Prof. Maslan is a good professor and makes it very clear what you need to do. His lectures can be very long and a bit dry but you have to pay attention to them as the final and midterm are almost completely based on the lecture. If you pay attention and review his slides, however, they are super easy and almost a guaranteed A as long as you review
Extremely dull, overly wordy to the point of having to decipher everything he says, and overall I just dread going to his class. The quarter isn't over but I can already tell I will remember absolutely nothing from this class a month after finishing it. It's just one of those classes...
Maslan is a really nice guy and good prof. Your final grade is based on a bunch of forums which are each worth 10-20%. If you do well on the first few, he'll keep giving you good grades. The reading is the hardest part of the class because he expects you to have read the whole book before the first class on it and it's easy to fall behind.
ENGL132WD; We were consistently one week behind schedule. The material covered was incredibly engaging, but because of the limited time and disorganization, much of the assigned readings would go undiscussed, and assignments would frequently be omitted as a result. Professor is brilliant and hilarious, but unorganized.
Despite his averse teaching style I actually thoroughly enjoyed his class. I hated that the midterm and final were in-person written exams, but I appreciated him giving us a clear expectation for what was going to be on it and what he wanted from it. He posts PowerPoints but they aren't too helpful unless you're reviewing. GO TO LECTURE!!!
Really nice guy, very nerdy and passionate about the material. Readings were short and generally interesting. Chill class and I really enjoyed the lectures. Would recommend!
He's a nice guy, but it is week 7 of the quarter and none of my work has been graded. I have no idea how I'm doing in the class and the drop date has already passed.
Took him during lockdown, and I ended up dropping the English major after 2 years. He made class dreadful, as he went MIA for 4 weeks and expected us to write short essay responses for the final on material we should've covered during those 4 weeks but didn't until one week before the final. Worst teacher I've ever had.
He's a cool guy once you get to know him. on his good side you'll feel comfortable around him with assignments, do good and get good grades. it will be fun and most importantly he has a genuine sense of humor.
This man seems like a nice guy, but his lectures are really boring and I honestly didn't learn much. I had a hard time focusing and I feel his grading was very harsh. I got a D in the class when I'm normally a B+ student. I wouldn't recommend, but if you enjoy the course material, you might be totally fine.
You definitely have to work hard and study a lot to get an A in this class. Prof. Maslan is a really good lecturer, but the material can feel dry sometimes. He's very clear on expectations and what will be/not be on the midterm and final. He assigned a few books that were all really cheap and a few PDFs, a midterm, two papers, and a final exam.
This man is boring. So boring, so dry, so wish I had taken a different professor. The only saving grace of this class was my wonderful TA. Maslan focuses on literary concepts and their tie-ins to historical events, like the Mexican War. You are not free to draw your own conclusions, you must reiterate the ideas he lectures on for points.
Dry. I had trouble concentrating in his lectures because they were dull. His midterm and final were somewhat difficult. (Midterm featured a small, random section of questions.) The class is doable, but make sure you have your TA go over the two essays you have to write.
once you know how he runs his class it's easy to do well. for the midterm, I stressed about reading all of the novels and not as much on the ppts because I'd barely taken any notes on them. Afterwards, I learned that you dont even necessarily need to read all of the books, just take good notes in class on the specific themes he puts on the ppts.
this guy as a trainwreck and laughs because he knowingly assigns offensive texts to read and wants to know if you were offended by it. his powerpoints are also basically the midterm/final but he often goes off topic from what's on the powerpoint because "oh, this passage i want to talk about isnt on the slides" as if he hadn't made the ppt
I didn't appreciate how great of a professor Maslan was until I took a trainwreck English course with no structure and a catty prof so I came back here to tell y'all that this guy is quality!!! His powerpoints are *very* structured and what you learn in class/what's on the powerpoint is what is on the test. you'll learn to love his dad jokes too :)
Good class, if you have a good TA. There are 2 essays, both of which are comparative. The final is an in-class essay. The class is split into two units: abolitionist/progressive/realist literature, and romantic/transcendentalist literature. All the books/poems/essays are great. Maslan is funny, intelligent, and full of brilliant insights.
You can sit back and listen with him, but also expect to make contributions. He sets interesting and varied assignments, and you can tell he's passionate. Funny, endearing, and incredibly smart. I would definitely take a class by him again.
Funny, especially if you take 1 of his smaller classes. He almost always puts a "creative" prompt/writing assnmt (ex. write from the perspective of F. Douglass), which makes it easier/more fun to write essays. Must read the texts that papers are on, but often I sparknoted & took good lecture notes on the rest for exams. Moderate grader, attend lect
Makes it worthwhile to go to lecture. Can be a little boring but he tells you exactly the information you need to know and makes it relatively easy to understand. There's quite a bit of reading but less than you'd think for a literature class. I'm not an english major and i hate writing, but still thought this class was relatively easy.
I'm confused by some people's comments. I never took notes in class (well, not never, but not religiously) and I did very well. All you need to do is actually ENGAGE with the material and listen to his lectures and you'll learn things you never knew before. He was interesting, informative and helpful. Don't take the class if you're lazy, though.
He's okay. Very boring material though. He'll make you laugh a few times during lecture. Your entire grade depends on your T.A. Attending section is pretty much mandatory because your course grade gets lowered 1/3 for each unexcused absence. I had Roberta Wolfson and she was a tough grader. Two papers, midterm, final, and participation.
He's a great lecturer. If you're a good student, you will do well.
oh god....good luck staying awake in his class....the worst thing i ever did....it is so boring and he is not a good lecturer. You have to show up to class because tests have random things that are not in the readings.