Latin American And Iberian Cultures · Columbia University
Melissa is one of the best teachers I've had at Columbia. At the beginning of Lit Hum, she took the initiative to meet with each one of us in office hours to get to know us and our goals. She was consistently prepared for discussion and demonstrated an extraordinary depth of knowledge about the classics, even though her area of expertise is technically Spanish. Within a couple of classes, she knew everybody's names and made all of us feel like she cared about us as people, not just Lit Hum students.
One of the best Spanish teachers in Columbia. Knows her stuff. Knows how to get it across. Easy grader and overall very pleasant. Sweet even.
5 concert reports, each 2 pages, midterm and a final. The concert reports can be handed in one of the last days of the semester, so besides having to actually go to 5 concerts, there's basically no work.
Three papers, midterm, class-wide final. According to my transcript, 100% of my second semester class received an A or A-. I honestly believe this is more of a result of Melissa making us care about the material and put forth our best work than her simply dishing out undeserved high marks.
Melissa rocks! She knows her shit and explains it well. If you need extra help and can't make office hours, she'll make time for you outside of office hours. She's patient with even the dumbest mistakes, and doesn't make you feel uncomfortable. But few people, besides my language challenged self, ever needed extra help because she explains grammar so clearly. She speaks both English and Spanish perfectly. Her tests are challenging but she grades extremely leniently. She's funny and laid-back, and if you act like a clown in class, she'll call you out on it in a completely funny way. But she's so nice, she just wants to make sure you know your stuff so she can give you an A, so just do what you need to do. Even though spanish is hard for me, I learned a lot. I wish I could take the next semester class with her.
Good news: the grading in this class is really leniant, she said she doesn't like to give anyone a final grade under a B, and even that's hard to do. Bad news: she's just mean. Mostly just unfriendly, but sometimes mean. The questions on the midterm and the final were often from side comments she had made in class, which sucks, and it was painful in the morning, but since you have to take the class, and she not evil about her grading, it's not bad.
not much...never did reading. we listened to all hte pieces in class and discussed them, which was better than some other music hum classes ive heard about.
The usual quizzes and compositions and stuff...it's the same for everybody I think. she's very understanding about late stuff if you have an honest excuse, but whatever you do, don't use an online translator: she can totally tell you've done it, and that's the only thing that pisses her off.
if you want a JUST FINE music hum experience-- to learn a bit, to enjoy it, to not be stressed out, and to learn anything you will learn by semi-cramming the night before-- then take melissa. she recognized that not everyone wanted to be there, that music hum wasn't everyone's first priority, and that some of us knew NOTHING about music. she made it all just fine.
To say that she sucks is a bit harsh. I enjoyed her class and found her to be a good instructor overall. The work load was doable and she presented the material clearly. I agree that she should have focused more time on class discussions but overall. I received comments on my concert reports and she always offered to review first drafts. She also did her best to ensure that we did well on exams by supplying outlines, review sheets, etc. Overall, I was satisfied with the course.