Students praised this course for giving students an opportunity to do in-class workshops of their writing in a small class. Perceived issues with the course included a belief from multiple students that the in-class workshops could be unproductive if students offered unhelpful feedback or if students’ in-class experience was rushed. Suggestions for improvement included the desire of multiple students that the class either meet more often or that the class size be reduced so that more time could be spent on each writer’s work. Prospective students should know that students found the course required them to write a poem each week and that students had to be comfortable getting critiqued.

The best aspects of this course included the chal enging poetry prompts, and the instructor who was extremely knowledgeable and therefore helpful with the subject matter. Also, students enjoyed the opportunity to build a portfolio of poems. Some students felt that the instructor was late in returning their work, which made the revision process difficult. One suggestion was to allow students to lead the discussions more often. Another suggestion was to provide more time and focus to students’ pieces during workshops. Prospective students should know this is a reading-intensive course and requires a certain degree of self-motivation.

The best aspect of this course was the classroom structure. Students were able to spend a significant amount of time work-shopping and the professor provided students with interesting discussion topics. Some students found it frustrating that feedback was not given after each assignment and the class lectures were too long. This course could be improved by having the instructor provide more consistent feedback on assignments. Prospective students wil find the course load manageable and wil have the freedom to write in any poetry style.