Professor
Michael Allen
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2019 - I took ENGL 90 in the summer with Professor Allen & TA Mark Gallagher. As an online course, we had to watch 2-3 video lectures each week about a late-Shakespearean play, plus 1-2 film adaptations of each play. We covered King Lear, Measure for Measure, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, and The Tempest. There were written one-page essays during Weeks 2-5 on the play being studied. We also had to post on the discussion boards about the play studied each week, and attend weekly discussion section via Zoom which lasted for about an hour each. There is a cumulative final in the end, which can be taken in person or online via ProctorU. Grades are calculated as follows: 30% - Participation in Live Sections and Written Responses on Discussion Board 10% - Essay 1 (one page) on King Lear 10% - Essay 2 (one page) on Measure for Measure 10% - Essay 3 (one page) on Antony and Cleopatra 10% - Essay 4 (one page) on The Tempest 30% - Final Exam (cumulative) Participation via discussion board posts and speaking during live sections are graded based on completion. The TA will go over what each student posted on the discussion board and ask for the student to add to his/her paragraphs. The one-page analysis essays were easy to do, but the TA heavily emphasized following through with deep analysis over surface statements. I got an average of 88.5% on all four essays. The final exam was difficult. It had 35 short sentence responses, 2 short paragraph summaries, and 2 long essay questions synthesizing the written play and the film adaptations. The short sentence responses ask for very minor details that I overlooked while studying the plays. The summaries were easy to do. The long essay questions were a little bit more challenging since you had to remember the film adaptations as well. I ended up with a 72% on the final, but I had chosen to take this class P/NP, and got a P on my transcript. Overall, this class has a heavy but doable workload, as long as you are not taking any other classes during the summer session. The written assignments were easy to do and the course is very well-organized. The final might be challenging if you did not study enough or did not watch all of the lecture videos/film adaptations. Mark was a very intelligent TA who pushed us to analyse the text deeper, and the live sections were always engaging.
Summer 2019 - I took ENGL 90 in the summer with Professor Allen & TA Mark Gallagher. As an online course, we had to watch 2-3 video lectures each week about a late-Shakespearean play, plus 1-2 film adaptations of each play. We covered King Lear, Measure for Measure, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, and The Tempest. There were written one-page essays during Weeks 2-5 on the play being studied. We also had to post on the discussion boards about the play studied each week, and attend weekly discussion section via Zoom which lasted for about an hour each. There is a cumulative final in the end, which can be taken in person or online via ProctorU. Grades are calculated as follows: 30% - Participation in Live Sections and Written Responses on Discussion Board 10% - Essay 1 (one page) on King Lear 10% - Essay 2 (one page) on Measure for Measure 10% - Essay 3 (one page) on Antony and Cleopatra 10% - Essay 4 (one page) on The Tempest 30% - Final Exam (cumulative) Participation via discussion board posts and speaking during live sections are graded based on completion. The TA will go over what each student posted on the discussion board and ask for the student to add to his/her paragraphs. The one-page analysis essays were easy to do, but the TA heavily emphasized following through with deep analysis over surface statements. I got an average of 88.5% on all four essays. The final exam was difficult. It had 35 short sentence responses, 2 short paragraph summaries, and 2 long essay questions synthesizing the written play and the film adaptations. The short sentence responses ask for very minor details that I overlooked while studying the plays. The summaries were easy to do. The long essay questions were a little bit more challenging since you had to remember the film adaptations as well. I ended up with a 72% on the final, but I had chosen to take this class P/NP, and got a P on my transcript. Overall, this class has a heavy but doable workload, as long as you are not taking any other classes during the summer session. The written assignments were easy to do and the course is very well-organized. The final might be challenging if you did not study enough or did not watch all of the lecture videos/film adaptations. Mark was a very intelligent TA who pushed us to analyse the text deeper, and the live sections were always engaging.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Allen is my absolute favorite professor at UCLA. After taking Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with him this summer, I cancelled my enrollment in Shakespeare in Fall so I could wait to take his class in Winter. He is immensely funny, a gifted lecturer, and if you actually pay attention, his tests and papers shouldn't be difficult for you. But, that said, this is not an easy class. He will immerse you in it, and make seemingly dull topics incredibly interesting, but you HAVE to read, or you WILL NOT do well. Middle English is hard to understand, so you really have to make sense of the characters and their plot lines, and pay attention to the footnotes! He has a lot to say, and its true, its hard to tell what you're going to be tested on, so take notes on everything! If you can't write fast enough to do that, then I suggest recording his lectures, because he is so passionate about these topics that he will give you as much information as he possibly can in a class period. He is very loud, and if you don't like participating in class, then you shouldn't sit in the aisles, but know that if you do participate, he will give you a much better grade. Also, don't be afraid of having to recite the introduction - it seems scary, but he closes his eyes the entire time so its not like a performance, and he will help you along. The amount of work for any English class can be excessive, but if you take any class with Allen, you will laugh your way through ten weeks of what would otherwise be deemed hell.
Professor Allen is my absolute favorite professor at UCLA. After taking Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with him this summer, I cancelled my enrollment in Shakespeare in Fall so I could wait to take his class in Winter. He is immensely funny, a gifted lecturer, and if you actually pay attention, his tests and papers shouldn't be difficult for you. But, that said, this is not an easy class. He will immerse you in it, and make seemingly dull topics incredibly interesting, but you HAVE to read, or you WILL NOT do well. Middle English is hard to understand, so you really have to make sense of the characters and their plot lines, and pay attention to the footnotes! He has a lot to say, and its true, its hard to tell what you're going to be tested on, so take notes on everything! If you can't write fast enough to do that, then I suggest recording his lectures, because he is so passionate about these topics that he will give you as much information as he possibly can in a class period. He is very loud, and if you don't like participating in class, then you shouldn't sit in the aisles, but know that if you do participate, he will give you a much better grade. Also, don't be afraid of having to recite the introduction - it seems scary, but he closes his eyes the entire time so its not like a performance, and he will help you along. The amount of work for any English class can be excessive, but if you take any class with Allen, you will laugh your way through ten weeks of what would otherwise be deemed hell.
Most Helpful Review
I loved Allen! He made all those Shakespeare plays I've read a million times come to life (Cheesy I know, but that's how it felt). His accent, his passion, everything just makes you feel like you could be in England. His grading wasn't too harsh as long as you went to class. His final was identifying passages. I would definitely recommend him and hope to take at least one more class with him before graduating.
I loved Allen! He made all those Shakespeare plays I've read a million times come to life (Cheesy I know, but that's how it felt). His accent, his passion, everything just makes you feel like you could be in England. His grading wasn't too harsh as long as you went to class. His final was identifying passages. I would definitely recommend him and hope to take at least one more class with him before graduating.
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