Jenelle Troxell

I am not in the habit of writing these reviews either but reading two early reviews (and having now finished out the year with Jenelle) I have to say these people are entirely off base. Jenelle was one of the most wonderful instructers I have had to date at Columbia. She inspired lively discussions and was always extremely prepared. More important. she encouraged students to bring their own experiences and interests to bear on subjects that did not obviously lend themselves to this. She allowed students to pick their own paper topics and made herself available outside of class to discuss students' ideas. She also didn't have the arrogance and narcissm of so many professors and TAs at Columbia. I can't tell you how often I have felt like instructers use their classes simply as bully-pulpits from which they can disabuse students of ideas they deem unworthy or downright stupid. This is unfortunate and leaves students feeling like they have nothing important to contribute. Jenelle, by contrast, was interested in and believed strongly in cultivating original and thoughtful ideas from her students. I didn't expect to enjoy CC given the long and sometimes dry reading assignments, and also the propensity of students to wax nonsensically and endlessly on subjects they have frequently not even read about. But somehow under the circumstances Jenelle was able to manage some very challenge…

Frankly, I don't understand why her reviews were so bad. Perhaps it is because the people who write the cupla reviews are the people with strong opinions. I myself wouldnÂ’t have written a review if I hadnÂ’t felt so strongly opposed to the current culpa reviews. I found JenelleÂ’s class quite enjoyable and found her well informed and well prepared. She attempted to make the class the student led discussion class that it was. The only part of the other reviews I do agree with is that she did seem unsure of herself. I also noticed the positive change described by one of the other reviews that occurred after KitcherÂ’s sit in. I believe this change is the result of the confidence that came from that good review. Because this was her first time teaching, KitcherÂ’s good review provided her with the reassurance she needed to lead the class in a productive class discussion. From that point on, the discussions went well. Needless to say, I chose to stay in her class for a second semester. I highly recommend Jenelle.

This class was, frankly, pretty hellish before the turning point: Philp Kitcher's visit. Before Kitcher's sit-in evaluation about 3/4s through the semester, Jenelle was consistently unprepared, fumbling and unsure of the material. She could not answer pointed questions about simple facts, nor could she handle discussions--people who loved their own voice would ramble ceaselessly on tangents whereas other people rarely had a chance to say anything. She relied on each student's in-class presentation/introduction on the specific author that day to start off the lecture, instead of gving a more informed background herself. One really doesn't get why she's teaching CC in the first place if her interest is in Comparative Literature/Film Studies. At the lecture Kitcher sat in on, she had obviously prepared furiously and seemed much more composed--I was actually surprised at the overnight transformation of her pedagogical skills. Thereafter, she seemed a lot more with-it, so perhaps over time she will get better. But like the previous reviewer, I'm not going to stick around to find out.

Jenelle is very sweet and beautiful, but often seemed unsure of herself and unprepared for class. Perhaps because she has little experience teaching and has a lot going on outside of class, she was unable to play a real creative role in the class, instead reacting to whatever lead the stronger students in class took. I imagine she will get the hang of it, but I don't feel like waiting so I plan to change sections.

Heavy reading, 2 discussion questions for each class, 2 short essays, straightforward midterm and final, one small oral presentation. Grading is very fair.

annoying two questions before each class (actually counts for a large part of your class participation grade, apparently) that she never incorporated into class, two 3-5 page papers, midterm, final. Must prepare one presentation in class.

Typical for CC--heavy reading. Midterm and Final exams. Two relatively short papers, both graded easily. Also, annoyingly: 2 discussion questions emailed to her before every class referring to the most recent reading.