I took SPAN 119 with Professor Rodriguez during the Winter of 2023 in person. SPAN119 was a challenging upper-division Spanish class with Professor Rodriguez specifically. I've heard other peers having an easier time in the same course, however, with a different professor. This course is graded on 3 written exams (make sure you have a blue book ready), and one group project on a book (el club del libro). Professor Rodriguez's lectures were informative and her slides are useful for exams, however, she does not make herself seem approachable whatsoever. Be prepared to discuss readings in class as she cold calls on students. She is intimidating and at times passive and cannot take criticism well. She is not clear on what she wants on her exams at times, often creating discussions after passing back our exams where she states she will "maybe change that next time". This class was very interesting and the material was fun to read, however, I dreaded attending lectures as I did not feel comfortable or supported in class. The key to passing her class is to study hard, read assigned readings, and understand her exams and what her idea of a "correct answer" is.

Profesora Rodriguez was amazing! I loved her class and looked forward to it every week.

Materials
There is no textbook, and she uses lecture slides and handouts. You have to read a novella by Marquez, but you can find it online.

Grading Scheme
30% Exam 1
30% Exam 2
30% Comentario literario
10% Participation
She uses a straight grading scale (A = 90, B = 80, etc.)

Personality
She is nice and easy to talk to. She is surprisingly forgiving of tardiness - students came in late every class and she would just smile without missing a beat. That said, participation composes a part of your grade, so doing that or ditching class is not in your best interests.

Lecture
We covered four genres of literature - prose, poetry, plays, and essays. While the coverage felt cursory, it was understandable given our time constraints. I like that she focused on a few texts and quality analysis of them rather than spreading the course thin. She created a welcoming environment in which to voice our opinions, and connected many topics to contemporary issues. Even as a non-native speaker with limited vocabulary, I had no trouble keeping up with the class. She did not post her slides or allow computers, so we had to take notes by hand. She usually let us out early.

Exams
Unlike other midterms where they cover too much material, her exams were focused on one genre, making them simple to study for. We had two blue book exams that were easy as long as you read over your notes the night before. I did not do that for my first one and got a 91, but studied for about two hours for my second one and got 100. She was an angel when it came to exam season; she let the class decide when we wanted to have our exams.

Essay
This was also easy and she gave you different prompt options from a selection of the texts that we covered in class, so we could choose a topic we were confident on. We had to review our thesis with her, so everyone felt good about the topic.

Overall
I was pleasantly surprised that she gave me an A+. I highly recommend her.

I adored this class and I loved the professor. She was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed this class although there was 1 or 2 snobby pants in the class, but the teacher made sure that EVERYONE was involved in the class. I was very insecure at first to talk out loud since participation is KEY in this class, but after time, I became comfortable and loved sharing in the class. In the first exam, I got a 90/100 and in the second I got a 100/100- however, this class is NOT easy. You MUST study and dedicate time outside of the class to understand the poems/ narratives/ essays/ plays in order to pass the class and the exams. Although some were complex, the Prof. Rodriguez always dedicated time to the most confusing readings and made sure we understood it before moving on. It is also a good thing to talk to your peers and form bonds with them- which you will since it involves a lot of talking and sharing with your peers. The exams were a bit hard considering that the questions were often subject to your interpretation, meaning, you might interpret it the wrong way and get it wrong. However, I dedicated time to understand the readings and always asked questions no matter how simple of a question it was. Also, this class is 100% in spanish so that is also something you may want to consider.

I thought Jimena did a great job with the transition to online learning. She assigned great readings and graded kindly. At times she was unclear on what she wanted to do, but frankly it didn't matter because I don't think a single person got below an A- in this class. Really nice prof!

She was super accommodating. She expects you to participate and to do the readings (which are short and completely manageable), but she also recognizes when there needs to be an adjustment of pace or workload.

This professor would always summarize what we read in our readings as well as offered discussion questions in which we would put into practice what we had learned. The workload was very manageable; I never had to do more than 2 hours of reading each week for this course. It is a good idea to do some annotations in your readings so as to be able to contribute to class discussions. As long as the professor recognizes you and you make an effort to participate, then you will get a good participation grade. The tests weren't super difficult since everything that is on it was covered and not only that but she also allows us to "construct the exam". We write down test questions, and uses about 2 in the exam. Overall, it was a great learning experience.