Columbia College Core · Columbia University
A quick quiz at the start of most lectures. Some of the texts she assigns are rather long but doable, she will try to catch you out with the questions. A 15 minute presentation, you have to write about 1000 words to talk through. A midterm (6-8 pp.) and a final (8-11 pp.)
Weekly readings with a class discussion. 1 short presentation a semester. Two essays (Mid + Final)
2 discussion posts that take about 15-30 mins to write. 1 fun presentation. 2 essays. 1 midterm/final.
Professor Kuiken is a hidden gem in the English department. I wasn't sure of the content and took it for another 4 credit class but it was one of the most interesting seminars in my time at Columbia. The classes are two relaxed hours of rich analyses. She is a fount of knowledge, and her passion made every regaling of the texts a joy to listen to. Class participation relied on how much she had to say that week but the discussions we had were always worthwhile.
Professor Kuiken is kind, incredibly smart, and created quite an awesome syllabus that was inspiring to read. This class focus on analyzing and interacting with the subtexts of works; specifically focusing on water as a phenomenon that provides insight into material that may not appear to have as many deeper, underlying, refracting thoughts.
I think with two years of experience under her belt, Vesna has become one of the finest teachers in the Lit Hum department. Not only does she have a vast and in depth understanding of the texts, but her analyses have a refreshing and provoking punch. Furthermore, she's HILARIOUS. When we got off-topic (and by off-topic, I mean relevant but not exactly about the text), our class learned some pretty crazy stuff about her life. For example, she used to smoke a lot as a teenager, stayed with a Mormon host family as an exchange student from Serbia, makes politically incorrect jokes that had our class in stitches, etc. You don't always have to do the readings, nor do you have to participate in every class discussion, to get a B+ or an A-. Her first essay is graded harsher than the second, which most people aced. By the midterm and final, you should have read all the texts sans the History of the Peloponnesian War and the Histories because they're tedious and unnecessary. Her review session encompassed a broad outline of what we needed to know for the midterm/final. Additionally, we have this fun presentation that counts for 10% of the grade: basically on music/books/art/movies related to the assigned text. HINT: Vesna is a huge movie buff so she loves that shit. Also had 2 easy discussion posts that aided most students, quite a bit, for essays. If you study decently and take efficie…
The assignments are fair for a 3000 course, it's a midterm and final paper and an in-class presentation, no discussion posts. She does have short reading quizzes, but she doesn't do them every week and they are super easy, they take like 5 minutes tops. Her grading was very fair and she offered tons of feedback.
midterm, final , and 2 papers all unfairly graded imh,o
Prof Kuiken is wonderful and inspiringly intelligent, her analyses are so insightful and well-crafted. She was always open to meeting for office hours and offered helpful guidance on assignments, and was also just a great person to talk to. No notes on her teaching, it's excellent, I learned so much from her and looked forward to learning from her every week. Her class was the perfect blend of lecture, discussion, and classmate presentation. I honestly expected this class to be a bore but she was so passionate and engaging, this ended up being one of my favorite courses.
She has got to be the worst lit hum teacher ever. Her "discussions" often consisted of her lecturing us and being really boring. Not only that, but she's also a terrible grader. She grades so harshly and her comments don't even make any sense. In fact, they hardly give any justification for why you received such a poor grade. Not only is she a terrible teacher, but she is also a terrible human being. She decided it would be a good idea to change the format of the midterm the day of the midterm. In fact, she didn't tell us about the change until she handed the midterm out to us. I'm sure that was a great idea professor. Overall, worst teacher/class ever, got a B+ though.