your not a english professor. Anyways she is super nice but she makes it really difficult to get an A in a GE class which is irritating but it is a pretty easy B (although I ended up with a B- somehow?). So take her if you want a really nice lady but be prepared to go the extra mile if you really want an A

She was an easy grader and was very excited about teaching public speaking. I recommend her to any one! I am so glad I took her for COMS. I wrote all my speeches the night before or the day of and never got anything lower than a B on them. If you don't like speaking in front of crowds, she is a good teacher because she always gives nice feedback and is happy! Take her!!

She is so sweet and supportive. Definitely a great speech teacher if you feel really uneasy about getting in front of the class. I would definitely say you still have to put in some effort for an A, but from what I've heard from other people she seems like the best COMS 101 teacher to take

She was fun, energetic, and helpful! The class was based on one smaller speech and two big ones, with 2 multiple choice midterms (one instead of a final) She helps you prepare for the speechs and then grades you reasonably. Even when I thought I did bad I still got a B

Very pleasant! She makes public speaking a lot less painful. The word is out that she's a great teacher, so I'd wait to take speech until you can get her.

I definitely recommend taking her for coms because she is so sweet and her class is pretty easy. There are the boring lectures but there always are. She grades fairly and the speeches are pretty easy. There were only 2 or 3 major speeches which only needed to be 5-6 minutes which is way better than any other teacher you will find. She helps you with speech ideas and if you have any questions, she is always willing to help. I was terrified to take speech since I'm a terrible public speaker but after the first speech, I realized it wasn't a big deal talking in front of the 24 other people in the class. TAKE HER IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!

Twisselemen is an EXTREMELY excited and animated teacher. Personally it drove me nuts to the point where I had a difficult time paying attention in class. She speaks to her students as though they were kindergardeners. Never in my life have I met a teacher so childish and exaggerated as her. If you walked in the room without looking at the students you could swear you were watching a 1st grade class. To her defense, she explains thoroughly and is a fair grader. She gives fair tests and enables students to properly prepare for tests. You can tell she cares for her students but she definitely plays favorites. If you are animated in class and buy into her antics, she will love you. Most definitely not a difficult class by any means (if your a decent public speaker) but that is if you can take her classroom rants. She has probably wasted at least 5 hours out of the quarter wasting our time with examples of past speeches. It got to the point where I wanted to scream. Very nice lady but only if you can handle her....

If I had to retake this class, I would surely not take this woman. She spends the whole first two weeks talking about how she thinks free speech is the most important thing and that you can write about whatever you want. LIES. While she is a very friendly woman, she is very judgemental, which is a horrible quality for a COMS teacher.

I went into speech thinking it was going to be the easiest A I\'ll ever get but it turns out that I just learned that the class was utterly and completely bullshit...Twisselman is really nice as a person but she\'s a hard grader. Make sure that you do the outlines exactly as she wants it or it\'ll be reflected in your grade and you\'ll be knocked from a A- to a B. She always gives constructive criticism as well as makes you feel good about your speech when you sit down. But what she says in class probably won\'t be reflected much in your grade. She amplifies your flaws in order to knock your grade down for something. I had eye contact with the audience the entire time and still got a 4/5 on it, got a 3/5 on \"effective use of voice\" because I spoke too fast for her to understand, got a 4/5 on my introduction even though i was the only one who presented a clear thesis, and I got knocked down for other things. Although a 4/5 doesn\'t seem bad, that\'s pretty much a B for a class that I was expecting to boost my GPA. Overall I don\'t think that she was a fair grader (with certain people) at all The class is easy but I wouldn\'t have taken her again. I probably would have gotten a better grade with Kawamura....

Sheree is like a adorable little mom. She is one of the nicest teachers that I have ever had. She gives a lot of constructive criticism which helps a lot in improving speaking skills. She is very enthusiastic, and has very animated stories. She gives you the whole layout for the class which helps you not stress out about it. Overall a great teacher.

Twisselman is such a great teacher. She teaches with enthusiasm and she is very approachable. Pay attention to her lectures (she will give you hints on what is on her exams), and be sure to try to improve on the constructive criticism she gives you. The class consisted of 5 speeches, and 2 exams.

Space cadet. Nice lady. Can't remember names. Harsh grader. Do not take 4 hour block because the animation will make you go crazy.

Nice person. Seems insincere sometimes and can get quite annoying with her enthusiasm for speech. 4 hour block sucked but whatev. Honestly, she is a good speaking coach, but you may not get the grade you want because she is tough on the grading.

