First Year Seminar @Barnard · Columbia University
Dean Lisa is easily the best teacher I’ve ever had. I agree with the previous review; her class is definitely challenging, but I believe it is more than worth it. Instead of giving us exams with passage ID’s, she has us write reading journals (>5 sentences each for 5 specific quotes) before each class. My reading journals took about 1-1.5 hours each. I found this method of ensuring completion of the readings very effective, especially because it allowed for a form of participation that wasn’t verbal. I expressed to her that I was nervous about talking in class, and she was very accommodating and understanding. As my confidence grew throughout the semester, she commented on how happy she was to see me contributing more. She facilitates fantastic discussions, and she has adapted to online learning very well. Although online class discussions are usually not as cohesive and focused as in-person discussions, she still knows how to steer conversations in new directions, push us to think harder and keep us on topic. She takes the time and care to transcribe what each person says in the chat. She also encourages us to add our own input and comments in the chat, which makes for a very lively classroom “environment. We were assigned one 1000-1250 word essay (about one piece of literature). We had an opportunity for revision after receiving her (very extensive and thoughtful) feedback.…
She is an amazing professor and mentor. She knows how to lead a discussion and will not hesitate to cut off someone who goes of on a tangent about ____ and ____ and ____ books she read in high school (a common phenomenon of these first year seminars, I've found). If the conversations goes off topic, she knows how to guide the discussion back to the important points. I have to admit, I did not read all the books thoroughly and rarely completed them but class discussion was always entertaining to follow and, for someone like me who didn't read, almost like sparknotes--just better, more insightful, and with unique perspectives. Dean Hollibaugh really values your opinion and won't make you feel stupid for your unique interpretation of something. She's a true inspiration and it's crazy how dedicated she is to her class and individual students when her job (as Dean of First-Years) requires her to care about the entire freshman class. Take her class at marvel at her grace and brains. Just the best.
An interesting class. However, she's possibly the hardest grader ever. No matter how hard you work on your essays, don't expect an A. But she definitely helped improve my writing. Overall, good professor, but a hard grader.
Loved her!! She is a fantastic teacher and a great dean. She was able to lead or steer discussions without dominating them, and she always had interesting insights but she was open to everyone's ideas. She's not the least bit pretentious, and admits when she has no idea what's going on. As other reviewers have mentioned, she gives copious comments on everything you write and will definitely help you to become a better writer. Moreover, I did not find her to be a difficult grader - she's not easy, but I think her grading was always fair. Plus she lets you revise papers, and the revision grade replaces the earlier grade, so even if you do badly at first you have another shot, and she will help you revise if you go to meet with her. I highly recommend taking this class with Hollibaugh
I had her last Spring for The Americas, Barnard's first year required English class. Professor Hollibaugh was fantastic! The classes themselves were a bit boring sometimes, but usually it was due to students' lackluster comments rather than any fault of the professor. The reason that I liked Professor Hollibaugh so much is that she really helped improve my writing. Looking at the difference between my first paper and my final paper, I see a very large improvement. My writing wasn't bad to begin with, it's just that Professor Hollibaugh was able to help me see ways to significantly improve it. She is a hard grader and unafraid to give low scores on papers; however, if you ask her for guidance on how to improve she will be more than glad to help (and, unlike other professors, will actually be able to).
You read To the Lighthouse, Frankenstein, Paradise Lost, Heart of Darkness and others (can't remember) and a couple of papers. Very manageable and enjoyable readings of books you should read sometime in your life anyways.
3 essays, the last one was a giant research paper.
Normal for Legacy...read a book for every 2/3 classes, write one ungraded response per week, write two longer papers.
I think the syllabus was the standard one for Barnard's first year english classes, and so were her assignments--3 papers, one day leading class discussion. I think there were also some sporadic small assignments to help us understand the readings better. Oh yeah, and peer editing others' papers. That was very annoying (I think it was the main thing I didn't like about the class!)