Armstrong, Mary A.  

Missed the first day, went to the second day. Went to the midterm. Went to the Final. Three days of class total. I got a B, easy. This kind of shit gives our school a bad name.

Dr. Armstrong was an awesome professor. She got the whole class involved and got everyone interested. There is only reading for homework, but you have to read to pass the class. The readings arnt hard though. You also have to attend the lectures because she takes role. There is one 5pg paper and 2 essay question tests(not to hard though). Overall i would highly recomend this class.

Dr. Armstrong is the best. This intro to women's studies was not what I expected, she gives a clear picture of gender issues and how both males and females are affected. She does not participate in any male bashing and actually incurages male participation from the class. If you have the time and need 4 units of upper division, take this course it will be well worth your time and if you are a male think about taking this course you'll learn tons about women and be one of the few guys in the course.

mary is one of the best teachers i've had at cal poly. she is so enthusiastic about the subject matter for this class, and does a great job of presenting the issues clearly to help everyone to understand them. this is not a male bashing class, as some might think, but a class that takes a look at gender roles in our society, including male and female. i would strongly urge everyone to take this class because it will really open up your eyes to the issues that are out there. guys should especially think about taking this class just to get a better understanding of women and what we have to face in the world. overall, mary is an excellent teacher who makes sure to be there for her students and keeps everyone involved in class discussions. this class is fun and very informative. there is a paper and her tests are mostly essay with a few multiple choice, but neither are difficult as long as you are paying attention in classes. this class fulfills ge requirements, so take it and you won't regret it!

I AM A GUY IN THIS CLASS. Well, hopefully that got your attention. Yes, I was one of 5 guys in the class and I definitely enjoyed her class. However, if you're very conservative, this might not be the class for you. Armstrong really presents the readings very well (which you should be reading each time before the class) and is very energetic with her lectures. Not to mention that you can totally get laughs about it. Although many of you might think it's a male-bashing class--well, it's not really--it's patriarchy. In this class, you have one midterm, one essay, and one final. The midterm consisted of 10 multiple choice (1 point each), 3 short essays (20 points each), 1 long essay (50 points).

Dr. Armstrong is an amazing teacher. She is also extremely fair and presents the material very objectively. Throughout the quarter I doubt a single person was offended or irritated in class even though the class was about gender inequality and a lot of other touchy issues like abortion. If you do the readings, attend lecture, and contribute to class discussions its very possible to get an A. Her tests are a little intimidating because you bring a blue book and spend hours filling it with info, but in the end its nice to be able to walk out of the class knowing that you had a chance to tell everything you know... and that none of the time you spent studying was wasted. Overall, shes a great teacher and this class will really open your eyes and allow you to see the world a little bit differently

Great Teacher. Great Class. Take it!

Prof. Armstrong is a wonderful teacher. I took her for Victorian Lit and not only did the class sound incredibly boring, but when i bought the books I was like "wonderful, a shitload of reading." But her class turned out to be so intersting and I actully looked forward to going. You read two major novels (Jane Eyre and Dicken's Great Expectations) and then a buch of short poem/essay things but the books were kinda interesting and the way she presented the info made the class worthwile. There's never homework (except to read) and she gives small pop-quizzes but they're totally easy if you actually read. There's one midterm (not too bad) and one final (not too bad either) but you do have to write a 5 page (double spaced) paper. But if you go to her office to get help on it she makes it very easy for you. I really enjoyed her class and STRONGLY recommend her to anyone needing to satisfy the GWR and/or this area of GE.

she is boring and unable to give a fair exam. English sucks

Armstrong is really pretty excellent. She is dynamic and funny and reasonable. She totally knows her stuff and the class lectures go really fast. The reading is not too bad, there are teo novels and they are long but they are actually pretty good. She gives quizzes that only test if you read or not, and they are really easy. You have to come to class and take notes, but she is totally clear about whats on the exam. And also, about the people who use this list, I was in the same class as the guy who wrote she doesn't give fair exams, and the first exam in the class was in the 27 which is my girlfriends birthday and he wrote his comments on the 26 before we ever had any exams. So GO BACK TO CUESTA if you can't handle the stress and you only make things up because you are tired of studying and a crybaby. Some of us use this list to get reall info about profs. So take Armstrong if you can. An English class is never going to get better than this.

Dr. Armstrong is a fantastic teacher. There is a lot of reading in the class, but she presents the lectures in a way that makes you WANT to read! Her tests are not difficult, they really only test whether or not you read and understood her lectures. She did assign one paper which she picked the topics for - it was very clear cut and easy to write if you actually did the reading. I would recommened her for this course and would recommend the course overall because it was surprisingly interesting and motivating!

Absolutely one of Cal Poly's best! Dr. Armstrong comes to class highly prepared for discussion of the reading material. She displays an obvious passion for the material, and as such, inspires it within her students. One of the most enjoyable classes I've ever taken!

I really enjoyed Armstrong's class. There was A LOT of reading assigned but I never really read any of it and still got a high B. You really just need to come to each class and pay attention during discussions. She explains it much more clearly than the readings anyway. There was a midterm,a final and a 5-7 page paper towards the end. She grades very fairly and makes the class enjoyable. I recommend her and would take her again.

