Johannah King-Slutzky

Workload is somewhat light, but readings are often announced <12 hours before class. The bi-weekly reading assignments are excessive since she asks you to summarize EACH chapter, but it's doable. Midterms are not hard, but tricky. For essays, there are also no rubrics so you go in blind, but it's 5-7 pages so not the the worst. Grading is the biggest issue. Avg for midterms were 90 and 84, respectively. Essays were in the B range, and the feedbacks are extremely minimal. Grades for participation and homework assignments are also released after the semester, so you don't really know how to improve. I somehow ended up with an A, but honestly cried throughout the semester and didn't see my writings improve since it was not encouraged to develop deep interpretations of the course materials.

Same workload as other UW classes. Grading is generous, she just wants to see that your building as a writer. Make your next paper better than your last and you'll be fine. She is also VERY understanding when it comes to deadlines/special circumstances.

Johannah really cares about the course's materials, but the way she structures her class doesn't help the students learn. During discussions, she often "fishes" for responses that only align with her views. When you have differing interpretations, she often gets dismissive, saying things like "you're reading too deep into it". I often felt "unintelligent" for having unconventional views about the materials. I eventually gave up a few weeks into the semester and decided to take really good notes in class to regurgitate it during exams and finals. This paid off in grades, but you don't really "learn" or "improve". The class is just an extension of SparkNotes. Discussions are also extremely unorganized. Readings are released a few hours before class, and you are expected to provide text evidence for your comments. There's also no time management/transition between topics, so we often spend a ridiculous amount of time talking about irrelevant details rather than large themes in the book. She is also unresponsive through emails, so you have to follow-up in class to get any personal questions answered. If you want an A, it's possible in this class. However, you have to put in the effort. If you want to learn or improve your knowledge, run away. I honestly can't tell you what I learned besides the surface-level book summaries.

I took the Medical Humanities UW with Johannah. She did a really good job of catering to a very STEM-focused group. We read texts on race, the subjectivity of pain, etc. Discussions mostly centered on whatever we wanted to talk about, which was usually the science side of the texts. She allowed us a lot of freedom while also ensuring we stayed on topic. Johannah is very knowledgeable on marxism too, and it bled into the class a little, but in a tasteful amount.

This teacher is one of the worst teachers I've had at Columbia, the lectures were boring and all over the place. She would give us our homework assignments the day before they were due, sometimes even after 8/9 PM the day before and expect us to be prepared for class. She never planned ahead and made it very obvious. The class before the midterm we asked her questions about it, and it was obvious she hadn't made it yet or even really thought about it. She never once responded to any of the emails I would send her. She made it painfully obvious that she didn't care about this class and that she had more important things than us. I ended up with a good grade A/A- but I believe most students didn't and I just somehow got lucky with the essays, despite getting a good grade I'm still switching out of her terrible class.

Bi-weekly (pretty much workload) 15% Participation 15% Midterms 15% Final 15% First Essay 15% Second Essay 25%

At the end of the semester, the lecturer stood in front of the class and said something I’ll never forget: “Your GPA won’t matter when you look back on your college years.” A few moments later, she added, “I want you all to give me a good rating on the survey, since it’s really important for my career.” Just... think about that for a second. Our GPAs, which affect scholarships, grad school admissions, and job opportunities, are apparently meaningless in her eyes. But her survey ratings? Those are crucial. You can probably tell a lot about her priorities right there. Whether you're looking for an academically challenging course or even just an engaging class, this one misses the mark on both. Grading was unnecessarily harsh. Essays, which made up about 40-50% of our final grade, were nearly impossible to score above a 90 on. When my peers reminded her that other professors grade essays differently, she brushed them off with, “I have my own rules.” Midterms? Don’t even get me started. Passage identifications made up 50% of each test, and there was no partial credit. Either you nailed the ID, or you got nothing. In many cases, it felt like pure luck. I scored 80 on both midterms, and not because I didn’t study, but because of those IDs. And then there was the general structure of the class. Essay prompts were always posted late, sometimes with barely enough time to prepare. She e…

Workload is reading responses before every class, 2 papers (5-7 pages), 1 midterm, 1 final, pretty harsh grader on papers and doesn't give a lot of feedback. But exams are on the easier side.

I'd knew about her infamous reputation beforehand, but I tried to not let it influence my perspective going into the class—honestly, I was rather sympathetic to her predicament after getting slandered by right-wing media. Unfortunately, she is not very good as an instructor. The class itself is pretty boring, and the class is rather disorganized, often assigning readings only a day before class. She doesn’t seem to remember what’s on the syllabus and often changes things unexpectedly. When she teaches, she can come across as condescending, frequently fishing for very specific answers from students. It feels less like she’s interested in what you have to say and more like she’s judging your responses in class.