Ms. Davis is super awesome. I took this class once a week from 5-9pm.. but I was able to stay awake through the whole class! (Well, my classmates made it super enjoyable.) Her speeches aren't hard (just follow the guidelines as best you can). The lectures might be a little long when we have to take notes, but she gives a few breaks every now and then. She's a fairly good grader. Her final was MC. You should take her if you can!

Miss Twiss is a great teacher. I had her for COMS 101, and you could tell she loved Public Speeking and Cal Poly. Get on her good side, and she's more likely to give you good grades. Go to her office hours and implement all the suggestions she gives you. While you have the choice to pick the topic for most your speeches, try to cater them how she wants them if you want a good grade.

Good teacher, terrible grader. Sheree Twisseleman is a great teacher, and she'll teach you a lot, and you'll learn a lot. However, if you expect to get an A in the class, you should not take her. I don't know of any speech that got an A in the entire class, even one we all voted on as the best. If you are trying to use this as a gpa booster, don't even think about it. She grades harder than any teacher I've ever had in my life. Even if you go into her office hours, and do what she says, you still probably won't get an A. It's an easy class to pass, not much homework, but don't expect to get anything higher than an 88.

Mrs. Davis was the nicest teacher. She was always available for help outside of class if you are having trouble picking a topic for a speech or having any problems in general. She is a very animated teacher and makes the class fun. She sometimes lets the class out early. She wasn't like other public speaking teachers where some classes had to write essays or anything weird like that. We just had 5 speeches during the quoarter, a easy midterm just on simple material from the book, and a really short final on the book material. I highly recommend you take her class. She is not a very harsh grader on speeches and overall the class ended up being fun and not too hard.

Does not remember names unless your speech went really, really well. Never go overtime on your speeches, it will kill your grade no matter how good it is. In students' opinion, she grades speeches based more on entertainment so pick an interesting topic if you can. She's pretty nice, just grades pretty harsh. But she's genuine and her lectures are very interesting. Although there is minimal outside work besides a few written work and speeches, but do try in the class! It is not an EASY A...work hard on your speeches! I got a B+ and regret not working harder for that A...

Sheree only lectured for about 4 or 5 classes. The rest of the time the students gave speeches. The speeches are: ice-breaker (1-2 min), informative (5-7), persuasive (6-8), and career (5-7). There is one multiple choice midterm. If you pay attention in class, and do the reading, the midterm is incredibly easy. The final is only worth 5% of your grade. My recommendation is to NOT let your speeches go over the time allotted. It's a miracle if you can get into a SPC 201 class, but if you actually have a choice, Sheree isn't a bad one. She is always very upbeat and happy to be in class. She also offers a lot of encouragement to put you at ease.

she is a very good teacher. i mean, to give a speech to a full audience can be difficult but she will give you good tips on how to speech well when giving a speech and she will help you with choosing a topic for your speech if you are stuck. she is a fairly young woman, who is energetic and friendly. i'd definitely recommend her!

I was just looking on this and saw the ratings, which are mostly true. I had her for class way back in 98 and she really didn't help you too much with what you could improve on your speeches besides an evaluation and and peer reviews, your grade was already set. She seemed like she graded tough. I remeber I had to give one about my career when I was a Freshman I had no clue what I wanted to do. I was in Social Science now I'm Accounting go figure. I took the class before Eng 114 and Critical Thinking 125, don't take the class out of order. I guess it's Eng 134 now and the speech class is a 101 class.

The best piece of advice I could give anyone that will ever take her classes, is to kiss her ass the very first day and continue to do so. It won't matter how smart you are, how good your projects are, or how hard you work, because she chooses favorites the first day and gives them good grades while handing out C's to everyone else. I'm not kidding, when I took her class I worked my ass off on every project and speech, and still ended up with a B. When we went to her to ask what we did wrong, she didn't even have evidence as to why we didn't get an A. This teacher is absolute bullshit, so beware!!!

Twisselman-Davis is a really nice woman and knows a lot about working in a small group. However, she definitely has favorite groups who she seemed to grade more subjectively. I was in one of her favorite groups. I don't know how or why, but we got a way better grade than a lot of other groups did. She's not teaching 217 anymore, but I'm sure she's great/similar in how she grades for 101/102. She gave us the rubrics pretty late for every presentation we had and also didn't have a Polylearn, which was frustrating. Put some sort of call to action in every speech you give, she's all about those. And make sure you fulfill everything on the rubric, because she grades almost solely off of the numbers on there as you're speaking. If you forget something that's on the rubric, chances are you won't do very well. Again, super nice lady, great person, not one of my favorite professors though.