Fall 2016 - Individual Comment Report for Benjamin Miller

ENGCMP 0207 - SEMNR IN COMPOSITN: EDUCATION - 1060 - Seminar

2171 - Teaching Survey
Total Enrollment 19
Responses Received 19
Response Rate 100%

Subject Details
CAMPUS_CD PIT
SCHOOL_CD ARTSC
DEPARTMENT_CD ENGLISH
CLASS_NBR 10912
COURSE_NUMBER 207
SECTION_NUMBER 1060

Report Comments
Responses to open-ended questions

Creation Date Thu, Dec 29, 2016

What were the instructor's major strengths?

Comments
He was always available to conference and always stimulated new ideas for papers
Helping everyone on an individual level. Making writers think on their own instead of telling them what to do
Willing to meet with students anytime. Very personal which was a nice change to larger lectures.
He gave great feedback for all of my work. I felt comfortable conversing with him about my pieces because I knew he
would give me honest feedback I could really use.
The instructor gave extensive feedback on each writing assignment that genuinely improved the way I write.
-Knows how to connect with people
-Available for help always
-Extremely well versed in every area
-Although you write about one topic, you think about so much more and it's applications to education as a whole.
Inspiring students and relating readings to what you are writing.
He was always available and accessible. When I had questions I knew where to reach him. He always got back to me
in a timely manner.
He was organized and thorough with his lessons. Also he encouraged the students to help each other which increased
how much we were able to improve
Very good at working with students, made a very positive learning environment, seemed more like group working
together to accomplish things rather than working on own then being judged by a professor
Made sure to facilitate thought-provoking discussion and address difficult topics that challenged us to think about how
people learn how to write
Very knowledgeable, scholarly, professional. Teaches the class in a very constructive and collaborative manner, works
well with all students and shows interest in everyone's writing, and the improvement thereof.
Approachable, helpful in editing and starting writing.
Easy to talk to, approachable, constructive feedback, asked questions that helped us form ideas and thoughts for
ourself, insightful
he helped me improve and connect my writing
An understanding of what students' exact issues were and how to improve them. Done so with existential-crisis-
inducing accuracy

Benjamin Miller ( ENGCMP 0207 - SEMNR IN COMPOSITN: EDUCATION - 1060 - Seminar) 2/4
What were the instructor's major weaknesses?

Comments
Too much work, too little time
Going over time on parts of class
Seemed disorganized. Typically planned too much to do in one day.
Had a tendency to get off topic, which felt like it was wasting valuable class time.
Time management was one of the instructor's major weaknesses, the classroom would sometimes feel rushed to
complete the curriculum.
Can get off track SOMETIMES. Not always. Very infrequently even
Time
It was quite easy to misuse the time in this class. Being that education is a topic that many feel strongly about we often
got into long debates and over ran the time allotted for each section of the class.
none ofnote
Small time management during individual classes, but generally this was caused by constructive discussion that
extended into another time slot (ended up being beneficial if you were to ask me).
none
Perhaps too much of a focus on class discussion and not individual skill-building

What aspects of this course were most beneficial to you?

Comments
writing on a personal basis
Feedback, positive and negative
Turning in everything on time guaranteed me a B.
The amount of revising time I had available to me. I felt comfortable going back to my pieces at any point in the
semester.
Feedback given from assignments and research exercises were very beneficial.
The writing made me think about so much beyond what we were asked to actually write about
I think i am able to write more interesting papers now for any subject
The group reviews were very beneficial. Further, the one on one required conferences provided an initial comfort, so I
felt confident in seeking help when needed.
Practicing my writing, and having the other students give me feed back.
professor encouraging me to get better in a positive way, also helping me with my individual work
Encourages us to think about the core of writing, how people learn to write, and how that information can be used to
improve our own writing
The understanding of how and why to write, and the importance of writing with respect to the source material, what you
are writing in response to, and how best to express these views.
The design of the writing prompts and reflections
getting time in class to work on writings and research was productive and allowed me to ask questions and engage in
conversation.
Definitely the feedback received on my writing

Benjamin Miller ( ENGCMP 0207 - SEMNR IN COMPOSITN: EDUCATION - 1060 - Seminar) 3/4
What suggestions do you have to improve the course?

Comments
Less reviewing others because it does not help to focus on someone else's paper. It just seemed like busy work
because we did it so often. It was exhausting because I felt it wasn't useful.
Possibly eliminate one of the shaped pieces, it felt very rushed throughout the semester.
Having to pay for "Eli Review" was slightly frustrating, especially considering there are so many other websites that can
be used to turn in assignments for free.
Get a bigger room next semester
Bigger room
I would suggest taking a little less time on sp1 and sp2, which would allow more time for sp3. As I felt like I had an
extremely long amount of time for my first two pieces, the third felt rushed.
Start the group collaborations earlier and apply them more. In our shaped piece 2 the group dynamic helped improve
my writing a massive amount and I wish that we used it just a tad bit more.
a little bit more writing workshop time in class
Very hard question to answer. Ben was accessible, offered constructive criticisms, and organized the class in a manner
that I wish other teachers could emulate. Keep doing these things. I would maybe have mandatory reading of the other
students' posted works, and reviews on some, as this was the best benefit I gained from the class and it could be
implemented more.
Continue as is
some of the content is confusing and we don't really do a lot with it.
More smaller assignments turned in directly to the instructor in order to get more feedback and writing experience

Benjamin Miller ( ENGCMP 0207 - SEMNR IN COMPOSITN: EDUCATION - 1060 - Seminar) 4/4