Mia Florin-Sefton

She is so lenient and the work in this class was far more engaging than along the lines of busywork. One essay per semester, each met with abundant feedback and peer reviews and genuine thought put into the writing process. We made presentations where we were given complete creative control and were able to lead discussions on themes or aspects of the texts that we found interesting or noteworthy, where Professor Mia would assist and adjust her class to align with our topics! From my experience, this LitHum section seemed lighter on the workload than others, but filled with more engagement and true interest. You will LEARN!

Easiest lithum workload out of everyone I know. For many of the longer books we read, Mia would tell us what chapters to focus on and which chapters we could just read summaries on. Everyone was assigned to do one 10 minute presentation on a section of a text of their choosing, which was extremely easy and everyone automatically earned a 100% on. Other than that, there were only 3 "bigger" assignments the whole semester- two shorter response assignments that were both very very easy and one longer essay that she automatically gave everyone a one-week extension on. Mia was always extremely relaxed with deadlines and would help you work through all of your assignments before submitting them so you could basically be guaranteed an A.

I am devastated that this class is ending. 10/10, five stars, perfect score. Professor Mia was the greatest teacher I have yet to have and she has set high standards for my future at Columbia. The content is, of course, the standard LitHum course books, but Professor Mia's personal changes to the syllabus and Instructor's Choice novel made my experience above and beyond, alongside the abundant extra resources for further reading she provided. Every single class was filled with colorful, exciting, and meaningful discussion and discourse led by Professor Mia. She is accommodating, kind and responsive, understanding and motivating. This class pushed me to become a better reader, writer, and speaker. I truly feel like a better scholar and person from it. I will miss this class dearly, I cannot recommend Professor Mia enough!

Mia is an absolutely incredible professor! She genuinely cares for the well being of all of her students, and whilst every other person taking Lithum was stressing over random busy work, I was chilling in Mia's section knowing that I wouldn't be expected to do an insane amount of work. She's fun, kind, and a joy to talk to inside or outside of class. Her classes were rarely boring, and even nearing the 2 hour mark of class, she still was just as energetic and excited to discuss our texts as she was at the start of class. The ways which we discussed old and boring-ass texts made them actually interesting (queue us looking at gay fanart of Achilles and Patroclus while reading The Iliad), and she was never afraid to challenge us on the assumptions we had about certain texts. I'm coming out of the first semester of this class feeling like I have genuinely learned a lot! Overall, this was my favorite class of first semester, and I feel so lucky that I was able to have Mia as my professor for Lithum!

One essay, one presentation (graded on completion), one extended annotation, one group work, one creative project, and one final. All graded fairly, medium effort guarantees an A. A+ is definitely possible if you put in the work and read.

I genuinely write this review in tears because my time in LitHum, and this incredible professor, is soon to be over. Ms. Mia is the nicest, most eccentric, interesting, and passionate professor I have ever had. She grades fairly, makes our discussions entertaining, and always makes sure to consider her students. She gives extensions on works when she sees its fit and makes sure our workload is never too overbearing. Please take her if you can !

Fair grader, try hard and you can achieve an A+. Workload is not too time consuming, with one semesterly presentation, 1-2 medium length essays, and a few creative assignments (which always connect to the course content very well).

This is, without the doubt, one of the most entertaining, smart, and enthusiastic professors I have ever had! Not only is she a very fair professor, but she constantly goes out of her way to schedule class field trips, movie nights, and pizza study sessions. When books are very long, she would tell us what questions to specifically focus on. I will truly miss Ms. Mia Florin as my professor!

light compared to other classes. personally never had much trouble, but i would recommend utilizing office hours.

best lithum prof anyone can ask for. she's also an amazing human, very understanding and knowledgable. knows just how to make class engaging but also fun and not too high pressure. one of my fav professors ever at columbia (speaking as someone who is finishing sophomore year now).