English And Comparative Literature · Columbia University
This man is an excellent teacher. A graduate student in the history department, his assignments were incredibly interesting, especially if you like history or current events. A lot of L&R teachers give their students assignments like "describe the different between masculine and feminine words." He is not one of those teachers. He's young, looks kind of nerdy and boring, but he knows a really wide range of information; the man clearly reads the newspaper every day.
This class was great. My writting definitly improved, and my GPA did not have to suffer for the improvement either. If you follow every rule in the Bedford, you will do fine. The class was also interesting and discussions were actually stimulating. Ted made this class everything the core is supposed to be.
As a previous reviewer said, you're very lucky if you get Ted as your L&R teacher. He makes L&R as painless as possible, and is very clear about what it takes to get an A. If you follow his simple structural requirements, you can pull an A on every paper. The discussions in class are fairly interesting, and the easy grading makes the class even more enjoyable.
Ted (didn't know it was a name for Edward) was a delight for a class with a dreadful reputation. Grammar lessons lasted minutes (though me and a couple others managed to sleep through them) and the rest of the class was filled with discussion of the paper topic we were working on or getting back. Hardly the normal techniques for the class and some people thought it was a waste but I liked his strategies of organizing thoughts and thinking through topic ideas. Jared (he totally looks like the Subway dude) is a really nice guy which comes off from the moment you step into the class. He responds to e-mails and conference requests incredibly fast and spends as much time as needed to satisfy himself and the student (something other teachers could learn from). He's a grad student in the History dept so he plugs various events for it on a regular basis. He gets to know the students in the class (only 12) and tailors the topics for the class. Class discussion can be isolated to a few people sometimes (with some political topics especially) but he makes everyone feel comfortable speaking their mind. Oh yeah, best, consistent grader! If you got him, brag about it and go out for drinks with your class and bring Jared along.
If you have Wilkinson for Logic and Rhetoric, count your lucky stars because your L and R experience will be relatively painless. Just do exactly what he tells you and you will be fine. My writing really did improve through handouts and class discussions, but the comments on papers were never extensive - they mainly harped on one minor issue within a paper. Sometimes his grading seemed arbitrary, but I know that I was VERY lucky compared to some of my friends who had awful experiences.
Standard for L&R (or I guess, the old L&R now that it's being replaced). A couple grammar quizzes, 10 short papers, 5 longer, revised papers. The papers during the end of the semester are much more important than the ones at the beginning, hopefully you will improve over the course of the semester and completely master the 3-part essay form. He's not a difficult grader, and he encourages communication between the students and himself.
Standard L&R, couple of 1-2 pg. papers a week, or 1 3-4 pg paper.
One paper (350-500 words) for each class through midterm. Then one longer paper (750-1000 words) for every two classes. One revision for the first half, every paper revised for the second. Most people got between B and A. Sweet deal!
The usual -- 2 papers a week, 3 rewrites, midterm and final. On the rewrites, the more you do over (even if he doesn't tell you to change anything), the better you will do.