Diane Greco

UW with Prof. Greco was the highlight of my entire freshman year. It may have been the readings, which were all absorbing and thought provoking, making writing the Lens, Conversation and related essays not too difficult. The nature and set-up of the class. Ok, some people hate UW but think about it: it's basically 12 students having a chat and discussions can get very lively because sometimes the thoughts of your fellow students be far more interesting than you could have guessed. But SHE probably had the most to do with the class being so fun. She really makes an effort to encourage class discussion and to engage everyone (our class took some prompting to get started but it was fun once everyone got into it). Her office hours can be very helpful if you're stuck on your essay or can't think of what to write about. And once those rough drafts, or pre-rough draft short essays, are turned in, she writes really insightful comments, sometimes deriving ideas from the essay that I wasn't even aware of. Plus, she's a great person.

Ok, so I do indeed agree with the previous reviews on Diane. So, to prevent giving a redundant "She's an absolutely wonderful teacher!111 you should chose her!", I'm just gonna list some stuff about the class that might be useful. Ok, first thing that separates her UW class from others (and my personal favorite) is that we had next to no writing assignments besides the mandatory ones for the course. Most UW teachers have students read handouts and write 500-1000 word assignments (often ungraded but nonetheless tedious) on them. We didnt have to. There were a few 'reflect and comeback with ideas' things, but nothing tedious at all. Another nice thing is that she doesnt call on people much in class. If discussion is rolling on its own, she'll let those with ideas/opinions keep talking, and the guy who didnt read the assignment can usually sit quiet and just listen. (you'll need to read the assignments in the end, because your papers will be based off of them) One negative aspect we noticed about Diane was that she tends to not voice the fact that someone is getting on her nerves, and once that built up a lot during class, then she suddenly voiced her annoyance and an awkward silence ensued. Anyways, she's a good teach and has my recommendation. I know several of us pulled off good grades in the class, and it wasnt bc she's an easy grader, so much as she'll give you the feedback…

Diane is probably the best University Writing teacher you can expect to find in Columbia. I was assigned to her section, and I consider myself incredibly lucky for that. Diane is a great writer herself, and she doesn't just sit back and ask you to do the assignments, she completes them herself along with her students. She is very intelligent and "demanding" in the sense that you will have to work on your papers a lot, but she is extremely sensitive, friendly, fair and accessible as well. Even though our time slot was at 6:25 at night, this was never a hindrance to any of us in either inspiration or motivation; I think I speak for my class when I say that every class we shared took us forward in our writing and thinking capacities. Personally I was not expecting to get so much out of a potentially problematic class, but I came to cherish not only her classes but also her office hours and her remarks on my papers and writing in general. So if you have the chance of choosing your university writing section, do not hesitate to take Diane's, whenever it is. If you were assigned to her section, consider yourself extremely lucky. You will get an amazing teacher who not only makes the course thoroughly enjoyable but also helps you challenge and improve your writing.

Diane is absolutely amazing- she always puts forth the time and effort to make her students understand and to better our writing. She's almost like a student herself, insofar that she does all of the assignments with the class, and participates in the discussion section as if she were a student! You'll never feel intimidated by her, even though she is amazingly intelligent. UWriting was a life-changing experience with Diane.

I found Diane Greco to be an absolutely outstanding teacher. She cares a great deal about both writing and her students. When she returned my drafts, great care and attention to detail were evident in her remarks, which were often lengthy and always thoughtful. The insightfulness of her commentary often gave me the sense that my work was being critiqued by a professional editor. She is highly accomplished and demanding as a teacher but she demands no less of herself. As a GS student you have no choice but to take this course. I am very happy that I had the opportunity to study with her. I feel that I learned a great deal-both about my own writing, and the process of writing itself.

LOVE that she didn't assign essays for every class session. Not a heavy workload at all, readings were about 20-30 pages each and written work was well spaced. We turned in rough and final drafts for the Lens, Conversation, CCP (which also included a class presentation/discussion session), and a final reflection.

same as what the other reviewers said. same workload as the other UW classes, minus the weekly writing assignments

will require participation in class discussions on assigned readings, first drafts, revisions and final drafts of 4 progressions (only the final drafts and class participation are graded). As she is a fair grader you might have to work a lot on your drafts, but if you show her substantial progress with revisions, attend office hours to discuss ideas for papers and take her remarks into consideration you will get a satisfying grade according to the work you put in.

the usual UWriting amount- fair and manageable.

Overall, not an unreasonable workload: readings of essays, and various writing exercises culminating in a research paper. There was also an in-class presentation in which the students formed teams of three to make their presentations. The toughest part of the course, in terms of time demands, was when we workshopped one another's writing. There were 12 or 13 of us in the class which meant reading the other students' papers carefully (my class was 13 students total/ 3 critiques due per workshop class) and then writing a 500 word (minimum) critique of each. One of which was to be turned in to Diane and the other to the writer. This was quite time-consuming. Consequently, some students simply wrote two or three sentences, but if you took the work seriously, as I did, you had to invest some time in this process.