Jay is great. He's clear, funny, articulate, and organized. He starts each class with a plan and follows through consistently. He balances discussion with lecturing perfectly, and he has great dry humor too. Some advice: go to his office hours consistently. He's really clear about expectations and grading when you speak to him one on one. Plus, he's easier on you as he gets to know you. All in all, whether you're an English major or not, 4W with Jay is great!

Jay’s class will challenge you to think about literature in new ways. Participation is key to enjoying this class! There is a lot of room for group discussion that helps get the class to truly engage with the assigned readings (which were all enjoyable by the way).

The class is challenging but rewarding and Jay is very very available when it comes to meeting with students about their projects.

Do not take this class with Jay. Although he's concerned with student learning and is an effective lecturer, he's very picky with essay grading, is a tough grader, and refuses to go through student essays in office hours, making it hard to do well in this class. He's also quite strict with participation; I spoke often in class to answer questions/read aloud and got an A- (90%).

I took 4w and got an A
If you have to take 4w, take it with him.
Jay is a great teacher. His grading is lenient. He grades upon improvement; he doesn't have a certain standard for an A or B, but it's quite subjective on the students level (given that the student knows how to write at a proficient high school level).

Go to his office hours and be an active participant in the class.

His readings are quite heavy, but doable.

I'm not a sucky writer, but a slow reader and writer.
So I slept 1 hour for the midterm paper (A-)
and 45 minutes for the final paper (idk what I got but got an A in the class).

attendance 20%
Participation 25%
Poem assignment 5%
Midterm Paper (4-5 pages) 20%
Final Paper (4-5 pages) 30%

also there is some acting we did, which was enjoyable.

on a difficulty scale of 10 being "wtf that was a joke" and 0 being "wtf"
I give this class a 6