Mary Armstrong is one of the most passionate professiors I have taken a class from. However there was a lot of reading involved with this course. I read about 50% of the assigned readings. She clearly discusses everthing we were supposed to read in class and only tested on the information in the lectures. The class had a few pop quizzes when she felt we were not doing the readings. There was a midterm and a final. the tests were essay questions and a few multiple choice. I really enjoyed this class and I learned SO much. Topics were interesting and opened my eyes to a whole new world.

Dr. Armstrong is by far one of the best professors at Cal Poly. She is extremely intelligent, understanding of her students and the two hour lectures fly by. Her grading is extremely fair and starightforward. For English 345 she has occasional reading quizzes that are VERY easy. As long as you have read you will pass with no problem. When you look foward to attending her class, you know you have found a wonderful professor. An amazing person as well as Professor and I would reccomend her to anyone.

Dr. Armstrong is a wonderful teacher. Her lectures are interesting and energetic. There is absolutely no male bashing in the class. She is approachable, friendly, and intelligent. Her tests are fairly challenging but she does lecture on what they will cover. The most challenging aspect of her class is the term paper. It is a short five page thesis paper but there is little direction given on what is expected of you and the instructions on approaching it were a little too vague for my taste. Overall, Dr. Armstrong (she dislikes being called miss or mrs.) is an excellent teacher.

Dr. Armstrong is one of the best teachers I've had at Poly ! She has extreme enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, her course material. She invites discussion, respects differing opinions, and makes the class time fly by. Her tests are straightforward,challenging and fair. Everything on her tests is thoroughly covered in class before hand. Keep up on the readings (which are very interesting), as she gives pop quizzes that are EASY POINTS as long as you read the assignments.The 5-page term paper was somewhat challenging, so I think investing in a good research paper "how-to" guide, like "Form and Style", is helpful if you are in a major that doesn't use MLA style. I also thought Dr. Armstrong was very helpful and receptive when I had questions for her during office hours. If you keep up with the assignments, attend class, take notes and participate in class discussions, the class will be a breeze.

Professor Armstrong is an extremely good teacher for Women Writers of the 20th century. I am a male who is taking the class simply because it fulfills the cultural pluralism category, the upper division elective, and you have two opportunities to fulfill the GWR (Graduation Writing Requirement). Dr. Armstrong does not teach the class as if though women are great and men are just evil, so it's really not too bad. A lot of the readings are pretty boring considering the plurality of them are about women who are unhappy in life and end up killing themselves. Several of the readings are hard to understand too, but don't worry... Prof. Armstrong makes everything into perfect sense when you go to lecture - so GO to lecture! If you don't, I guarantee you'll be lost on what the heck the author was talking about. In terms of grading, there's a midterm, a final, a paper, and several small pop quizzes to make sure you did the reading for homework. Like I said, a lot of the readings aren't too interesting, especially from the male point of view, but seriously... considering the requirements you get passed off by taking this class and considering that Dr. Armstrong is great at lecturing and clearing up any confusion, this class is totally worth it.

Mary is brilliant. Hands down. She is able to bring so much into the class, both emotionally and intellectually. I feel like I learned on so many different levels.

She's a great lecturer but extremely picky when it comes to written work. If you don't master literary theory, you might get a few mediocre grades before you figure out how to write about it well. If you can't hit the nail on the head in your papers, you're in trouble. But her lectures are energetic and she does her best to answer your questions. Some students love the class, but it was full of highs and lows for me.

Professor Armstrong rocks- and what makes this such an amazing fact is that I sucked as a student of hers and I still would jump at the chance to take her again. Classes are jam packed with information that make connections across the chapter. She is very funny, and very energetic which makes sitting for two hours a great experience. Unfortunately, the price for sitting too close to the fountain of knowledge was a huge headache at the end of most class times- there's just a ton of information and abstract ideas to grasp, and even absorbing them is really hard; I would go into class and think I had a really good grasp of the info for the class period, but would find that compared to what Professor Armstrong presented, I knew nothing but a tiny little speck. As for the short writings- before you do your first one talk to someone who has taken her before- because the writings are something that you will nail on the last one....but it would really help to know how to do them your first time around so you'd get a better grade- I found that disecting the question into parts, like a, then b, then c ensured that I answered the entire question as long as I matched them up to the corresponding pieces of texts (don't forget to cite.) Project-wise, in dissecting the poem I'd be as square as possible.....she just interested in the absolute barest nuts and bolts. Other than that, I just have to say that even though I couldn't pull from my brain the information and the way of presenting the info in the way she wanted, I take that as my fault and not hers. She's a great teacher, and gave me a B when I deserved a C or a C+.

Professor Armstrong knows her subject well and is an excellent professor, able to tease meaning out of the most abstract of concepts (although her attempts sometimes bordered on the humorous). I learned much from her and enjoyed her lectures. That being said, I was somewhat disappointed to discover that she seemed to have prejudged me and never quite accepted me regardless of how much I tried or participated in class discussion. She was rude in her comments to me on more than one occasion. Another thing I learned about her is that, brilliant as she is in her specific area, she is somewhat less so in others; for instance, she doesn\'t know crap about Renaissance poetry and its use of conceits. Aside from my own particular relationship with her, she was fair and did not seek to overwhelm her students. She is a great teacher.