Polyratings.com: Jennings, Charles

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Jennings, Charles

Cumulative GPA: 2.50/4.00 with 20 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 2.56
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 2.44

Art and Design Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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ART 132 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 9:44 pm, Aug 27, 2007 Report Evaluation		I had Chuck twice in a row which was a big mistake. He is quick to judge your work without giving you any actual constructive criticism. And then when trying to change work to fit his criteria, he fully contradicted himself by telling me to use the original. Chuck is a horrible teacher and doesnt really care if you succeed or fail. oh and sooooo boring.

ART 132 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 7:47 pm, Apr 16, 2007 Report Evaluation		Chuck is a great and wonderful guy but, unfortunately, a sub-par professor. I like him as a person -- he's very friendly, understanding, and caring. Don't think that just because he's not the best professor that he's a terrible person. Anyways, I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the 131 syllabus in Fall quarter. Oh boy. It was, by far, the ugliest stack of papers I have ever seen. We're talking bold, italics, and underlining often at the SAME TIME. All the worst sins of design manifest themselves in his syllabus. Even, God help us, clip art. It's nearly impossible to read. I never expected something so ugly from a design professor. Anyways, onwards to 132: It's a very time-consuming class. You'll be spending anywhere from 2 to 15 hours outside of lab every week working on the 5 different color projects, so plan on sacrificing a few weekends to this class. You'll be mixing hundreds (if not thousands) of colors and making paint swatches. GET THE 3/4" SQUARE PUNCHER. I swear - I wasted so many hours cutting swatches using his complicated little system of cutting out the little squares before I finally got my ass in gear and bought the square puncher. Ask for his eyes on your projects in progress -- he'll help you get those colors going pretty quickly. And don't flip out if he contradicts what he said about your colors in progress and what he says on your project grade -- his eyes aren't exactly Pantone calibrated. He does give you a little leeway on projects grade, so it's not difficult at all to get an A on your projects if you put the time in. Plan on putting the time in to do well in this class. You're a damn Art major, so don't whine and cry when you find out that you have to spend more than 15 minutes per month outside of class. Also, save every single little scrap of work you create -- you'll need it for the final journal just like in 131. In lecture, Chuck just reads word-for-word off of his (very poorly designed) slides, so you can probably skip a few lectures if you keep up on the reading. Also, plan on spending a lot of money on supplies. I spent about $200, just for this class. In summary: Spend the time to do well. Ignore the fact that Chuck is a dull lecturer and a poor designer and realize that he's a nice guy, all in all. But take Charmaine for lab if you can -- she's a much better professor and makes class a lot more fun. She's a little tougher of a grader, but you'll be glad for that in the end.

ART 132 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:04 pm, Feb 13, 2007 Report Evaluation		the worst teacher i have ever had. i learned a lot from doing the homework and teaching myself. he is very unclear, biased, and dry. his lectures are so boring and if you are at all creative you will have to take up on bad habbits to get you through the torturous projects. i felt as if i was a square being put into a circle peg. his class almost made me drop out of cal poly. its a great class and information but just not from him. i got a good grade from teaching myself.

ART 132 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 1:36 am, Mar 25, 2006 Report Evaluation		Art 132 is a lot different from 131. In this class, the projects take hours upon hours to mix the paint and then even more time to cut swatches out and rubber cement them together. For each of the five projects, Chuck gives you a vauge description of what to do and shows you an example of what it might look like, and thats all you really need to know. I highly suggest bringing your paint swatches in to get them "checked" because Chuck will tell you if it works or how you need to change them. Definitely buy the square puncher he tells you about in the beginning because it will save you hours of work!

ART 131 Junior Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 7:20 pm, Dec 14, 2005 Report Evaluation		Chuck talks a lot. Lectures are really boring. Most labs are spent critiquing projects you're working on. It gets pretty redundant. With Chuck, if you give him what he wants, you're good to go. Don't be afraid to ask him if your project "works" because he'll tell you exactly what you need to do. You definitely don't need to carry everything the art kit comes with, everyday. Ask him what you need in lab ahead of time. This class gets pretty expensive, too. Save everything you do for every project... you'll need it for your project book. The first couple of projects are a lot of work because it's all hand done, but with the last ones, it saves you a lot of time if you're good with Photoshop and Illustrator. Don't procrastinate with your project book or getting your projects matted!

ART 132 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:39 pm, Aug 11, 2005 Report Evaluation		Chuck, what can I say. I think that he is a good person, but he does contradict himself A LOT! His quizzes are ok but the lectures you just want to skip. For color theory, I showed him the swatches for the final project and he said that they were perfect. Then I got my grade back and he said they were off. But whatever, you have to take him for at least one of the art series classes. Most of the time he's cool. But for all the art 130 series, do not procrastinate on any projects or the project books. I did all the time and ended up spending so many all-nighters in the lab.

ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 5:37 pm, Feb 1, 2005 Report Evaluation		be warned: this class is not a cake walk. at first the amount of work seems rediculous.. its hard to adjust to the load (especially fresh out of high school). but i gained a lot of academic maturity from it in that i learned a. not to procrastinate and b. don't leave the class until you understand what he wants. he is a hard grader, no doubt, but he sets a standard and your work WILL imporve dramatically. i definately learned a lot from chuck. hey, it's better than math.



ART 131 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 11:07 am, Jan 6, 2005 Report Evaluation		Chuck is a good teacher in that he knows his stuff... but... he is constantly contradicting himself and then wonders why his students get confused. He's not a bad teacher but something about him just didn't set right with me.. maybe that's just me. Anyways, he's good at showing you what you need to fix in your work but he does grade hard. OH, the project book... DO NOT PROCRASTINATE ON THE PROJECT BOOK! If you do, it will come and kick your ass when the due date comes around, no joke. Start on it as soon as you can, DO NOT put it off. That said, if you take his class, go into it with an open mind and maybe you'll love him and maybe you'll hate him, but he's not the worst there is so don't worry about it too much.

