I loved her, but I have some friends who are less enthusiastic. She picks some very hard material for the course, but her explanations about the meaning and the context of the work are extremely clear and helpful. My only problem is that she often sends out writing prompts the day before it is due, and it's really annoying to open up your email late at night and find yourself with last minute homework. But overall, I would definitely take again.

I was one of the few people in my discussion who genuinely enjoyed attending lecture. She's adorable and a bit eccentric and quite clearly adores teaching. Her lectures tend to be quite lacking in structure, and many of my peers had difficulty ascertaining what exactly they should be taking notes on. My advice would be to make a note of which passages she discusses, as well as paying attention to the important historical contexts or styles/literary devices/themes that she points out.

She is, for the most part, extremely approachable, considerate, and kind. If your paper is randomly chosen to be graded by her, she will be a bit harsh and leave at most two comments. However, you will have 3 short essays (4 pages!) to prove yourself, and the first one will only count 10% of your grade. I found it most helpful to hound my TA when planning my essays.

There is no midterm, and the final is graded more kindly than the essays are. Our final had (if I'm remembering correctly) 17 ID terms, and you only needed to correctly identify 15 of them, with the full title and the writer's full name. There is poetry explication, and then a final long essay in which you are given two "big ideas" and you pick one to write about.

It's definitely very helpful to keep up with the reading, but I'll admit that I fell behind on most of the longer works. Reading detailed summaries and taking really good lecture notes will carry you through just fine.

I really did enjoy this class, though ultimately the most electrifying lecture had been given by one of the TAs. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend taking 10C with Jaurretche!

The amount of reading Professor Jaurretche assigned for this class for absolutely insane. I would find it hard to believe that anyone is the class was able to complete all the readings in full (and she expected you to read them twice no less).

They also made no sense, we were skipping around between authors with no connection (or a rough connection) and I was often really lost between lectures as she provided little to no background info on the works or the genre or literary eras we were covering.

She wasn't terrible, she provided really in-depth lectures on literary style and techniques, but the 10 series, especially 10C should really have a focus on contextualizing pieces of literature and she ultimately failed entirely to do so, really just giving us a historical overview on Ireland in the 19th century.

Also, her essay feedback is legitimately awful. She gave me a B on my paper with no comments other than "I thought this was well-written and well-organized, but this is not the argument I would have made," which is completely antithetical to the goals of literary analysis.

Would highly recommend not taking a 10 series class with her, but maybe a writing class would be okay.

She's a great teacher teaching a very boring class. But that's just my own personal opinion.

I loved this class. I usually hate writing and do not consider myself a great writer, but this class was way more enjoyable than I anticipated. It is all about the history of Los Angeles and its landscape. The only scary part is she grades your papers in a conference one on one with you, but it's not as bad as it sounds. I definitely recommend taking her to satisfy writing 1.

Professor Jaurretche is a very caring and passionate professor. She obviously knew tons about the texts that we covered and led really interesting discussions. We would usually read one book or play each week, in addition to supplemental historical reading. There are no pop quizzes or anything so you don’t have to stress too much about falling behind. Your grade is based on research projects/essays. The one downside of this class is that there was only one meeting each week so we didn’t get to dive very deeply into any of the materials by analyzing them for, say, two days. That being said, I feel like I truly learned so much about Irish history and culture through this class, not to mention literature. If any of those things interest you, I would highly recommend this class.

I’m also selling the course reader for $30, if you’re interested text **********.

I do not recommend taking ENGL 182F – Topics in 20th- and 21st-Century Literature: James Joyce with Colleen Jaurretche, unless you already have a strong background/interest in Joyce. This course is extremely challenging for anyone who isn’t already deeply invested in Joyce & Ulysses. The entire quarter is devoted to that single text, and the assignments are: one oral presentation, a written version of that presentation, an annotated bibliography/critical review, and an 18–20 page research paper. The readings are dense and demanding.

However, the bigger issue for me was how the seminar operated. Participation felt uneven and inequitable. A small group of 3–4 students—who had already taken a Joyce course with Professor Jaurretche—dominated every class. These students consistently received visible enthusiasm and affirmation from her, which made it clear who her favorites were. On the other hand, when other students spoke, her reactions were noticeably more muted or even dismissive if she didn’t find the comment insightful. This dynamic made it intimidating to participate and, ultimately, made the classroom environment feel discouraging and unwelcoming.

Overall, this seminar does not feel accessible or inclusive to all English majors. It seems designed for students who already know Joyce or who have an established relationship with the professor. If you’re hoping for an open, supportive seminar or a more balanced discussion environment, I would strongly recommend choosing a different course.

I took this class to satisfy my Writing I. I honestly enjoyed this class as Professor Jaurretche created a comfortable and open class (zoom) environment. All the readings and assignments were readily accessible on CCLE which made it easy to access materials. She assigns a lot of readings which vary in length. She also assigns discussion questions based on the readings where we would discuss them in class. Usually 1-2 students would voluntarily share their responses to the class, and we suggest edits as a class. In total, she assigned us 3 essays. 2/3 were apart of a research project that she assigns later in the quarter. The longest paper was the research paper which was 7-8 pages of writing. She grades "conference-style" where you'll hop onto a zoom meeting with her for ~10 minutes (or less) and she'll read your essay, provide feedback, and gives you a letter grade. Scary in the beginning, but SO relieving once you finish. Her grading style is very fair. Overall a great class and professor!

Maybe my favorite class at UCLA. It was on Ulysses by James Joyce, which quickly became one of my favorite books after this course. 10/10 recommend if you're willing to commit to the book and class. It will become your whole life (in a good way).

Class structure: read one chapter before lecture, discuss in lecture, the professor does around a 1-hour lecture after students present.
Assignments: Class presentation on one chapter with write-up essay, midterm close reading or book review essay, final paper
Attendance: mandatory, tardiness not preferred

Professor Jaurretche is amazing. The reading load is intense, but you'll learn a lot if you manage to keep up. I dealt with some personal hardships during the quarter and I am so glad I reached out to her. She really cares for both her students and these texts. Go to her office hours and get to know her!!! She also makes it clear that sometimes outside research is needed and is in full support of you watching video summaries etc. of the texts we read, which is really great.