FYSB BC1189

Reading varies week to week, but it's never too much. 1 page "freewrites" before (almost) every class. Sounds like a lot but it's really easy and honestly quite helpful. 2 3-4 page essays, and 1 longer essay he helps you with.

One of the things that's really make-or-break about a professor for me is their enthusiasm. If they love what they teach, and that shows, it's a lot easier for me to get invested and enthusiastic myself. This man gets so excited about what we're reading, it's incredible. He genuinely loves fantasy, and loves teaching it even more. He's sweet, really cares about his students, and is pretty flexible with deadlines. He gives great feedback on essays, and it's pretty easy to do well. The course material is a nice departure from typical lit classes - you get to read Tolkien and some other great contemporary authors, a Broadway musical, fairy tales, the Alice books, some paintings, as well as Shelley, Romantic poets, and Shakespeare. I honestly really loved this course, and would recommend, especially if you like the fantasy genre.

1 free-write due per week, 3 essays (the last one can be a creative writing piece) light, just don't procrastinate on your papers

I ABSOLUTELY ADORED Enchanted Imagination, Pagano's first year seminar class. He's a fantastic lecturer, and class is always fun. That man worships Tolkien, and he really has a deep love of all of the fantasy work you do in his class. Discussion was never boring, and the workload was pretty imaginable. TAKE HIS CLASS. DO IT.

Super light, freewrite every class day to go with the readings, two essays which he grades extremely loosely, and a final essay, which you have the option of submitting a creative story instead of an analytical essay

Really interesting material, as we read traditional fairytales, romantic poets, magical realism, and fantasy (we finish the year with Lord of the Rings!). The readings for the class are light and enjoyable. Almost everyone did them. The concept of the freewrite was also really helpful. Every night before class we would have to write a short, ungraded write up about the work. Really just what you thought of it. The freewrite barely took any time and we’re fun to do. I wish more English classes has freewrites. I agree with previous reviews though, something about Pagano really creeped me out. He also made comments that were borderline sexist or weird. I don’t think I would’ve chosen the class if I knew what I know now. Especially considering the wealth of amazing first year seminar classes.

READINGS AND FREEWRITES: Due every class. The length of readings can vary greatly but the longer selections are usually novels and not too difficult to get through/skim. The freewrites are literally one page responses (I usually hand wrote something that took up most of one side of lined paper)to the reading. You really don't have to worry about structuring you're thoughts, just write whatever's on your mind after doing the reading. ESSAYS-There are three essays. For each one you get several prompts to choose from and they all ended up being about 5 pages for me. For all of the essays you also get to have a peer editor and him look at it before submitting the final copy. (He says this isn't true with the last essay, but he literally just let me do this). He's pretty understanding about absences and extensions but the class is small and the discussions are really important to attend if you want to do well.

Professor Pagano is a sweet man and enthusiastic about the content and his students. It's clear that he loves what he does and he often uses the class to discuss the importance of the texts to students' own lives and college journeys. He's especially great if you're a creative person because he is very supportive of the artistic life and praises it often. The readings are almost always interesting and fun and he does a really good job of having recurrent themes appear through different readings. That being said I always got a weird ~vibe~ from him. He never did anything inappropriate, but just made me uncomfortable with some of his feminist and psychosexual analysis of the works. He's never really said or done anything to really be labelled creepy, but it's also worth noting that I wasn't the only student who felt this way. Ultimately, Professor Pagano is a great teacher and the class is really interesting, he just made me uncomfortable sometimes.

Freewrites: -Due before every class -Not a formal essay -Literally just a reflection of your insights towards your readings for the upcoming class -Usually 1-2 pages long -Very informal piece of writing that aids your participation in discussions, guaranteed 3 Essays: -Self-explanatory -Essay topics always on Courseworks at beginning of semester to help start early -Final essay usually has an creative writing option Readings: -Always set, but very flexible -Guidelines on Courseworks to facilitate experience

I took FYS - The Enchanted Imagination the first semester of my freshman year, and it was (hands down) THE best class I've ever taken. It's not merely the interesting theme and readings; Professor Pagano simply took the entire experience to the next level, and nothing can ever top that. Professor Pagano is more than a professor to all the students in the Seminar: he is an approachable man with a big heart, and only wants to be there to help you make the best of this class. By the second day, he already has not only our names, but also our hometowns and prospective majors down as if he had known us for weeks. As a professor, he is one of the most passionate teachers I've ever encountered. He knows the material virtually by heart (not to mention the fact that he's able to recite the entire poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner), and his love for fantasy and literature has been absolutely contagious. He is well-prepared for the class, and is able to provide new ideas when the discussion falls short. He highly encourages self-expression, and is very open minded when students present their own opinions. Thus, every class is like looking at the world in multiple lenses, which is made possible because Professor Pagano would never impose his opinion on you. While he does have the tendency to digress, it's never for more than a minute, and we are always back on track after two sentences top…