ART 131 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:13 pm, Jul 13, 2004 Report Evaluation		I'm really surprised at all the negative feedback Chuck gets on here. I had him for 131, 132 & 133 as well as for an advisor and I thought he was great. Very fair, totally helpful, a talented artist and an all around nice guy. I have to admit that after seeing him at SAP I wasn't exactly looking forward to having him as an instructor but he turned out to be a favorite of mine. I learned tons from him and he was overly helpful and understanding toward me at a few rough spots. Don't get me wrong, Tera is great too, but DON'T BE SCARED TO TAKE CHUCK!

ART 131 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:02 pm, Feb 1, 2004 Report Evaluation		I really feel that Chuck is an excellent professor. After taking him for Art 131, I made sure to try and get him for Art 132. Although he demands a lot and makes it seem as though he thinks Art is the only class his students are taking... it really pushed me to become more creative and be more of a hardworker. I noticed that during his critiques he doesn't try and eat up your artwork and spit it back out.. he tries to understand what the student is going for and works with that. In addition to that, he makes sure to not try and impose HIS ideas on his students, but pushes them to come up with something on their own. Overall, I've really grown to like his way of teaching.. even though it took a lil' time getting used to.

ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:24 pm, Sep 3, 2003 Report Evaluation		Chuck really knows his stuff but is a very hard grader. He likes all your work to be done on the computer unless you make a masterpiece by hand. So if you don't know illustrator that well, take Tera. Tera is an easier teacher but she is very fun in class and you feel proud of your work afterwards.

ART 132 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 10:33 pm, May 15, 2003 Report Evaluation		Time to grow up kids and form your own opinions, your in college now. If you make your decisions based on other peoples experiences you will miss soooooooo much in life. Maturity and wisdom are earned through your own hard work and decision making. I've had some damn bad instructors and hated it at the time but in the end the experience is priceless. you can learn much from the worst instructor out there. PS, in this case i think the man knows his stuff very well, but find out for yourself. Monotone voice? i don't get what that has to do with the quality of instruction. the person who wrote that probably has pimples! a great analogy i think. bye

ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 3:59 pm, Nov 5, 2002 Report Evaluation		He is a perfectionist. If you aren't Pablo Picasso don't expect an A. =P No I'm kidding, but expect to put a great deal of time and effort into the class. Jennings feels that your life should revolve around this class. If he doesn't see blood in your work you're in trouble.. =) Take Galanti, Jennings is Mr.Suckies.



ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 11:07 am, Jul 21, 2002 Report Evaluation		I took Chuck for 131 and I was a little disappointed with him. He would try to explain us something and then we would ask him questions and then he would explain it again in a different way, which was very confusing. So then we would have to figure it out ourselves. Then I retook Chuck for 133. And he was BETTER! I was never confused with the assignments and I ended up with a B in 133. I dunno if he changed his teaching habbits or what but if he was as good as he was in 133 then i would take him again. The only thing is he does grade hard but with that, he raises your standards and you end up doing better.

ART 132 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 5:29 pm, May 17, 2002 Report Evaluation		I was frustrated in color theory because we are supposed to totally trust Chuck's judgement on our color swatches. I don't know what alternatives exists, but it's not like Chuck's eyes are Pantone calibrated. Some students submitted the same color wheel and got totally different grades and feedback. Overall, Chuck seems more sure of himself, but I would take Tera Galanti - she is more friendly and puts more effort into the class.

ART 131 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 12:35 am, Feb 28, 2002 Report Evaluation		this class was a complete waste of time. the same goes for Art 132 and 133. if you are an art major with any degree of art background, you should be insulted that these classes are required core. they are completely elementary and lack any semblance of creative incentive. chuck seeks to identify personal disorders within his students, is completely detached, and quite frankly, should have retired awhile ago. best of luck surviving, make sure you get on his roll so he can't fail you for lack of attendance at the quarter's end.

ART 132 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:46 pm, Nov 4, 2001 Report Evaluation		Color Theory was awesome. I haven't seen art the same way since. Color is Chuck's specialty and every can learn a lot from him. He is stubborn and knows what he expects. I thought that is fine since he has been at it a lot longer than us students. Some students didn't think the same way.

ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Chuck does a real nice job explaining what will be on the tests, but that's about all he does. He's very boring, and has a monotone voice that will put you to sleep every class. He needs to start acting like a human and less like a robot. On the upside, if you take good notes during lectures you won't need to read from the text. I recommend Tera Galanti if you want to enjoy yourself, and Chuck if you want to go to sleep.

ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Chuck Jennings provides the information one needs to do well on the projects in his class. Although one might wonder why he/she is doing the project, since there is no explanantion for it's purpose. His lectures are in a monotone voice and are not very interesting. You have to take Chuck for the Lec but you have an option to take Tera Galanti for the Activity. Tera is very helpful and friendly. Her class is enjoyable and she always does her best to answer questions and help you with your projects.



ART 131 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Support) 12:04 pm, Mar 30, 2001 Report Evaluation		If you take Chuck you will learn a lot, but he is a hard grader. He is good on answering questions and explaining concepts. Terra on the other hand has problems explaining questions, she is a nice teacher but I always feel like she has no idea what I am asking her. Take Terra if you want an easy A, but I wouldn't recommend it because later on you will really need a good grasp of the subject matter. Also, if you do well on the tests, regardless of how good of an artist/or your projects are you are you will get a good grade.

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